“When you ask a special needs parent how they’ve been and they roll their eyes, yawn, and say, ‘Eh, it’s been rough, honestly.’ It might be our pride or that we feel guilty. If you have been wondering how you can help, know that it is simple. Show up. Keep showing up.”
‘Please, sit with us. Text us. Stop by and insist on taking our kids for the day because I promise we won’t ask for help. But mama, we need it.’: Mom says all a special needs parent needs is for you to ‘show up’
‘In the hall, I overheard the doctor saying she had ‘rough news’ to break. I walked out of the office in a haze.’: Mom keeps baby with Hydrocephalus despite pressure to abort, ‘she is my miracle’
“‘Can my day just be done?,’ I heard her say. She then said a word that took me by surprise, and scared me: ‘Abort.’”
‘I was taken from school to my last foster home. I didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone. I didn’t know I would NEVER go home again. My parents had run out of chances.’
“I remember the car. The social workers wore suits, and the car was dark blue. I sat in the back. The child lock was on, and I felt trapped. When we arrived at the foster home, it was a place I had been in with my sister, but I still didn’t understand. This time, it was only me.”
‘My doctor held my hand and started, ‘Tami…’ In that moment, I knew. I couldn’t breathe because I knew. Or at least I thought I did. My heart exploded with relief!’
“We were walking out of the house when a feather floated right in front of us. As we sat enjoying our morning coffee, another tiny feather made an appearance. On the drive home, I kept thinking … two feathers … what does that mean? But I had a hunch. I went straight to the bathroom and found a pregnancy test.”
‘He is coming!’ I was alone. I was in denial. My husband was deployed. I couldn’t possibly be giving birth without my two partners present.’
“Is my baby boy okay? All I wanted was my husband. Waiting for him to arrive at the hospital felt like a lifetime. When he arrived I collapsed into his arms sobbing. He asked what was wrong, but I could barely get the words out.”
‘Our beautifully ‘normal’-looking child just cussed us out and threw a chair. That isn’t your fault any more than it’s mine, or his really. He isn’t a problem, but he is HAVING a problem.’
“When Karen says, ‘Ugh, my kids are so hard! They just called me ‘mean’ in Target. I was so embarrassed!’ I want to shake you and tell you how easy you have it and to hug your kids because they are freaking angels!”
‘Every couple has fought on the way to a party, only to step out of the car smiling. We post pictures of our kids melting down, but never share photos crying after an ugly argument.’
“We have a wonderful marriage. But we also have bad days where I dread the sound of his car pulling into the garage. When I’m really mad, I imagine what my life would look like as a single mom. This is normal. It’s OK.”
‘He started to vomit a green color. Nurse after nurse continued to say everything was ‘normal.’ Even this green bile? ‘Yeah that’s normal.’’
“As his parents, we knew something was off. We were scared, and it was not being validated by anyone.”
‘I curled up next to my son in the hospital bed, careful not to disturb his chemo dripping into his body. We had been in the hospital for 28 straight days.’
“It did not look like we were going home anytime soon.”
‘I tandem nursed until my oldest was 4.5 years old. My youngest is 3.5 years old and is still happily nursing. She will wean when she is good and ready.’
“Sometimes when people hear that my children nurse for much longer than what is seen as normal, they get weird and disgusted. This is exactly why we are so passionate about these photos and normalizing breastfeeding.”
