“A girl saw my hand and screamed like I was a monster. I cried every single day. My father held me after my surgeries when I was sick from anesthesia. He always showed he believed in me and I could do anything.”
‘We noticed some things about her hand and foot.’ Mom found doctor after doctor, even when they couldn’t do anything for me.’: Woman advocates for limb differences, ‘I tried until I got it right’
‘His arms and legs, are they there?’ I couldn’t look at his picture.’: Mom says son with limb differences is ‘exactly who he is supposed to be’
“Friends would talk about how cute he was going to be. It was painful to hear family talk about his height or what sports he’d play. I knew there was a possibility we weren’t going to experience it.”
‘All humans have 10 fingers.’ Everyone turned to stare at me. ‘Well I guess not EVERYONE.’: Teenager raises awareness about limb differences, ‘Difference is beautiful’
“No one I knew looked like me. I remember searching up different variations of ‘three-fingered hand’ to see if I could find someone else out there. It never worked.”
‘It appears your baby did not develop a left forearm or hand.’ My whole body was shaking. It was surreal.’: Mom celebrates child born with limb difference, ‘In our eyes, he was perfect’
“Our brief phone call couldn’t have been longer than 5 minutes, yet it changed everything we knew or expected for our future. I had been hoping that they were wrong. Terrified of the unknown, I put off buying anything for our baby. I smiled throughout my baby shower I didn’t even want to attend.”
‘What? No hands?’ The Universe chose me to be Ivy’s mom.’: Mother learns of daughter’s limb difference, refuses terminating pregnancy because ‘she was ours to love, protect’
“Missing both forearms and hands. This felt like a punch to the gut. It stole my breath. My husband firmly, passionately said to me, ‘I’ll do whatever I have to do to take care of her. I’ll build her anything. I want her. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll take care of her for the rest of her life.’ He was right. She saw me and said, ‘Yes. I want her. I want HER to be my mommy.’”
