“Trips have been canceled. Friends have gone un-seen and family has to stay away. The noise in our home consists of babies crying, dogs barking, and the occasional adult crying. Sometimes we let them cry so we can give each other a hug.”
‘I’ve turned my back for a moment and found my son in the dog crate. It’s a house of chaos.’: Mom of two babies survives quarantine, ‘We will never forget this gift of time’
‘I cried at Walmart this morning and wiped away tears as I stared at all the empty shelves. This is the most comfort I’ve felt in a while.’: Woman says ‘this virus has done very ugly things, but it has also brought us together’
“The board games are gone because families are playing together. Paint is wiped out because people are creatively expressing themselves. Children’s books are missing because parents and siblings are reading to each other. Around 5:00 p.m. EVERY evening, the driveways down my street are full of families and their kids playing in the yard.”
‘We cancelled our baby shower. I went from Googling dangly monkey earrings to ‘28-week baby premature survival rates.’: Woman expecting her rainbow baby says ‘I will continue to stay home and fight to be a helper’
“But then, people I love dearly got laid off. But then, I found myself on the phone with older family members I naively thought would live forever, suddenly wondering ‘what if.’ But then, people started to die. In what felt like a matter of minutes, it became more clearly into focus what was really at stake.”
‘It’s time to check on your pregnant friends, too – because their babies will be born, even if the rest of the world is shutting down.’: Birth doula urges to expecting moms ‘you are NOT alone, don’t let fear win’
“Preventing a birthing person from having their support team with them – not even a spouse, but ALSO not their doula, trained and contracted to provide them with emotional and physical comfort – is traumatic and brutal, plain and simple.”
‘2-year-olds aren’t terrible—they’re just learning how to be human.’: Child psychologist shares tips to manage toddlers’ complicated feelings
“We see kids this age as misbehaving, rude, or not listening. We see them losing it or throwing temper tantrums over nothing. But when looked at with fresh eyes, these misbehaviors can make sense, even to us.”
‘I asked the doctor, ‘Are you sure they’re identical twins? They look nothing alike. I think you guys misdiagnosed them!’: Twin mom urges us to celebrate differences, ‘Every child has their own unique, extraordinary soul’
“One baby was much paler than the other and born 2 pounds lighter. ‘How could one be so different than the other?’ The science didn’t make sense. I had no idea of the world I would be thrown into. I started to feel like maybe something was wrong with my babies. They had two totally different souls.”
‘Babies… babies…’ she repeated in her tiny voice. There was nobody else around. We were visiting her big sister at the cemetery.’: Mom knows daughter has connection with big sister in heaven, ‘I’m seeing the signs to prove it. And that brings me so much comfort.’
“They have a beautiful relationship even though they never met in this life. There have been times when we drive past the cemetery, and without any prompting she waves and says, ‘Hi Sissy,’ then tells me her Sissy is in that cemetery. Their relationship goes deeper than I even know. It’s something more. I mean, obviously. She was seeing babies in the cemetery when she was too young to have any understanding about where we were or why.”
‘We had five miscarriages, back to back to back. I just felt peace we WOULD have another baby.’: Couple has rainbow baby after church prayer and fast
“About a week and a half after the church fast, I got the shock of ALL shocks — another positive pregnancy test. ‘It looks like you got pregnant sometime between January 13-15th.’ The EXACT DAYS of the fast.”
‘What would you tell your 18-year-old self?’ Stay out of the tanning bed because you will get premature winkles and Botox is expensive.’: Woman’s all-too-relatable advice to her younger self urges you to ‘know your worth’
“First thing, if you end up with the boy that you’re most certain you’re going to marry and have babies with, you will be 32 and living with his mom. Which is exactly where he still lives. If someone wants to walk out of your life, let them. It is their loss! You are not defined by the crappy things people do to you. The crappy things people do to you show more about their character than yours.”
‘We couldn’t possibly have known. There was so much more ahead of us.’: Woman reminisces on being a clueless new mother, ‘You’ll all be OK because you already know the secret, how to love this baby’
“I just found this picture behind another photo in a frame and I’ve unearthed a memory. I see young me, about 3 weeks into my mom journey. I couldn’t possibly have known. And I’m glad I didn’t.”
