“I went back to work after maternity leave. I felt pretty good about the babysitter I found. She had a baby of her own whom she stayed at home with. I met her boyfriend (father of her baby). For two weeks, I went over on every lunch to check on him. Then I got the phone call.”
‘Caleb fell off the couch. Something is wrong,’ my babysitter’s boyfriend told me. My heart stopped! ‘I’ll be right there!’ She was holding my son who was NOT crying. His eyes were closed.’
‘The guy who brought me to the party passed out. I should have left him, but I’m a loyal person. I fell asleep and was awoken by a man’s body on top of mine. I couldn’t move and yelled for help.’
“I remember telling my mom, ‘I would die if something happened to you.’ She always reassured me, ‘I’m not going anywhere Erica.’ I whole-heartedly believed she would live forever. Then she started complaining of severe headaches. Selfishly, I thought, ‘Well if God took my Grannie, he can’t take my mom too.'”
‘I got a call from Wyatt’s father. He was rushed to the ER because he was ‘breathing funny.’ My first thought was, ‘Who the heck was Wyatt left alone with?!’ My heart dropped into my stomach.’
“My husband stopped coming home at night. All he would say is, ‘I’m trying to find myself,’ ‘Not sure if I was ready to be a Dad.’ The woman he was having an affair with, I heard a rumor she didn’t have custody of her own children. It was a red flag. I couldn’t ignore this feeling. I had NO idea what I was walking in on.”
‘They called for another baby!’ Henry and his twin brother were born micro preemies. Sadly, his twin passed away. Henry was put into foster care. I stood there staring at the message.’
“We got the call when he 10 months old. At the time, my husband and I were fostering a baby girl suffering from shaken baby syndrome. We had already adopted 3 children, all who have special needs. I waited for my husband to get home and met him at the door.”
‘There is something wrong. She won’t open her eyes and is very weak.’ I drove to the babysitter’s house like a rocket! I collapsed in tears. Everything was chaos after that.’
“At lunchtime, I received a call no mother should ever receive. Who could be capable of hurting our baby? We trusted everyone around her.”
‘I found out months before meeting Jorgie we were unable to have biological children. We were devastated. We just couldn’t understand at the time. Until we met him.’
“Taylor was 10 months old when she was shaken and abused. They called again, but this time it was for a 2-month-old baby girl born addicted. Everyone thought we were crazy for considering another child with so many needs, but if not us, then who?”
‘You gotta believe me, I didn’t do it.’ Those are the words that were said to me, as I got into the car and saw my lifeless child in the backseat.’
“I had just come back from my break when Steven burst through the doors of the store and told me I had to come with him immediately. I raced out to the car, where I saw Logan, in his car seat, turning blue.”
‘I realized I had missed 20 calls from my mom. The night before, her father picked her up and took her home with him. I arrived at the ER very confused. All I remember was her yelling and crying.’
“‘We think you hurt your daughter.’ I burst into tears and cried, ‘There’s no way, I would never hurt her!’ The investigator said, ‘I am sorry I had to do that to you, that is how we expect someone to act when told that. Your husband isn’t acting how we would expect him to.’”
‘He asked me if he could murder the baby now. His father had been alone with him for 2 hours and everything had been fine.’
“I didn’t even make it through my first day back from maternity leave. At 2:30 I got the message every mother hopes they will never get. ‘Xavier stopped breathing. Come home now.’”
‘I was punched in the face by a man who claimed to ‘love me so much.’ Then he said, ‘Now I’m going to call my mom to let her finish the job.’’
“He said, ‘Something is wrong with Wyatt.’ I open the shower curtain and see him holding my son out. I thought his neck was broken.”
