“I didn’t experience the ‘bond’ I often heard of when it came to breastfeeding. But perhaps the ‘bond’ is formed by simply FEEDING your baby? Each time I held one of my babies, I cradled them in my arms as they received their bottle. I knew this was OUR kind of bond.”
‘I was scrolling photos and came across this – 24 bottles of breast milk. This is what a FULL day of feedings looked like for our triplets. We fed every 3 hours, and it was exhausting.’
‘The nurse asked my husband, ‘Are you the FATHER, or just the one she’s pregnant with?’ I hated the disapproving nods, strange stares. I stopped going out in public with my kids. I felt inadequate.’: Mom shares candid reality of being mother to multiple kids
“Getting an abortion scared the crap out of me. I wanted to be the mother who had all her ducks in a row. The mother whose children were well behaved, drank organic kale smoothies, and began reading at 3.”
‘Immediately, I knew there was something different. Her precious little body felt weak and floppy. Looking at her tiny face, I saw it.’: Blended family births 11th baby with Down syndrome
“When I found myself unexpectedly widowed at 39, I couldn’t have imagined what my life would look like 5 years later. We met on a dating site. Blending our families and accommodating the needs of 10 children was a complicated task. Then we heard, ‘I’m so sorry,’ which prompted more tears. It was my job as her mother to be strong and brave, but I doubted my ability to do so.”
‘I can’t go back there; I can’t lose my wife again,’ he told me. ‘I’m not sure I’d survive that.’ We were terrified. Terrified of who I was pregnant.’
“My doctor very clearly advised me I would need to be off my antidepressants if I wanted to get pregnant, so I came off them. The next several months were some of my darkest. My husband was taking care of a wife who, in his words, ‘had disappeared.'”
‘I constantly thought to myself ‘Ashley what the f*ck are you doing? You have no business being a mother.’ I told my family I was okay. I couldn’t let anybody know I wanted to die.’
“My husband wanted love, and I wanted to be left alone. I just wanted to stay home, cry and hug the toilet. My relationship was over, and I lost it.”
‘Is it normal to hate your baby?’ I was desperately begging for God to kill her. What’s wrong with me? I was terrified of what I would do to her.’: Woman overcomes ‘debilitating’ postpartum depression
“I decided I would talk to my OBGYN when I went for my next check up. Little did I know, I wouldn’t be able to make it until then. My mom was going to leave to go home and I begged her not to. I was terrified of what I would do.”
‘We are moving two doors down from my parents. TWO DOORS! We have been living with my parents for 3.5 years now.’
“I was very early on in my triplet pregnancy. We lived in a two-bedroom condo and we knew our lives were about to change dramatically. My parents took us in, and we’ve been trying to save for a home for 4 years now.”
‘My parents knew I suffered abuse. ‘It is not that bad, she will get over it.’ I was alone. Because they doubted me, I started to doubt myself.’
“After another traumatic pregnancy, it hit me like a truck. I loved her so much, but I kept looking at her and thinking, ‘how could you?’ I always thought if I had a baby girl, I would make sure nothing happened to her, like it did to me. But the moment I held her, I realized I couldn’t keep that promise.”
‘After losing twins, we thought we’d paid our dues. Our life’s suffering was now complete. We were wrong.’: Mom loses ‘rainbow baby’ with heart defects, knows she will meet him ‘in heaven’
“We were overjoyed at my pregnancy. New life was coming! But scans and tests told us it’d come with major heart defects, a missing chamber, faulty valves, and an aorta split into 2 pieces. Blindness. Deafness. A cleft lip and palate. Still, doctors were hopeful. Until they weren’t. ‘He’s a sick guy.’ I was told this in a ‘why the long face? didn’t you expect this?’ kinda way.”
‘I was 15 years old and had been caught.’: Woman overcomes eating disorder and surprise pregnancy
“I know how you’re doing it,’ she whispered, then laughed and walked away. I locked myself in the bathroom while my he pounded on the door, begging me to let him in. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t believe what I was staring at. My heart pounded, and my mind raced. Was this real? Was it a faulty test? My baby was so tiny, but he or she was there, in my belly.”
