“Once Noah was born, the whole room was creepily quiet. Finally, one of the doctors said, ‘It looks like the baby may have a disability.’ Suddenly, the family I thought would love him didn’t even want him because he wasn’t ‘perfect.’ Neither did the next. Then, we found Jerene. ‘Are you interested in a special needs adoption? We have a baby boy who needs a family like, yesterday!’ Already 5 children of her own, her response was, ‘Why not?’ I was bawling.”
‘The family stopped answering. ‘They’ve backed out of the adoption.’ They wanted a healthy baby, not my son with a disability.’: Mom of 5 adopts special needs child after rejections, now in beautiful open adoption with birth mom
‘There’s nothing left we can do.’ My knees went weak when I saw them. Their skin was almost see-through.’: Young mom gives birth to twin micro preemies, ‘They are thriving’
“My blood pressure was so high, they were surprised I hadn’t had a stroke. It was time for them to come out. As a single mother watching both kids fight for their lives, I was lost.”
‘I heard, ‘One, two, three, four!’ I asked, ‘What are you counting?!’ The cord was wrapped around his neck four TIMES!’: After complicated birth, mom thankful for ‘miracle baby’
“‘You should buy a lottery ticket,’ they told me. I thought it was strange nothing was happening. The odds were definitely stacked against us. ‘Miracle baby,’ they called him.”
‘I was told, ‘It’s good you had a C-section. You had it easy.’ I did not get a lucky pass.’: Mom urges ‘please stop thinking C-sections are no big deal’
“I had a major surgery where my stomach was ripped open. I endured pain and tears for months. As a mother, I felt worthless unable to help with household chores. This wasn’t what I wanted for my birth.”
‘Your girl looks sleepy,’ I knew something was wrong when a doctor, not my normal midwife, came in.’: Scary birth of miracle baby born during Covid-19 leaves mom ‘overwhelmed with gratitude’
“When she was born, everyone in the room gasped. Our rainbow baby became our miracle baby.”
‘I am not a doula to hold babies, I am a doula to hold mothers who so often come in last.’: Doula says ‘I will honor and serve these selfless women’
“While she focuses on her baby and the work she must do on this day, I will focus on her. I hold a crown in my hand and a tenderness in my heart that I give to her when she feels weak. But I do not worry, for she is everything that child needs.”
‘The sonographer said, ‘There’s a foot in your vagina.’ I didn’t hear my baby cry. ’Is she alive?’: Woman gives birth to micro-preemie, ‘My life plans didn’t include a NICU stay during a pandemic’
“I was in a daze. ‘Your baby needs to come out right now.’ I lay on the operating table alone while they sewed my now empty womb back together. 3 hours later, they told us, ‘She might not survive it.’ Our hearts broke. None of it seemed right.”
‘Ezra is sick and I can’t get to him!’ We sat in tears while they operated on him in front of us.’: Mom loses baby to Congenital Leukemia, ‘He worked so hard to make sure we got to meet him’
“The doctor explained, ‘Ezra has bleeding on the brain that we can’t stop.’ We were told they believed the kindest thing to do was to turn his life support machine off. She asked me so many questions about what I did during my pregnancy, as if something I had done may have caused it.”
‘I kept asking, ‘Is my baby okay? Why has no one updated me yet?’ I don’t want to touch him. I don’t want to even look at him.’: Baby born with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, ‘They avoid us like the plague’
“‘Termination should be strongly considered,’ was rubbed into my face. For 2 weeks after his birth, no one but myself and my husband were allowed to see Preston due to isolation. Our 2-year-old daughter wasn’t allowed to meet her new little brother. I didn’t ever go a day without having hope.”
‘I’m going to throw up.’ He looked like an unfamiliar creature. Everything I expected went out the window.’: Woman gives birth to twin preemies at 24 weeks, ‘We knew this would be the greatest fight of our lives’
“A nurse said, ‘Do you want a picture?’ I abruptly said, ‘No.’ I was trying to erase the past 6 hours from my memory. I didn’t even know if my baby would survive. Why would I want a picture or anything that would make me feel attached to this little creature? Baby B was barely alive.”
