“We anxiously awaited the phone call. One day led to two days, then three. It was like someone punched me in my stomach 10 times. Our birth mother had disappeared.”
‘I had clothes laid out for her. I left my job to be a stay-at-home papa. This hurts, BAD.’: Dads share disrupted adoption story, ‘I couldn’t imagine life any other way’
‘Twins?! NO. WAY. Are you sure you’re seeing things correctly on the screen?!’ I was nearly 24 weeks along.’: Mom births twins at home, ‘Nothing went according to plan, and that’s okay’
“I went to poop really quick. To my surprise, I sat down on the toilet and felt a head descending. ‘The baby is coming!!!’ I stood up while my baby’s head was being born into my hands.”
‘My doctor said, ‘It’s just part of being a woman. You have a lower pain tolerance.’ I was nicknamed ‘drama queen.’: Young woman diagnosed with endometriosis after 7 years of pain
“I always looked 6 months pregnant. My friendships dissolved instantaneously. My stomach was filled all the way from my bowels to my intestines, reaching close to my heart. ‘If you went on any longer, you could have died.’ Still, no one believed my pain.”
‘Did he think we abandoned him?’ I was still grieving. He hardly slept day or night. I struggled to feel connection.’: Couple foster to adopt, ‘If you don’t get attached, you’re doing it wrong’
“Within minutes, I was holding him in my arms. It was as if my arms had always been missing something. Him. Grief hit hard when he was reunified with mom.”
‘She’s the kind of girl I would marry.’ We were strangers in Vegas. He turned out to be my best gamble ever.’: Military spouse urges ‘let yourself fall in love’ after long-distance relationship
“After parting ways, I sobbed as I walked back to my room. The morning after we met, I awoke to a voicemail. ‘I changed my flight. I want to see you again.’ Our love carried us while thousands of miles, bodies of water, and continents apart. When you know, you know.”
‘Can you take in 3 siblings? They’ve been in foster care 15 months and need parents.’ We cried tears of joy.’: Couple adopt 4 siblings from foster care, ‘They are our heroes’
“Sitting in traffic, my phone began to ring. My husband said very frankly, ‘Yes…Of course…When do you need us to come?’ He whispered, ‘Another sibling was born yesterday. They want him to join our family.’ He didn’t even have a name. I immediately began to cry and shook my head yes.”
‘We found ourselves unexpectedly pregnant during finals week. I feared shame would follow my baby bump and I on campus.’: Young mom urges ’embrace your reality and its surprises’
“We were long-distance, unmarried, and unprepared. A gaping sinkhole opened up and swallowed the ‘normal’ out of this socially well-adjusted, academically inclined, and on-task college kid. There I was, confused and afraid…with life inside of me.”
How A Bath Toy Nearly Blinded My Toddler
“Those tub toys? Just throw them out.”
‘Why are you making me do this?’ My 13-year-old son was helping me install a bathroom sink. ‘Did YOUR your dad make you do stuff like this?’: Dad vows ‘I will teach my son the things my father never did’
“I wasn’t sure how to answer. ‘When I was your age, my dad was in jail. I want to show you how to do the things my father never taught me.’ He thought about what I’d said, and then he asked a question I didn’t expect: ‘Will you show me how to use the caulk gun?'”
‘Where’s their mom?’ She assumed I was kidnapping my son. She didn’t believe me when I said, ‘I’m Dad.’ The suffering of kids in foster care knows no color.’: Single foster, adoptive dad says ‘matching hearts make a family’
“I get strange looks at the grocery store. I don’t fit the stereotype of the absent or minimally involved black father. I am not a weekend dad. I’m here for my kids, always. When questioned about the whereabouts of my children’s mother, I politely say, ‘I am both their mother and their father.’ It’s a big job—but my heart is equipped for this.”