“She was perfectly formed. She had long, narrow toes like her Mama, full beautiful lips like her Daddy. It took my breath away. I was in love. When it came time to say goodbye, her little body had already changed. Our sweet baby wasn’t there. We held and kissed her 1,000 times. ‘We will miss you every moment of our lives,’ we told her. We said goodbye to her little body. They carried her away.”
‘What parent wants to see their deceased child?’ They laid her in my arms. I could almost hear her coo.’: Couple loses daughter in tragic ‘freak accident’ still birth, ‘I will not get over it’
‘I’m so sorry.’ We’d lost the baby. I felt devastated for our surrogate.’: Gay dad feels ‘shattered’ after losing baby through surrogate miscarriage, insists he’s still ‘incredibly lucky ‘with family of 3
“We were flying back with our baby 5 days after she was born. We boarded early, and passed a number of men wearing hunting gear, whom I thought may have a problem with our family. But as we sat in our seats, wiping down all the surfaces and trying not to freak out, 2 of the guys in hunting gear came up to us and said, ‘Congratulations, you 3 make such a beautiful family.’ It was an important reminder.”
‘I don’t know who you are, but I know I love you.’ The mother of my son has no clue who I am.’: Father realizes he’d be raising his son ‘alone’ after wife suffers strokes that erased her memory
“When I first met my wife, it was love at first sight. Looking back on that night brings back great memories, but for my wife, those memories are gone. A quick trip to the hospital turned into an absolute nightmare. We found out she had preeclampsia, but by then, it was too late. ‘Steve, this is not easy to say, but she suffered a severe brain injury. She has lost all her memories, long and short,’ the doctor told me.”
‘A doctor said to ‘go lose some weight’ and the symptoms would go away. I didn’t like that answer.’: New mom diagnosed with Bone Marrow Cancer after warning signs misdiagnosed as obesity
“I had unusually high protein in my urine. I was familiar with the old ‘lose weight’ diagnosis. She was almost, like, talking past me. Not present. Asked me questions, literally responded as though I said the exact opposite of what I’d said. I decided to get a second opinion. So, here we are now. I have cancer. I have a 5-month-old baby. I’m not even caught up on Big Little Lies. Definitely not what I expected.”
‘Get me off speaker now!’ She hangs up. ‘We have to go, something happened.’ I see ambulances at the river.’: Woman loses husband in boating accident right after micropreemie daughter regains health, family ‘starting to live again’
“We purchased a vacation home at the river where we could bring our daughter. Our plan was to start showing Emma a world outside of hospitals. We planned an entire summer there, living happily ever after. Little did I know life had a different plan. ‘What happened?,’ I ask. Something inside me knew Danny was hurt. ‘Don’t go to the hospital, follow those firetrucks!’”
‘I didn’t feel sick, I didn’t look sick. Yet, my body was attacking itself AND my baby.’: Woman’s ‘leg swelling’ dismissed as ‘old age’ at 33, later diagnosed with Lupus
“My family and I were on our way to a cruise vacation when my doctor called, asking me to come in. ‘I don’t think you should go on that vacation,’ he said. What the heck?! Oh no, I was going on vacation! Then, he gave me a quick and dirty update on my situation. I felt like I was in a dream state. I started to cry. I pride myself on being very strong and independent, but in that moment, I was TERRIFIED. I wasn’t sure I’d be around to see my children grow up.”
‘I got pregnant too early in my relationship. I went home on my lunch break, positive test in my pocket. I was terrified to hand it over to him, but knew I had to. What were we going to do?’
“I started feeling ‘off’. I burst into tears. Everyone insisted I was just anxious. All I could do was pray my blood pressure went down, and my placenta hung in there. 30 seconds into my scheduled ultrasound, my doctor told me she was taking me to the operating room.”
‘I blacked out and collapsed. ‘We’re taking your baby,’ I heard someone say. I woke up not knowing where I was. I tried to tell them I was in pain, but couldn’t talk.’
“I saw nurses running back and forth. My parents waited for the helicopter to land. ‘They have to do surgery right now or she’ll die.’ My husband pulled over, went behind a building, and cried. ‘How am I going to raise 4 kids alone?!’ My oldest son was too scared to touch me. ‘I’m scared I’m going to hurt you, mama.’”
‘The anesthetist put a mask over my face. ‘Please help me, I’m going to die.’ She replied, ‘You‘re not going to die.’ I thought about the family I was leaving behind, and then it went dark.’
“Mom kept saying to me, ‘You’re in labor.’ I kept replying, ‘No I’m not.’ Ethan and I just kept repeating, ‘IMAGINE, imagine if this is it!’ We were so excited, and so naive of what was to come. I put my chin to my chest and pushed as hard as my body could handle.”
‘I whispered to myself, ‘It’s going to be okay.’ The silence in the room was deafening. I held my breath as the wand slid over my stomach.’
“To the woman who wondered if sharing a photo of a dead baby was necessary on my feed. Yes. That baby, the one you ‘didn’t have time to look away from,’ is my daughter. Her name is Dorothy, and I wish I could see her face right now.”
