“I watched as they wheeled his small body out of the room, shattered I hadn’t even been able to touch my baby. Suddenly, I had to provide for myself and my son. Motherhood already looked nothing like I had expected.”
‘I saw a message from a woman I didn’t know. My husband’s breath caught. I was already pregnant.’: After infidelity, single mom learns to thrive with medically complex son
‘She was sent home with ‘acid reflux.’ She felt like a wet noodle. At 4 months, she was acting like a brand new baby.’: Mom advocates for undiagnosed, medically-complex warrior
“At 6 weeks old, her breathing became worrisome. She had spells of turning blue in the face. She sounded like a baby piglet. The skin around her neck sucked in with every breath. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she was just different.”
‘I can’t breathe.’ His whole body was shivering. His eyes were filled with pure terror and a tear ran down his face.’: Woman shows life-saving kindness to old man, ‘It was my natural instinct’
“It was a completely deserted area: I saw a lone person sitting on the window seat. ‘Sir, Sir?’ I got no response. Against my better judgement, I reached out and touched his shoulder. He lifted his head and looked at me. I threw down the mail in my hand and my purse. ‘Can’t breathe.’”
‘What do you MEAN you did chest compressions?’ I screamed. I won’t ever forget that call.’: Woman births micro preemie with pulmonary hypertension, ‘He never stopped fighting’
“I screamed in agony, convinced they would soon be bringing me back my tiny baby with looks of ‘there’s nothing we can do’ in their eyes. ‘His lungs are bad. Nothing is off the table.’ I kept asking for clarification about what ‘nothing’ meant.”
‘I got the call and instantly threw up. ‘Do you know how sick you are?’ We cried together.’: Young woman with Cystic fibrosis gives tribute to donor, ‘I am forever grateful for the second chance at life’
“I steadily declined. The doctor said, ‘Kenzie, there is what we call a ‘transplant window.’ I need to start the process now before it is too late. My family held hands around my bed. Being rolled away was the hardest part.”
‘The nurse said the word ‘fetal demise’ and my heart stopped. I was disgusted with myself. ‘If you leave, we’ll call it an Against Medical Advice Discharge.’: Mom births NICU warrior amid pandemic
“They refused to allow my husband back upstairs after he got off work, saying my unit didn’t count as a maternity unit. He flipped out. I cried and hid in the dark for two days. I let my husband go. What kind of mother was I to put her life at risk? I finally understood what it meant to give up anything to keep my family safe.”
‘I was unexpectedly pregnant at 40. ‘I’ll never have fun again. I’ll be caring for a child with so many medical needs.’: Mom births baby with Down Syndrome, ‘She is our adventure, not a burden’
“Something magical happened. I loaded her on my back. I couldn’t see her face, but I could just feel she was happy. I would show her the world, and I wouldn’t let her diagnosis stop her from seeing the amazing beauty it has to offer.”
‘Is she going to die? Is she going to be ok?,’ I wailed hysterically. She paused. ‘I hope so.’ I started to see spots. ‘I feel lightheaded.’: Mom almost loses daughter to rapid decline from pneumonia
“It started like any other cold. Runny nose, sniffles, a light headache. ‘I don’t feel good, mom,’ she complained that morning, 5 days before. ‘Me neither,’ I groaned. I was suffering as well, and I assumed we both had the same thing.”
‘I woke up, confused why he hadn’t come to get me. I came downstairs and found him dead on the floor. I was too late.’
“The next day I received a call. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in a while. ‘Hey, remember me?’ It was my dad! I rushed to the hospital in tears. My dad, my best friend, was dying.”
‘When Colton was 6 days old, I walked up to him when he was napping and found his top lip was blue and that he wasn’t responding.’
“Doctors were already prepping him for the incubator before I even could comprehend what was being said. We had to watch our son be hooked to a machine to get the oxygen his little body needed.”
