“I knew our family was complete, but I felt longing to be pregnant again. I wanted to bring joy to someone else. ‘Your blood pressure is elevated. You need medication.’ I was crushed. Everything I dreamed seemed to be over.”
‘My coordinator called. ‘The parents no longer want to work with you.’ My dream was ripped away.’: Woman documents surrogacy journey, ‘I will keep pushing forward’
‘You might want to think about having only one child.’ I knew the risks. The OB kept tapping my face, screaming, ‘Get the doctor, hurry!’: Woman with HELLP syndrome says, ‘I’m happy with the choices I made’
“My husband called his family to say, ‘Mom and baby are okay.’ When he stepped out of the room, my blood pressure dropped. It was my worst nightmare all over again. I don’t know if others would make the same choices I did.”
‘What if she doesn’t make it?’ Her life was spinning out of control. She was holding on for one more day.’: Man takes in sister’s kids after diet-related death, loses 125 pounds to extend lifespan to parent them
“If Rachel did not survive this battle, I had to be there for her children—Sophia and Henry—who meant the world to her. I had no choice but to be healthy. While my sister could not control her cancer diagnosis, I could control the food I was putting in my body every day.”
‘Just marry me already.’ His body was falling apart. He didn’t have much time left.’: Veteran dies of aneurysms after hospital negligence, ‘No veteran should experience this’
“The cardiologist said he would need a stent for his aneurysm. My jaw dropped. ‘What aneurysm?’ I knew something was very wrong. We gathered all of his medical records from the past year. ‘You’re trying to kill my husband!’ Because of them, he was now fighting for his life.”
‘I didn’t feel sick, I didn’t look sick. Yet, my body was attacking itself AND my baby.’: Woman’s ‘leg swelling’ dismissed as ‘old age’ at 33, later diagnosed with Lupus
“My family and I were on our way to a cruise vacation when my doctor called, asking me to come in. ‘I don’t think you should go on that vacation,’ he said. What the heck?! Oh no, I was going on vacation! Then, he gave me a quick and dirty update on my situation. I felt like I was in a dream state. I started to cry. I pride myself on being very strong and independent, but in that moment, I was TERRIFIED. I wasn’t sure I’d be around to see my children grow up.”
‘I was 15, pregnant. My principal looked at me. ‘Your mom didn’t graduate. Your dad didn’t graduate. Just drop out.’ I never felt more hopeless.’: Teen keeps pregnancy against all odds, loses son 18 years later in car crash
“The hardest part was telling my mom. She had NO IDEA I was even having sex. My baby daddy would walk by me like he never even knew me. Yet, if I knew then, pregnant at 15, that my child would pass away in a tragic car accident at only 18, would I still have chosen to keep him? The answer is yes. A billion times, YES.”
‘My son complained of pain in his abdomen. He was gray in color, his cheeks sunken in. When he started throwing up, I thought, ‘Maybe he ate something bad.’ I was in denial.’
“We had no family history of it. When we got the news, I was thinking we had some quack doctor in the middle of the desert trying to diagnose my son by smelling his breath. He added, ‘If you waited 3 hours, he would’ve died in the car.’ My heart broke into a million pieces.”
‘What’s wrong?’ My tattoo artist emerged from the back, visibly shaking, crying. ‘I just HAD to take in this moment.’: Mom loses twins, ‘uncommon’ first names combine to match name of tattoo artist’s late grandmother
“He’d gone back to trace the footprints of my babies, Leonor and Buchanan, both stillbirths. I was wondering what was taking so long, and started to worry my tattoo couldn’t be done. ‘I don’t want you to think I’m crazy,’ he said. ‘But my grandmother’s name was Leonor Buchanan. She just passed.’ I looked at him in complete shock.”
‘I arrived weighing only 3-pounds, with my organs outside my body. It was a complete shock to my parents. ‘Everything is fine,’ my guardian angel told my mother to keep her calm.’: Woman beats all odds after being born with Exomphalos, goes on to have own child
“I was bullied for looking different. I would get called ‘inside out girl,’ a ‘freak’ and ‘alien.’ It got nastier, telling me everyone would be happier if I was dead, and that I should kill myself.”
‘I lost the baby’: Mom thanks ‘miracle’ surrogate after being diagnosed with same pregnancy complication as Kate Middleton
“I simply wrote, ‘This little girl needs her brother or sister. Can anyone help?’ And you know what? Someone replied.”
