“It’s the club no one wants to join.”
‘Will this be the month?’: The Secret Life Of The Infertile Woman
‘Why are you seeking a diagnosis?’ They didn’t believe me. I was an imposter living a neurotypical, picture-perfect life.’: Woman diagnoses herself with autism after decades of ‘masking’
“When I was out during the day, I was being who people needed me to be, then I would come home and put my dukes up. I felt like an imposter in the life I had built.”
‘Do you want to hold your baby?’ Through tears I repeated, ‘No, you need to keep trying.’ Matthew had been fighting to live well before he was born.’: Mom details life and loss of preemie child, ‘Andrew and Allison are here because, not instead of him’
“What Matthew lacked in size, he made up for in personality. ‘God, if you’re going to take him, please let me be there with him.’ I was determined to squeeze in every second I could.”
‘Is it strange to be pregnant with someone else’s baby? The seed was planted. ‘Go meet your daddies.’: Woman ‘honored’ after navigating surrogacy journey twice
“I asked if I could see her face for a moment before they took her. We heard her crying and they brought over this new, perfect baby. I kissed her cheek, welcomed her to the world and told her to go meet her daddies.”
‘I yelled, ‘Someone tell me what is wrong!’ Tears streamed down my face. I knew something was different about this pregnancy, and it was NOT just the pandemic.’: Teen mom turned special needs mom shares journey with Down syndrome
“I was 16 and pregnant. A statistic, as most saw it. ‘I cannot do this, I’m not cut out for this.’ I remember thinking our life was over, but little did we know, it was just starting.”
‘She’s going to slide right out, right??’ Suddenly, my midwife’s eyes went wide. The color drained from my face.’: Mom survives extremely rare Group Strep A placenta infection, delivers miracle baby
“This never happens. EVER! My white blood cell count went from 16, already a little high, to 38,000. Yes, you read that right.”
‘You’re just a worried mom. I’m sure he’s fine!’ She placed the probe on my belly and gasped. ‘How did you know?’: New mom shares ‘powerful’ intuition about son’s cleft lip, ‘I’ll continue to stand up and say something’
“I’d never met anyone with a cleft. I’m not sure if I’d seen one in person either. I had no knowledge of them, but I absolutely knew my son had one. The tech gave me a big hug. ‘You have a powerful gift.’ I knew I was ready to tackle anything.”
I Don’t Have A Natural Motherly Instinct, But I Am Still A Good Mom
“After 10 hours of labor, they placed her in my arms. As soon as the nurses left the room I turned to my husband and said, ‘What do we do?’ I was terrified. Everyone told me my motherly instincts would kick in. 3 years in, they still haven’t.”
‘I could feel in my soul something was off about this pregnancy. ‘We can’t find anything worrisome.’ They were missing something, and I knew it.’: Couple uproot themselves for son’s Angelman Syndrome diagnosis, ‘He is our little angel’
“‘He doesn’t have it.’ We hit a dead end. Knowing we needed to be exposed to new doctors, we put a poll on Instagram with three different states. We put our home on the market, sold it and all our furniture with it within 24 hours, and moved from Utah to Texas.”
‘We need to deliver this baby NOW!’ The NICU is a dance between life and death. We took one step forward, three steps back.’: Mom of micro preemie to become nurse, ‘I’m giving back’
“Our journey was a rollercoaster. It’s wanting to hold your child, but knowing it is best you don’t sometimes. It’s yearning for normalcy in a world of the unfamiliar. For me, there was no greater fear than going back.”
