“What Matthew lacked in size, he made up for in personality. ‘God, if you’re going to take him, please let me be there with him.’ I was determined to squeeze in every second I could.”
‘Do you want to hold your baby?’ Through tears I repeated, ‘No, you need to keep trying.’ Matthew had been fighting to live well before he was born.’: Mom details life and loss of preemie child, ‘Andrew and Allison are here because, not instead of him’
‘I heard the words no momma wants to hear, ‘We couldn’t find a heartbeat.’ It felt like too much to bear.’: Woman suffers miscarriage, gives birth to rainbow baby, ‘The future is bright’
“She wanted me to come into the office as soon as I could. I didn’t make it to that appointment, though. The bleeding started a day later. The rest was a blur.”
‘We made eye contact and I immediately knew something was wrong. ‘Let me get the doctor.’ The doctor said six words no parent EVER wants to hear.’: Mom grievously recounts miscarriage, ‘We find comfort in knowing she’s with Jesus’
“‘I’m sorry, but there’s no heartbeat.’ She told me I had to deliver her, but I didn’t want to. I thought if I could keep her inside of me, if I could just keep carrying her, then maybe she’d be okay. Part of me thought they got it wrong, she’d come out crying. But she didn’t.”
‘I don’t know why you’re in pain.’ I had already miscarried, I knew this wasn’t normal. Had I not been persistent, I would have bled out.’: Young woman shares miscarriage grief and ectopic pregnancy, ‘I hope my story can help someone else’
“A few months later, we found out we were pregnant again. It was a day full of pure happiness, and we knew this time it would work out. A week or so later I started having some pain and concerns. We were told it was another miscarriage. Five days after being told we miscarried, the pain was back and so incredibly severe. My OB said, ‘Take some Motrin, and hopefully it would go away.'”
‘I said yes without asking my husband. We went from 0 to 4 in less than a year!’: Couple adopts 3 siblings then becomes pregnant, ‘This is not what I had planned, it’s BETTER than I imagined’
“They told us if we decided against taking in the baby, they would take the older two and find a home who was willing to take all three siblings, for the sake of keeping them together. Well, we were not about to let that happen. Three short months later, I was home with my three kids and a POSITIVE pregnancy test.”
‘He’ll be bulletproof!’ I handed him to the nurse and we locked eyes. Chaos ensued.’: Baby born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, ‘I love to be reminded of how he lived’
‘At 6 days old, Lawson had his first open-heart surgery. My baby had been through SO much. I was ready to give him the gift of time and life. He’s perfect.”
‘She looks at her like she holds all of the secrets to the world. She had a 10% chance of making it. I begged God for time together.’: Woman births baby with Trisomy 18, ‘I never believed in soulmates until then’
“We made a bear with her voice saying, ‘I love you, Charlotte.’ She was scared Charlotte would forget the sound of her voice. I will never forget the look on her face when my friend dropped her off.”
‘I could never give them back! It would be too hard.’ It’s not about the ending, it’s about the middle.’: Mom who lost infant daughter shares thoughts on foster care, ‘Loss is part of life’
“Honestly, I’ve asked myself the very same thing. Now I understand. As a family, we have to have boundaries. We had to make the difficult decision to have him moved.”
‘Writing letters to prospective birth mothers, I began to feel nauseous. ‘Katie, you’re PREGNANT!’ I felt the blood drain from my face.’: Couple adopt homeless boy from foster care, ‘He stole our hearts, then he took our last name’
“‘Would you be willing to take in a little boy who was just born? He needs a family.’ I called the social worker back. ‘YES!’ Two days later, I met the second love of my life. A tiny, beautiful boy with the most gorgeous blue eyes I’d ever seen. The moment I laid eyes on him, my heart knew. He was my son, my missing puzzle piece.”
‘The first time I heard ‘rainbow baby,’ I was pissed. This storm doesn’t end.’: Mom details acceptance of term ‘rainbow baby’
“I thought it was one more way to say, ‘I know your baby died, but look, you get a NEW one!’ I could not handle anything that conveyed a replacement. This storm doesn’t end, there can’t be a rainbow.”
