“She starts to scan his face and tells us he has an abnormality. My emotions got the best of me. Before the doctor punctured my belly, my husband looked to me and said, ‘Do you wanna know?’ I couldn’t even speak.”
‘The lady tells us she will be right back. I didn’t think anything of it, but my husband looks at me. ‘There’s something wrong.’ I will never forget the look in his eyes.’
‘He looked at me screaming, helpless because he felt they were torturing him. All mommy could do was hold him tight, but not stop them. The room caved in on me. I wasn’t ready.’
“I took him to his pediatrician with no knowledge of what was to happen later that evening. The doctor walked in, looked at his stomach bulging out on the left side, and told me to go straight to the Children’s Hospital.”
‘I went to the appointment, and my life changed. Was I about to die? No, I can’t. I’m not ready! This doesn’t run in my family, and I live a healthy lifestyle.’
“My aunt and grandma went with me to talk to my doctor to try to get further understanding, but to be honest, I didn’t hear a thing she said. My doctor was in tears because she couldn’t understand either.”
‘You gotta believe me, I didn’t do it.’ Those are the words that were said to me, as I got into the car and saw my lifeless child in the backseat.’
“I had just come back from my break when Steven burst through the doors of the store and told me I had to come with him immediately. I raced out to the car, where I saw Logan, in his car seat, turning blue.”
‘I realized I had missed 20 calls from my mom. The night before, her father picked her up and took her home with him. I arrived at the ER very confused. All I remember was her yelling and crying.’
“‘We think you hurt your daughter.’ I burst into tears and cried, ‘There’s no way, I would never hurt her!’ The investigator said, ‘I am sorry I had to do that to you, that is how we expect someone to act when told that. Your husband isn’t acting how we would expect him to.’”
‘I’ve been hiding our family’s ‘secret’ for years. I have been silent. Masking our smiles. Faking OK. A complete nightmare. I am so sick of living in fear.’
“The officer had actually committed suicide and faked his own murder. This brought out things in Ty I had never seen before. Our family has been in nonstop crisis.”
‘She didn’t know how much time he had. When I showed up and saw him for myself, I was completely surprised. He was so tiny. So perfect.’
“I woke up this morning to a message from his family, and I am a wreck right now. Baby Aiden was supposed to be stillborn, but he wasn’t. He came out fighting and has been for the last 8 weeks.”
‘Your husband will never father a child. Don’t bother with artificial insemination because he will eventually resent bringing up another man’s child and probably leave you.’
“How we got home in one piece that day is still a mystery. How we drove through the tears, I don’t know.”
To my strong-willed daughter: We may battle it out from time to time, but I can’t help but applaud you for your grit.
“Some people won’t be able to handle your tenacity, and that’s okay. You can’t please everyone. But you will leave each person with a sprinkle of your spirit as you move past them.”
‘It was only a matter of time before the heartbeat stopped’: After loss at 16 weeks, mom welcomes baby who ‘kicked butt’ in the NICU
“I heard the faintest little cry. My heart jumped and tears welled up in my eyes as I asked, ‘Oh my gosh was that him?!’ He made it!”
