Surprise!
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‘I’ve been an educator for years. I work for an amazing district. Yet, I have no clue what to do for my own kids. I’m struggling.’: Mom says, ‘Let’s teach kids lessons about life’
“I have a limited amount of energy, and the world doesn’t care. It’s time to stop endlessly worrying about details we have no control over instead, let’s teach our kids.”
‘We want an infant to seize. MY infant. How terrible is that? I hyperventilate into my husband’s chest.’: Mom loses baby with rare genetic mutation, ‘He was pure magic and love’
“And then she says it. IT. ‘I’m worried.’ I know what this means. This means things are not good. THIS IS NEVER GOOD. I refuse to let any person touch my sleeping baby.”
‘He sounded congested all the time. ‘He’s just building his immune system.’ This cold landed him in the PICU, intubated.’: Mom advocating for Spinal Muscular Atrophy says, ‘Every single thing is a battle’
“He was always sick. When the doctor was listening to his lungs, he noticed his tongue was twitching. They stuck a probe into his muscles. ’Don’t google the disease.’ Of course, I immediately googled it. I shouldn’t have.”
‘I felt DRUNK. I had to spit in a cup two or three times daily and I could barely walk straight. ‘You have a baseball-sized tumor in your head.’: Health coach battles brain cancer and experimental surgery
“I was a complete and total workaholic-girl-boss with my own business. I started noticing headaches often and having spit-up episodes. Part of me thought it was anxiety. These episodes, I found out, were seizures.”
‘This is the first time I’ve seen something like this.’ We were starting to lose hope. What was going on with our baby?’: Couple advocates for son’s rare diagnosis, Cutis Laxa Type 3, ‘He’s a warrior’
“He was born full-term, weighing just two pounds. He gained five pounds. Then the seizures started. All we saw were tubes, PICC lines, and NG tubes. We weren’t getting any answers.”
‘At 18 months old, his friend said, ‘BACKPACK!’ My son was 2 and not talking. I didn’t feel like I was doing a good job.’: Mom runs marathons for Autism awareness, ‘I’ve never been running this race alone’
“I decided, ‘I’ll give him till three to see if he starts saying more words.’ We were having more meltdowns and a difficult time consoling him. Meeting all his needs became tough. I didn’t have a ‘real’ diagnosis. I started to dig.”
‘It was like watching someone meet their soulmate. None of them knew when it would be their last time together.’: Mom says even ‘bare minimum’ back in classroom is a ‘game changer’
“They couldn’t keep their hands off each other. It was something truly special to watch.”
‘I cannot gain weight. Forget it. I’d rather suffer. Aren’t people who take meds crazy?’’: Woman accepts anxiety medication; ‘I was back to being the mom my daughter knew’
“I saw a psychologist who said my anxiety was way too intense and all-consuming. I would weigh myself twice a day and ask people a million times, ‘Do I look fat?’ After a few weeks, the medication started to kick in. Unfortunately, the weight started to come on.”
‘We ALWAYS stop at the toy aisle. People think I’m crazy, asking my 1-year-old if we should buy stuff. But I don’t care.’: Woman says daughter is her best friend, ‘It’s the greatest gift’
“We share lunches and cheers our drinks. We play everything, peek a boo, house, chase, and it’s the highlight of my day. I love waking up every morning, knowing she’s right next to me. I’m not ashamed to admit that she’s my best friend.”
‘There’s never a shame glance at the chocolate on the wall, or a pile of dishes. Somewhere out there is your band of weirdos.’: Mom thankful for her tribe says, ‘I can’t imagine it without you’
“I said, ‘Intentionally choose who has a seat at your table.’ I didn’t mean your dinner table; I meant the 9 p.m. ‘wine in hand’ crew. No one cares if there are toys on the floor. This crew isn’t here for that.“
