“They had to move her wedding day to that very day at 5:00 p.m. I usually can withstand any sort of stress on the job. But the emotional roller coaster of this 1-hour celebration of life has got to be by far the toughest wedding I’ve ever had the honor of documenting.”
‘Little did I know this one wedding, and this one bride, would change my life forever.’: Photographer captures 19-year-old bride’s impromptu wedding after she was told ‘she wouldn’t make it through the night’
‘I’m a plus-sized mom and I wore the swimsuit. No, I didn’t just wear that bad boy, I rocked that spandex leotard-like one piece like it was my J-O-B!’
“I was praying the length of the walk to the beach chairs something like, ‘Lord, help me to have peace about this body so I can confidently enjoy my time with my family and these precious kids you gave me.'”
As A Parent Who Lost Two Children, I Dread Questions About My Child’s Siblings
“The lady smiled as my daughter answered her question, then looked to me and said, ‘Wonderful! So the other kids must be home with dad.’ I simply nodded. Sometimes it’s just easier to stay silent.”
Dear NICU Mom: Your Strength Does Not Go Unnoticed
“This moment isn’t at all how you envisioned, but you are determined to embrace it anyway.”
‘I was anxious to break the news: ‘I’m pregnant.’ Four days later, my sister called. ‘I’m pregnant, too!’ We cried happy tears.’: After infertility battle, twins both deliver babies in ‘magical’ moment
“We delivered boys on the same day, in the same hospital, by the same doctor. Being a twin is unlike anything you can explain or understand.”
After I found out I was pregnant, my dad suffered a massive stroke. I snuggled up under his mighty arms and told him our secret. He smiled and said, ‘I can’t wait to meet her!’
“Thinking he was confused, I told him we didn’t know if it was a girl or a boy yet. He just winked at me.”
‘Can you take a 3-year old?’ He was so excited he interrupted the judge to explain exactly why he wanted to be adopted!’: Woman reunites brothers through emotional adoption journey, ‘I can’t imagine not living this life’
“The second Michael caught a glimpse of his brother from across the playground, he ran with all his might and jumped into his arms. We looked at each other and truly understood Dayshawn and Michael needed to be together. I’ve fallen in love over, and over, and over again.”
‘I felt them again last night.’ I was suddenly a single dad to 4 boys. This wasn’t supposed to happen.’: Man loses wife to Cardiac Sarcoidosis, vows to ‘tell her story’
“We talked a bit, fell asleep. The next thing out of her mouth was a gasp. I shook her, screamed her name. No response. A wave of terror came over me as I fumbled to call 911. A machine violently compressed her chest over and over. They wouldn’t stop until I gave the word. I started to get pleading looks from the doctors. As each excruciating second passed, hope faded. Death enveloped the room. I finally uttered the words, ‘It’s enough.'”
‘I love you so much for everything you’ve done for me over the past 40 years. Now it’s time for me to show you my love. A love I prayed to God I’d never have to show you.’
“I hope one day you can understand the reason why my husband and I did what we did. In your right mind, you would never want your child, or any child, to be in the situation your beautiful boy was in.”
‘I looked to my husband with tears streaming down my face, apologizing. He lifted my chin, proud of me.’: Couple is the epitome of a dream team during childbirth laboring
“So many doubts started brewing. ‘My baby was breech for a reason,’ ‘my hips may be too narrow.’ But we were a team. My husband was my rock, my foundation, and got my mind where it needed to be. He’s truly my king. Nothing mattered but him.”
Dear Parents: Feast Your Eyes On The Ultimate Diaper Changing Station For Under $200
“Well guess whose evil planned worked! Throw in a LED light for those late night changes, and a side shelf for those much needed wipes. The most practical and functional changing station on the planet!”
‘OK, FINE. You don’t want to pay teachers like a college educated PROFESSIONAL? Then give them the glorified BABYSITTER RATE.’
“As a young teacher, I am in $70,000 of school loan debt after finishing my bachelor’s and master’s degree. I had 5 years of experience and a master’s and was making $47,000, and as the primary income in my household, we were living paycheck to paycheck.”
‘Will he ever talk? This is the question I get asked most often about my son.’
