“One morning, we got a surprising phone call. Our IVF date had been moved up, cutting out time in half. Saying no wasn’t easy, but I knew it was the right choice.”
‘If we’re meant to have a baby, God will make it happen.’ My calling wasn’t to carry the title ‘mom.’: Woman reflects on ‘childfree’ life, ‘This is the path we were called to’
‘His parents terminated their rights. ‘That’s IT? We’re going to be a forever family?’: Single woman becomes ‘forever mom’ after unexpectedly adopting son, ‘He’s the best gift!’
“I was single, living in a cramped apartment, and determined to NEVER be a mom. I was in shock.”
‘What are the chances lightning strikes twice?’ Then I got the news. ‘Ashley…I have cancer, too.’: Twins battle breast cancer simultaneously, ‘we found strength in each other’
“The day after my biopsy, I received a phone call. ‘Wow, the results came fast. Must be good news!’ The nurse put the doctor on. ‘Hi, Danielle. I want you to know we found cancer…’ Suddenly, all of the air was sucked out of my body. I called my sister. ‘Man, you cursed me. I have it.’ I could hear my mom in the background saying, ‘Are you EFFING kidding me?!’ We were battling this together.”
‘I accidentally signed the paperwork. I was drugged into an incoherent daze. At 38, my parents had to consent to release me.’: Woman now ‘loving life’ after life-long battle with depression, addiction
“I was sitting quietly in my room reading. Two paramedics appeared at my door advising me, ‘We are here to transport you to the public psychiatric ward.’ Say what?!?! I found myself approaching 40, single, and childless. I couldn’t take it anymore. ‘I’ll become a mother on my own!’ My biological clock was DEAFENING.”
‘I felt pregnant, but odds were slim. Brad was declared sterile. No one had ever survived a recurrence from this disease.’: Woman gets pregnant with ‘miracle baby’ despite husband’s terminal cancer diagnosis
“‘Go home and enjoy the time you have left,’ our doctor told us. Brad could not reckon the idea of leaving me as a single mom. But, I could not reckon the idea of not having a piece of him here with me on earth. We decided to take a giant leap of faith.”
‘My miscarriage crushed me. I screamed and cried in the nursery closet, clenching my son’s wubby so hard my palms bled. I was inconsolable.’
“Now you’re left exhausted, thinking what the hell did we just do? Am I an imposter because I failed? I flipped my mindset. It felt good to dive into something again, which started with ripping up all the carpet in the upstairs of our house. There was no sense in avoiding a room meant for a nursery when I could change it into a usable space.”
‘When will we hear the patter of tiny feet? ‘You don’t want to be OLD parents, do you?’: Family adopts 2 children after struggling for years with infertility
“The phone call that changed our life. It was 8 p.m. on a Wednesday when the phone rang. It was our social worker. ‘How would you like to come and meet a baby boy? He’s almost 6 weeks old.’ My scream must have deafened her. We’d been waiting to adopt a child for two years and before that had spent five long, desperate years of infertility tests and treatments to try for one of our own.”
‘No one teaches you how to love a child you didn’t plan to have.’
“When the same people who told you that you ruined your life are smiling ear to ear at your baby shower a few months later, it’s hard.”
‘We’re labeled ‘career women.’ It’s assumed we’re ‘being too picky.’ Passing by a new mother and her infant would rattle my womb.’: 42-year-old says ‘I have to defend why I’m not a mother when it’s all I ever wanted’
“When you’re over 35 and heartbroken over a breakup with the guy you hoped would be ‘the one’ or watch your close friends go on to their second or third pregnancy, it’s unbearable. The grief over never becoming a mother is one I will never get over.”
