“My new daughter sleeping should be a scene of total peace, and yet it’s terrifying. The ugly, hateful words swirl in my mind. ‘Life can’t really be good again, can it?’ ‘If something happens to her, then everyone will know what an awful mother you are.’ Child loss leads you to a crossroads—a choice between becoming bitter or becoming better.”
‘Why did you have another baby?’ I try to not bury myself with my son, but to live better because he had lived.’: Mom finds ‘gratitude’ in grief after losing son, ‘goodness is all around, if I just take a moment to see it’
‘The tech printed the ultrasound photos. I IMMEDIATELY saw a second form. A little guardian angel was over our rainbow baby, giving him a kiss!’: Couple in tears after ‘guardian angel’ shows up on ultrasound in wake of miscarriage
“After the positive pregnancy test, we were both overjoyed, but the worrying really started. What if I miscarried? It took Troy a long time to discuss the loss of his previous baby with anyone. He went into a depression for months. We agreed to wait to announce the news. The next morning, I followed up for the ultrasound. Everything looked great. Then, I saw it. I texted my boyfriend the photos. We smiled through tears.”
‘I see you peeking!’ He slowly opened his eyes, blinking up at us. His tiny hand closed around my husband’s finger. Our hearts were forever changed.’: Couple adopts after surprise pregnancy, ‘I welcome every ounce of chaos and noise’
“‘Let’s not get our hopes up,’ I told my husband after the shock of the positive pregnancy settled in. He nodded in agreement. But then I received a very unexpected phone call. ‘Jeanette, do you want to be a mother?’ I realized what was about to happen and halted the conversation. ‘Wait!’ I shouted. ‘Can I three-way Zach onto this call?’ I quickly dialed him. Zach was in shock. I had not prepped him. The same week we miscarried our first child, our future son was conceived.”
‘Help me!’ The color drained from my face. I awoke to cramping and blood dripping on the bathroom floor.’: LGBT couple navigate homophobia, reciprocal IVF journey, ‘our girls will be filled with lots of love’
“Our babies! Were they gone? We drove the 3 hours to the IVF clinic. The doctor informed us, ‘One baby is still there, and next to the baby is a blood clot 4 times its size.’ I remember my eyes filling with tears. I began crying on my wife’s shoulder. ‘What you two are doing isn’t right.’ No one ever tells you how hard it will be to have kids when you’re gay.”
‘That is a mean mug.’ I saw my little girl for the first time. She was NOT impressed.’: Parents surprised by daughter’s hilariously angry face after birth
“The next day, after a well deserved rest, the family appeared to meet our baby girl. With them taking photos and taking turns holding ‘the potato,’ we really starting to notice her face. She was NOT happy with being evicted. I told my husband as he was holding Luna, ‘check out that face.’ She had his stupid mean mug face, but unlike him, she made it look good.”
‘She is healthy and finally in my arms, thank God.’ I’d be lying if I said I was ‘okay’ at that moment. I wasn’t.’: Mom of rainbow baby kept pregnancy a secret as long as she could, feared losing pregnancy after miscarriage, ‘I doubted everything’
“I needed to go in for surgery. This terrified me. I thought I could handle the pain – I was wrong. I was in the bathtub. Tears flood my eyes. My daughter sat next to the tub, sharing blue raspberry Jell-O. ‘Do you need to take a bath? I can eat Jell-O with you.’ She is the most caring, sweet, and loving 3-year-old. Finally, it was announced we had a girl, her cord was cut, and she was laid on my chest. I was still sure something bad was going to happen.”
‘Ugh, you can have my kids. Just relax and it’ll happen.’ My journey ended with a hysterectomy.’: Woman diagnosed with Endometriosis after years of infertility, finally finds peace in a ‘beautiful, unexpectedly child-free life’
“The doctor actually laughed and told me I was ‘just dehydrated.’ One asked, ‘Have you been sexually abused?’ He thought the pain was in my head. I decided it was time to walk away from my dream of being a mother. ‘It’s okay to put yourself and your health first. It’s okay to stop.’ She lovingly placed her hands on my shoulders, looked directly into my eyes and said, ‘You’re going to be okay.'”
‘Why weren’t we told this sooner? Obviously they suspected brain bleeds. Why didn’t we know?’: Newborn suffers brain bleeds in-utero, defies all odds to survive, ‘he’s leaving a trail of middle fingers behind him for the naysayers’
“My husband arrived just seconds before the doctor said, ‘He is out!’ I was certain he had died. I couldn’t stop shaking while they stitched me up. But he was perfect, with a surprising amount of thick, dark hair. ‘There’s a high likelihood he’ll never walk or talk.’ They asked if we wanted to stop life-saving measures. We stood our ground. He’d be our ‘wayfinder.’ We trusted he’d tell us in his own way if things became too much, and it was time to stop fighting.”
‘Which bird is mine, mama? This one?’ My boys point to my tattoo. ‘But mom, who are THESE birds?’: Mom’s sentimental tattoo helps 3-year-old sons learn about ‘the babies in my tummy that died’
“‘They died? Why?’ Ira asked, concerned. ‘What happened?’ He shrugged his shoulders and looked at me. ‘Where they go? After they dead?’ ‘You know,’ I said tickling them, ‘You two are miracles. Our babies that didn’t make it out of my tummy alive are in Heaven.’ My boys would usually be distracted by now. ‘It has streets of GOLD. There is no crying, no sadness. No families are broken…we all live together. ‘We all live together there? Daddy too?’”
‘I don’t mean to stir up drama, but this woman says your baby is ‘fake’ and you’re stealing yogurts.’: Mom gets ‘good laugh’ at supermarket after stranger’s false accusations
“To the lady who told the cashier at Aldi I had a fake baby and was trying to smuggle yogurts out of the store: 1) My baby is 100% real. 2) Yogurts are like 25 cents. 3) I’m lactose intolerant and don’t consume dairy. Thank you for the laugh, though. I really needed it because I was up all night tending to my again, 100% real, baby. Parenting is hard enough; the judgement of strangers is not needed.”
