Touching
🤧
‘I want to be pregnant.’ My heart shattered. Then, we heard about a 3-day-old boy.’: Couple battling infertility become foster, adoptive parents, ‘Hang onto hope’
“Our son’s birth mom chose our family. He was handed to me and I was instantly in love. ‘Amanda, you’re pregnant.’ Our lives were changed forever.”
‘The nurse came in and said, ‘Her new parents are ready for her.’ Only 15, I kissed her soft baby cheek, and placed her into the arms of her mama.’: Teen mom embarks on ‘beautiful’ open adoption journey, ‘I couldn’t have picked better parents’
“I hid my pregnancy for 7 months. I should’ve been picking the perfect dress for Winter Ball. Instead, I was writing a birth plan. Once my sobs slowed, I looked at her birth father and said, ‘Those are the people who will raise our baby girl.’ I wavered. I fought. I broke. But in the end, I knew what I needed to do.”
‘He must wear a mask or you’ll both be asked to leave the aircraft.’ I repeatedly begged, bribed, and pleaded with him.’: Mom in tears after forced off plane, ‘This is not a mask debate’
“This is the face of a mama-bear who just bawled her eyes out as she was forced off an airplane because her overtired 2-year-old wouldn’t keep his mask securely over his nose and mouth at all times.”
‘I took a test, saw a line. ‘What’s ONE more?’ he laughed. I already had 3 under 3.’: Couple surprised by pregnancy while adopting brothers, ‘It’s exactly what I dreamed’
“’Meet your son.’ Weeks later, we brought number 3 home. I noticed I was having mood swings. I joked to my girlfriends on a group text, ‘I‘m probably pregnant.’”
‘CPS swooped in and out. I am now mother to both victims. We are going to fight for them.’: Family adopts 2 children, ‘We’re standing up for our kids’
“We had been so careful. We had all the right rules in place. But he’d been taught too well. Steve, a child trapped in a man’s body, was just as much a victim.”
‘I jostled awake to the sensation of the couch moving. ‘PLEASE!!’ His eyes rolled back. I watched as Kenny’s body flailed uncontrollably.’: Woman finds love after losing husband to cancer
“My sobbing husband pulled me close and choked out, ‘Don’t EVER let me be a vegetable. Do you hear me???’ The weight of his words shattered my shock. My face crumbled. ‘It’s recommended you never procreate again.’ We’d accidentally gotten pregnant the last month it would ever be possible.”
‘I’m going to die young.’ I was drunk the day I took my SATs. I’d go days without eating.’: Single mom overcomes addiction, ‘I wanted to see my daughter grow up’
“While my friends were dreaming about their future careers, I was dreaming about booze. I’d carve words into my legs just to feel something. And then I got pregnant. The only thing I wanted for this child is to not feel how I felt.”
‘How can you waste the best years of your life fostering children?’ People questioned if I’d find a husband.’: Single foster mom says ‘these children are worth it’
“This sweet little 3-year-old also had a 2-year-old sister. They were looking to have them adopted together. ‘How could I adopt just ONE?’ I decided to drown out the noise of others.”
‘She was exposed to substances in utero. She didn’t want to be held. I wondered if we’d made a mistake.’: Couple adopts daughter from foster care, ‘I am so thankful she’s ours’
“Our daughter cried a lot. Basically anytime she was awake, she was crying. Was it supposed to be this hard? We had hours of doctor’s appointments, therapies, and evaluations. But there would no longer be uncertainty for our little girl.”
‘The officer said, ‘There’s been an incident at the pool.’ I expected stitches. ‘I’m going to get right to the point, Jason died tonight.’: Woman diagnosed with cancer after husband’s death, ‘I’m choosing to LIVE’
“We sat in a circle on a bedroom floor. ‘Last night daddy went swimming. His body died. He won’t come home ever again.’ One week after the funeral, I received a call: ‘You have cancer, and not the run-of-the-mill kind. It travels distantly and doesn’t always respond to treatments.’ The rubble of my life had just caught fire.”