“He may never be able to verbally communicate, and I can say with confidence – I’m okay with that. Cue the ‘gasps.'”
‘We had a family movie night. Well, let me take that back. My family had a movie night, while I sat on the floor trying to match the right lids to the right markers and put books back into bins.’
“Then I got up and made brownies, because I felt like brownies would make my family happy. Then I did the dishes because, well, I felt like I needed to do the dishes. Then I served everyone the brownies. Then I waited and collected their dirty brownie dishes.”
‘You are too skinny, not tall enough, and you have never delivered a baby before. You will have an unsuccessful triplet pregnancy.’ That’s what my doctor told me at my first ultrasound.
“’We need to get in the OR now,’ my doctor said. Then she turned to my mom. ‘You need to find Ryan. And pray. She has lost a lot of blood.’”
‘At 80 and terminally ill, she was self-conscious of how she looked. ‘They’ll think you’re a rich, eccentric old Hamptons lady,’ I told her. Having aspired to be one, she was happy with that.’
“We wanted to give her one ‘last hurrah’ before the end of her life. A police officer told my father of a place he just HAD to take my mother. ‘People find it only if they’re lost. It will remind her of Ireland.’ I pulled over. There, laid out, was horizon as far as her eyes could see. She was seeing the ocean she had crossed all those years earlier, for the very last time.”
‘Deep down I knew I made the wrong call. His foster trauma was inconvenient, and I pushed it aside for my ease. I completely dismissed him.’
“Once my house had fallen quiet, the interaction at the park came flooding back. Tears filled my eyes as I pictured him under the tree all by himself. I felt mad at myself.”
‘They don’t really feel pain anymore.’ WHAT?! The hardest thing we had to do was say goodnight, and walk out of her room that night.
“We made a decision to keep mom safe. Will they check on her enough? Will she be afraid? We all kissed her goodnight, and headed out the door. None of us looked back. What if we made a mistake? I couldn’t breathe.”
‘The medics arrived, and he couldn’t hide his pain. My husband extended his hand, looked him straight in the eye and quietly said, ‘Thanks for the ride.’: Widow of police officer shares touching thanks to everyday heroes
“It was then that I saw it. My husband was a hero. In that moment I witnessed in his deepest, darkest despair, yet he still did the right thing.”
‘Being a single parent is tough. However, I will say being solo with young kids is a pretty significant opposite-sex attention grabber.’
“Daughter #1 – ‘Are you married?’ Daughter #2 – ‘Don’t ask her! You are supposed to look to see if she has a RING on her hand, right dad?!'”
‘What is going on?’ My husband looked like he’d seen a ghost. The doctor yelled: ‘Get her into the ER, STAT!’: Woman overcomes years of infertility through surrogacy
“’Something wrong with the machine?,’ I asked after 20 minutes of silently looking at the ultrasounds. ‘No dear, I think there is something very wrong with you.’”
‘From the very beginning I knew something wasn’t right with me. I never got married and never had children. I kept using drugs to forget the pain I felt in my soul.’
“It was always someone else’s fault. My father was a drug addict and died of AIDS on my 20th birthday as a result of his heroin addiction, so I blamed him. I was never willing to take responsibility for myself and my decisions.”
How An Ear-Piercing Gone Wrong Allowed Me To Teach My Daughter About Consent
“Our daughter’s been asking to get her ears pierced for months. Once there, she changed her mind. She kept looking at me, apologizing. It didn’t feel right. My dad instinct kicked in.”
Elderly couple holding hands during Hurricane Florence evacuations proves true love withstands all storms
“My tears are flowing.”
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. My body had absorbed one of my twins. My womb was a temporary coffin.’: Mom loses twin son in harrowing pregnancy, says she’ll ‘always have a place for him’ in her heart
“Over the next 4 months, I was scanned every 2 weeks. I had to slowly watch my son break down. First, his little eyes, nose, and beautiful lips became harder to see. Then his tiny fingers and toes started to fuse together. Finally, it got to the point where he lost all of his features. It was torture. I just wanted the day to come so I could get him out and grieve. But I also didn’t want to give birth because I knew once he was out, he was gone forever.”