“After the initial excitement of having a child wore off, I was ready to start ‘getting back to normal.’ I woke up, got out of bed, and walked past a mirror. I stopped and stared at the person looking back at me. I didn’t even recognize her. The girl I’d known my whole life was gone.”
‘I’d gained 40 pounds while pregnant. ‘I’m sick of feeling ashamed of my body.’ It was like a switch flipped inside of me.’: Mom of 3 shares body confidence journey, ‘I finally love myself’
‘Her cries sounded painful. ‘Did she nap today? Do you think she’s hungry?’ But I knew it wasn’t that.’: Mom navigates daughter’s autism diagnosis, ‘I’m so proud to be her mama’
“She’d fling her head back every night. Her behaviors became violent. I suspected something greater was going on, but I sold myself the idea she’d catch up in her own time. The wait and see remained.”
‘I’m stuck at my parent’s with a baby I don’t deserve. My 19-year-old body was overwhelmed.’: Mom forgives herself for her past, embraces blended family
“‘I don’t deserve to mother him.’ Am I mom or a person? He was too perfect and I was too flawed. I had to forgive myself.’”
‘You don’t have CANCER, GET OVER IT!’ Why is no one hugging me? I couldn’t voice my pain.’: Mom battles PPD, ‘You ARE worthy, it’s ok to ask for help’
“‘SNAP OUT OF IT!’ I was supposed to be the one she never worried about. On the outside, I seemed fine.”
‘I remember being ripped open. ‘Let me tell him I love him. Just once.’ I can hear the final scream.’: New mom battles traumatic labor and postpartum depression, ‘Some stories don’t have happy endings’
“Tears were toppling from my unmoving gaze, the sound of them dripping onto the pillow beneath me was deafening. ‘Please just let me see his face. I can still feel the panic washing over me as my husband left my side. I can still hear the final scream hanging in the sterile air.”
‘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
“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.”
‘There is no end to partpartum. No matter how long it’s been, we’ve changed in a way that can’t be undone.’: Mom urges ‘she still deserves respect and so much grace’
“My youngest is 15 months old, and I wear compression socks. My 7-year-old calls my tummy ‘squishy,’ and I can’t hide the stretch marks. I struggle with hormonal swings and anxiety that made me message two doctors and a nurse friend today. No calendar date or finish line can return anything to how it was before.”
‘I was 18 and woke up nauseous. ‘You need to tell Mark immediately.’ I’d broken off communication with the father 2 weeks before.’: Teen births baby girl, ‘I’d do it a million times over’
“I had one pregnancy test in my drawer and decided to bite the bullet. I watched it load and I could not take my eyes off of it for one second. After 3 minutes, the words appeared… ‘pregnant.’ My heart stopped. I got in my car and made the 10-minute drive to my ex’s house. I just wanted to get to him and hug him. I was carrying his child.”
‘The doctor said, ‘She’s bleeding out!’ I couldn’t breathe. I was told it’s ‘anxiety.’: Woman diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy during twin rainbow pregnancy, ‘I’m one of the lucky ones’
“I thought I wouldn’t be here to raise my babies. I remember thinking I was dying as I closed my eyes. I’m one of the lucky ones.”
‘As soon as you birth your baby, you’re a different person. Take it and run. You’re now a mama before anything else. There is no higher title than that.’: New mom shares candid reality of first-time motherhood, ‘You’re doing an amazing job’
“They don’t tell you you’re going to cry. A lot. You dropped that pacifier on the floor? Might as well throw in the towel. According to your postpartum brain, your partner will NEVER do it right. Your ‘friends’ will drop you like it doesn’t even phase them. You’ll check your baby’s breathing every few minutes. Whether you breastfeed or formula feed, it hurts. Someone will always have something to say.”
