“With tears running down my cheeks, I turned to my husband and told him the news. We were devastated. There were no red flags no warning signs. The next morning, we were called to the hospital. She was in labor – our baby girl was coming.”
‘The day before we were supposed to fly out, we got a call. ‘We haven’t been able to reach her for 24 hours. This isn’t a good sign.’ My heart sank. We were completely shocked.’
‘Molly, I am sick again. I promise I’m going to get better this time.’ I hang up, but she is all I can think about. How can I love her so much, and be such a constant source of disappointment?’
“I don’t want to catch a glimpse of her beautiful face in my mind. It hurts too much. She is so perfect. How can she still utter the words, ‘It’s okay mom, I love you’? I don’t deserve her love or her forgiveness.”
‘Our boys are at that age where getting into trouble is fun. They do things to get a reaction, and it’s easy to get angry over it.’
“They were starting to get silly. Running and jumping over the dishwasher door and throwing toys. Instead of saying ‘go play outside,’ I said, ‘boys, can you show me your new train set?’ They both stopped dead in their tracks.”
The Girl Born With Thick Skin (Literally): My Daughter’s Journey With Harlequin Ichthyosis
“Her skin hardened within seconds. It began to split. My husband’s silence scared me.”
‘When there was no heartbeat on the ultrasound, he knew no words could take the pain away. He just hugged me tight, and I fell in love again.’: Woman says ‘true love is about falling in love every day’
“When I met my husband, I thought I’d found love so raw, so deep, and so genuine I would never fall in love again. I was wrong. I fall in love with him every day.”
‘After a year of disappointment and failed tests, I was diagnosed as ‘infertile.’ INFERTILE. It crushed me.’: Wife discusses experience of infertility, IVF and pregnancy
“ANOTHER ROUND OF IVF? I didn’t know if I could put my body (and marriage!) through it again. But I knew it would greatly improve my chances of becoming a mom.”
‘My son started to scream. This angel came to the back and said, ‘You look like you need a break,’ and held him for the rest of the flight.’: Struggling mom thanks strangers for act of kindness
“We were standing in the security line, on the verge of tears. When I said thank you to both of them, they said, ‘Don’t you worry, we’re going to make sure you get on that flight.’”
‘All I ever wanted was to be a mom,’ women say. That was SO not me. Now? I have 10 kids. TEN.’: Woman delivers twins, adopts stepson and 7 kids from foster care
“Our days are filled with appointments, meltdowns, and diapers. TEN KIDS. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY DIAPERS THAT IS?! Most days, we collapse into bed, exhausted. I often wonder what the heck I’m doing. My marriage has been tested. Friends have disappeared. But I wouldn’t change our journey for the world.”
‘Your areolas, those brown things on your boobs (not a type of pasta as I initially thought) grow to the size of a frisbee, and become very dark.’: Mom’s HILARIOUS discoveries while breastfeeding
“People told me it’s so your baby can find your nipples. Well let me tell you, with mine, every baby on the planet could find them. They were a satellite dish on their own. Also, People will ask, ‘Are you STILL breastfeeding?’ Yes, I’m STILL breastfeeding Cheryl, my baby is 2 hours old… shut up.'”
‘Hi, nice flight attendant. Yes, there’s 7 of us. Keep walking kiddos, keep going. Nope, keep going. Yes, hi strangers. Yup, they’re all ours.’: Mom hilariously recaps what it’s like flying with kids this holiday season
“That guy staring at us does not look kid-friendly at all. That man looks very business professional. I hope he’s not the one sitting in front of us as my kids kick his seat on accident for the 14th time.”
‘Wake up, Stanley. Booboo, wake up!’ I heard a terrible crash. The TV was upside down across the room.’: Mom raises awareness about tip-over accidents after son’s harrowing experience
“You walk into his bedroom. Your son will look like he is sleeping. Daddy will shake him, until his sister notices he is turning blue. You will drop to your knees as Daddy starts CPR. This is the last moment you think he is ‘stable.’ The rug is about to be ripped from under you. Stay strong, mama…your journey as a special needs parent is about to begin.”
‘I heard an unusual sound. Planes went over the house all the time, but this was different. A cascade of plaster and roofing crashed all around me. ‘It hit us!’
“The tail of the plane was in our kitchen. I noticed a small opening above me. I tried pushing the obstruction, but had no success moving it. I tried yelling in case anyone might be near enough to hear me. ‘That’s our house. I don’t know where my husband is. Please help my daughter!'”
‘To the man in 2D – I don’t know you, but I imagine you saw us. I was pushing a stroller and was also lugging an oxygen machine for my daughter.’: Special needs mom thanks stranger for act of kindness
“Not able to hold back tears, I cried my way up the aisle.”
