“These hands know when it’s time to write a new page. I am learning to listen to my body. I am me, but I’m not me.”
‘I feel it deep in my bones. I don’t know who I’ll be on the other side. I hope she’s someone I can live with.’: Woman feels change in times of protests and Covid-19, ‘It’s scary but full of hope’
‘My stomach was ‘without signs of life.’ I was uncontrollably weeping. The thing I was meant to do, I couldn’t.’: Woman recalls infertility and adoption journey, ‘Our world changed forever’
“I had pain no one could identify with no hope of healing. A crawling on my hands and knees kind of pain. I felt forgotten.”
‘I didn’t want to watch 2 of my children die. I couldn’t walk away once, but twice, and not see them again.’: Woman loses 2 babies to congenital muscle disease, says her story is ‘tragically beautiful’
“I didn’t want anyone to die, especially not my child. Especially not two of my children. But that’s what happened.”
‘Somewhere inside of you is a little girl who wonders at the grown-up you’ve become, someone who is fierce and ready to take on the world.’: Woman thankful for her daughter, ‘she is teaching me in the midst of raising her’
“There have been times you have said ‘no’ when you wanted to say ‘yes.’ I have seen this photo before and it always takes me back and makes me think.”
‘Their 10-year-old son went out for a bike ride. Suddenly, police were knocking on their door after reports a black man was trying to break into a house.’: Woman asks others to ‘use your privilege for good’
“The test results said, ‘You are 98% privileged.’ They stared back at me like a red blinking light. The results shouldn’t have been a surprise. I’m white, heterosexual, and was raised by two white, heterosexual parents.”
‘Would you want to adopt him?’ She was taken from the only woman she knew and placed with a stranger.’: Couple describes adoption, foster journey, ‘Our lives have never been the same’
“We cried and prayed. We said yes right away. Then we got a call to see if we wanted to foster-to-adopt a 1-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl.
‘I sat on my couch, white privileged, inside of my comfortable home, and realized the world hasn’t gone mad. The world IS mad.’: Woman explains her anxiety of being quiet, ‘I worry my silence offends you’
“I worry that my silence offends you. I don’t get it like others get it. And, for that reason, I stay quiet.”
‘You did it. He’s here and I am so proud of you,’ I whispered. We cried, loving and hurting at the same time.’: Mom gushes appreciation for birth mother, ‘I wouldn’t be a mom without her’
“As I was falling madly in love with this precious baby, another incredible woman was falling just as hard as I was. His first momma. The one who carried him so lovingly for 9 months and birthed him just moments before.”
‘I saw a young teen publicly thanked his parents. ‘Thank you for giving me everything I want.’: Mom says ‘we have to learn not everything in life goes our way’
“It wasn’t a generic, thanks-for-all-that-you-do kind of thing. This one stopped me in my tracks.”
‘I saw panic in her eyes. ‘I can’t find your cervix.’ I thought it was just a UTI. ‘You’re not allowed to leave.’ I waited 4.5 hours while medical staff conversed about me.’: Couple pregnant with twins after 7 miscarriages, incarcerated uterus
“Within 24 hours, I was being prepped for emergency surgery. My uterus was growing up and outwards and had completely cut off my uretha and bladder. ‘This is life-threatening to you and your twins.’ We were told to brace ourselves for the loss of both babies. I woke up to a large incision from my breast to my pelvis.”
