“When my girls were little, my parents doted on them shamelessly. Over-the-top-please-stop-you’re-ruining-my-kids doting. It made me nuts, but now I get it.”
‘I’ve actually heard my Grandkids calculating which Grandparent they can hit up for which toys for maximum impact. Our little angels are fully aware of our weakness.’
‘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.'”
‘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.’”
‘My husband would say odd things like, ‘My chest hurts. I feel like I’m having a heart attack.’ I would find him sitting down in the shower. I started getting angry. He was not demanding answers.’
“My doctor’s face turned white. My stomach was in my throat and I wanted to scream. A second doctor entered and said, ‘It’s okay. They all look great!’ She showed me the monitor. Not 1, not 2 but 3 babies!”
‘I wasn’t sure what type of home he would end up in. Would they let us see him? He was the full-blooded brother to my adopted children. I needed to know he would be okay.’
“When our little girl was 3 months old, bio mom found out she was pregnant again. She decided it was best to surrender her. When baby #2 was born, DCS ended up removing the baby from her care. Bio mom called me in tears, begging me to take her daughter.”
‘You guys did great. You did great 3 times,’ our doctor said as she laid out our sonogram with three little sacs. My mind was racing. Shock and fear set in.’
“Mike couldn’t speak. In fact, the doctor looked at him after we covered all the basics and said, ‘Dad, are you OK? You haven’t said anything.’”
‘I knew the day was coming. I forced a smile when it happened, but the honest truth is, my heart wanted to burst out into big, bubbling tears.’
“It’s odd to love someone knowing they will eventually leave you. I’ll never stop letting him know I’m near. I’ll never stop letting him know I care.”
‘You have been chosen by a birth mom. She is due in 9 days.’ I was listening with my mouth wide open, staring at my husband. He was wondering what in the world is happening.’
“It was one of the first things I brought up before we got married. I distinctly remember telling him, ‘Look, I want to have a lot of kids, so if you’re ok with that, then you can marry me.’”
‘I remember this guy said I had a ‘tight rig.’ I never ate much, I glorified my thinness. I was valued. I was funny, I felt pretty.’
“I met a guy, we fell in love and wanted babies. 3 kids, 2 vaginals, 1 cesarean, postpartum depression, antidepressant weight gain, and life later, this is my rig. I hated it. I would say it was broken. It’s not the person I valued anymore.”
‘I hated being pregnant. I know I’m not supposed to say that, but I did.’
“I hated the weight gain. It wouldn’t have bothered me so much if I had just looked 9 months pregnant from the start; but that slow gain that made people second guess if you were pregnant, or just eating all the carbs you could get your hands on, was a real self-esteem killer.”
