“You are going to miss her when your son’s laugh sounds just like hers, or the random stranger walks by and for a second, you would swear that it was her.”
‘When you walk down that aisle, you’ll be searching the crowd for her. When you find out you are pregnant and meet the littlest love of your life, you’ll be thinking of her and only her.’
‘This is the face of a momma who had a rough night, and then had a rough morning. Who is having a hard time forgiving herself for yelling. Who feels guilty, but isn’t entirely sure why.’
“Give yourself some grace, change your thoughts from ‘I can’t’ to ‘I will,’ and dry those pretty eyes. You’ve got this.”
‘I held my baby and cried. I’ve never felt so alone and helpless. But then, I felt a cold nose on my arm. He was looking up at me to say, ‘Don’t worry Mom, you’re not alone. You have me.’
“He is my Service dog, and my best friend. I needed a C-section. When the time, I gave him a wink and a short goodbye. ‘Can I see it?’ ‘It sure is a noisy little thing!’ ‘Let me see, let me see!’”
‘I anxiously laid there, holding my husband’s hand with a big smile on our faces. Only this time, something was different. I frantically scanned the screen. I knew it.’
“I put on the ugly gown, the ugly socks and continue breathing techniques. My husband kisses my hand, kisses my forehead, and holds my hand the entire way. The mask goes on, and I slowly close my eyes.”
‘To the nurse who held my stillborn baby, unfazed by the appearance of a tiny child born 20 weeks too soon. You stroked those itty-bitty fingers and toes. You talked about those eyes.’
“You told me my baby was beautiful, although the rest of the world would likely have disagreed. As you placed my breathless baby into the palms of my hands, I too became breathless.”
‘I know you feel invisible. I see you running your child to therapy when friends take their kids to Little League. I see you cringe when people whine about petty things that pale in comparison to your day.’
“I see you slipping out the of conversation when your friends are all chiming in about milestones and test grades. I want you to know it’s worth it.”
‘I watched 2 kids smack my son. I actually found myself saying, ‘That’s not nice, stop!’
“I’ve never liked to tell a stranger’s kid off, but if you’re gonna pretend you can’t see it because you wanna sit and chat, then I’m gonna tell your child off.”
‘I have a confession. I have a crippling fear my child will get taken.’
“The fear of losing one of my children at a park, or the zoo, or even the grocery store, has paralyzed me. The fear of someone taking one of them is so overwhelming, it is often easier and safer to just stay at home.”
‘I was afraid to be alone with him. My phone records were being watched meticulously. I wasn’t allowed to work past a certain time. I felt like I brought this on because I couldn’t give him a child.’
“The final straw came on my birthday. My best friend told me my husband had tried to sleep with her while he was drunk. I was in a daze for months.”
‘I had a miscarriage at age 18. Someone told me, ‘It must be because you’re not married.’’
“I started dating my husband at 13 years old. We got married at 19. I had my 1st miscarriage at 20 years old. I didn’t tell anyone. I went back to work the next day, taking orders at a drive-in, while someone was complaining about their kids.”
