“Not able to hold back tears, I cried my way up the aisle.”
‘To the man in 2D – I don’t know you, but I imagine you saw us. I was pushing a stroller and was also lugging an oxygen machine for my daughter.’: Special needs mom thanks stranger for act of kindness
‘We finally got the call. This baby was due in 2 months, and she had a heart defect that would require open-heart surgery. The second I saw her little face, I fell to the ground.’
“I was nervous. I didn’t know if she would understand the baby I was holding is her sister. But when she came to the hospital, she pointed to my belly and said ‘no.’ Then she pointed to Josie and said ‘yes.’ So powerful.”
‘Best Santa Ever’ Gives Blind, Autistic Boy Magical Holiday Experience
“He asked Matthew if he wanted to feel anything and Matthew said, ‘Your eyes that twinkle.’ My heart was so full.”
‘You might look at these pictures, and feel uncomfortable. You might think, ‘I could never ‘share’ my child like that.’ She leaves the hospital with empty arms.’: Mom says open adoption does not equal co-parenting
“During her second trimester she sent me emails letting me know about the SpaghettiOs he was making her crave. She gave us a jar of pink and blue candies and made us count every single one to find out if it was a boy or a girl. They gave them life and I am teaching them how to live it.”
I’m A Big, Messy Contradiction—And That’s Okay
“At the end of the day, the only thing you really have to do in this world is show up, give yourself a little grace, and love hard.”
‘She was known as ‘Baby A.’ My husband and I hadn’t even discussed names when our triplets arrived more than 17 weeks premature.’
“None of our children were expected to survive. And as hard as it is to admit, I was worried about wasting a name. If none of my children survived, wouldn’t I need those names in the future?”
‘My son’s father got diagnosed at the age of 36 with stage 4 colon cancer, we had been together 10 years, our son was 3-years-old’
“I kept my own grief bottled up inside. Months and months later it just comes crashing back like a wave in the ocean and you can’t catch your breath.”
‘I started to get that pit in my stomach, telling me there was a problem. I went to his room. He was laying on his tummy. I patted his butt, thinking he was still sleeping. He didn’t respond.’
“It was like watching a movie. I wasn’t there. I was watching this poor mom kneeling by her baby boy praying and crying, trying to bring him back. I remember standing in the living room with the cops. Thinking, ‘They’ll save him. They have to save him. They can do it.’”
‘I grew up fat. I’d gotten down to eating only 1 orange a day. Then I got the phone call. My mother had died.’: Woman overcomes eating disorder, childhood trauma, ‘Cheers to a new year and a new me’
“My mother was an addict. My senior year of high school it got bad. One day she called me from rehab and told me to get out. I was 17 years old. I packed my bags and have been on my own ever since. My world spiraled out of control. I didn’t know how to cope. The only thing you can ever control in your life is what you put in your mouth. So, I went the opposite direction. I would see how long I could go without eating. I was sick. I knew what I was doing was wrong.”
‘My dad got very angry at me for crying. I was a tiny, 5-week-old baby. He shook me, threw me against a wall.’: Survivor of shaken baby syndrome’s powerful account so ‘other babies won’t have to go through this too’
“I lived with a new family, but things weren’t so good there either. I wasn’t gaining weight and my day care was very concerned about me – a lot of people were, I guess. When DHS finally came to take me, I was found on the floor in animal waste. My new mommy seemed very excited to meet me. I felt safe and loved right away. My new family never left me alone.”