‘We finally got the call. This baby was due in 2 months, and she had a heart defect that would require open-heart surgery. The second I saw her little face, I fell to the ground.’
“I was nervous. I didn’t know if she would understand the baby I was holding is her sister. But when she came to the hospital, she pointed to my belly and said ‘no.’ Then she pointed to Josie and said ‘yes.’ So powerful.”
‘Best Santa Ever’ Gives Blind, Autistic Boy Magical Holiday Experience
“He asked Matthew if he wanted to feel anything and Matthew said, ‘Your eyes that twinkle.’ My heart was so full.”
‘You might look at these pictures, and feel uncomfortable. You might think, ‘I could never ‘share’ my child like that.’ She leaves the hospital with empty arms.’: Mom says open adoption does not equal co-parenting
“During her second trimester she sent me emails letting me know about the SpaghettiOs he was making her crave. She gave us a jar of pink and blue candies and made us count every single one to find out if it was a boy or a girl. They gave them life and I am teaching them how to live it.”
I’m A Big, Messy Contradiction—And That’s Okay
“At the end of the day, the only thing you really have to do in this world is show up, give yourself a little grace, and love hard.”
‘She was known as ‘Baby A.’ My husband and I hadn’t even discussed names when our triplets arrived more than 17 weeks premature.’
“None of our children were expected to survive. And as hard as it is to admit, I was worried about wasting a name. If none of my children survived, wouldn’t I need those names in the future?”
‘My son’s father got diagnosed at the age of 36 with stage 4 colon cancer, we had been together 10 years, our son was 3-years-old’
“I kept my own grief bottled up inside. Months and months later it just comes crashing back like a wave in the ocean and you can’t catch your breath.”
‘I started to get that pit in my stomach, telling me there was a problem. I went to his room. He was laying on his tummy. I patted his butt, thinking he was still sleeping. He didn’t respond.’
“It was like watching a movie. I wasn’t there. I was watching this poor mom kneeling by her baby boy praying and crying, trying to bring him back. I remember standing in the living room with the cops. Thinking, ‘They’ll save him. They have to save him. They can do it.’”
‘I grew up fat. I’d gotten down to eating only 1 orange a day. Then I got the phone call. My mother had died.’: Woman overcomes eating disorder, childhood trauma, ‘Cheers to a new year and a new me’
“My mother was an addict. My senior year of high school it got bad. One day she called me from rehab and told me to get out. I was 17 years old. I packed my bags and have been on my own ever since. My world spiraled out of control. I didn’t know how to cope. The only thing you can ever control in your life is what you put in your mouth. So, I went the opposite direction. I would see how long I could go without eating. I was sick. I knew what I was doing was wrong.”
‘My dad got very angry at me for crying. I was a tiny, 5-week-old baby. He shook me, threw me against a wall.’: Survivor of shaken baby syndrome’s powerful account so ‘other babies won’t have to go through this too’
“I lived with a new family, but things weren’t so good there either. I wasn’t gaining weight and my day care was very concerned about me – a lot of people were, I guess. When DHS finally came to take me, I was found on the floor in animal waste. My new mommy seemed very excited to meet me. I felt safe and loved right away. My new family never left me alone.”
‘My husband said, ‘My chest hurts. I feel like I’m having a heart attack.’ I started getting angry. He wasn’t demanding answers.’: Mom delivers triplets after finding husband has Chiari Malformation, ‘Each day I am more grateful’
“I called my husband: ‘You have to leave work.’ I couldn’t find the right words, so I just showed him the ultrasound pictures. Three perfectly healthy babies. I felt like I was in a dream. We both sat there for what seemed like the whole afternoon. How would we manage this with his new diagnosis and 2 active boys who were already taking up all of our love and energy?”
‘I love inspecting the vessels in umbilical cords. My awe never ceases over how our bodies are so intricately woven in the womb. I love to share my excitement over what others consider ‘gross.’
“A lot of people think it’s just a ‘tube’ of sorts transporting nutrients to their baby. But…it’s so much more intricately designed than that!”
‘My husband was fuming. I was BORN to be her mom. She is here to prove everyone wrong.’: Daughter diagnosed with ‘extremely rare condition’ Lissencephaly, family ‘cheering for her every step of the way’
“In the coldest bedside manner alive, the doctor said, ‘There is no cure. If she lives, she’ll stop mentally developing at 2 months old. Here’s some paperwork. Any questions?’ I stared at him, my body slowly over heating. I told my husband to get me out of there. I looked up at the sky and thought, ‘Well, here we go.’”