“My mom chose to birth me during extreme hardship in her life. I was conceived out of abuse, my biological father passed before I was born. She lived alone, with no family close. Regardless, my mom said to me, ‘As soon as I heard your heartbeat and saw you on the ultrasound, I knew I loved you.’ My mom chose sacrifice when she chose life for me.”
‘How could she be a sacrificial mom? She let her daughter grow up in foster care.’ I felt bad for them’: Birth mom let daughter grow up in foster care, ‘She’s my ideal mother’
‘I’m raising a Dollar Tree princess. She could get expensive. You may think, ‘Uh, heck no.’: Mom insists she’s going to raise budget-conscious kids as long as she possibly can
“Listen, I ain’t fancy. I like my purses from Walmart, my sandwiches from Subway, and my clothes from consignment. It’s a bit brazen, just like spending a dollar on something when you could spend $4 on the same dang thing elsewhere.”
‘Please take down your ghoul. It’s scary and inappropriate.’ An anonymous neighbor sent me a letter.’: Mom urges ‘let kids be kids’ after neighbor complains about Halloween decorations
“I was going through the mail that had accumulated over the last few days when I found a letter typed on white copy paper. ‘I hate to sound like a prude, but there are children that live on this street. Please take down your ghoul. It’s inappropriate. Love your cute pumpkins, though!’ My daughter was so excited about hanging up our Halloween decorations. I honestly didn’t know how to feel.”
‘I heard there was a plane crash. Is he OK?’ I was in a cell phone lot with my children, absolutely frozen.’: Woman tragically loses pilot husband in Indiana plane crash, ‘I am honored to be the wife he chose’
“It was just another flight plan headed to Chicago, where my parents reside. I’d been anxiously awaiting to pick up my husband from this flight. We had finally set aside a weekend kid-free. Our hotel was booked, and it was just US! I parked in the cell phone lot at the airport awaiting his text to ‘pull around’ while the kiddos sat in the backseat. I received a call, but I didn’t answer. As soon as it went to voicemail, I got a text. ‘Andrew isn’t answering his phone.’”
‘Does he own a firearm?’ I told the operator ‘yes.’ They found it hidden, loaded, in my daughter’s toys.’: Woman leaves abusive marriage to set strong example for 3-year-old, ‘My daughter’s smile is worth every struggle’
“What they said next sent chills down my spine. ‘It seems he had it loaded and ready to threaten you in case you came back.’ He was arrested and booked that night. I loved this man, madly. I received a call from my husband in jail. ‘Hello?’ His response, ‘I’ll never forgive you for this. You ruined my life.’ I hung up. I knew I had to pull all my pieces together – if not for me, then for her. My daughter would never get to know this side of me.”
‘Sweetheart, you were dead. Your lips were blue. CPR didn’t bring you back. Please don’t get high again.’: Woman battles heroin addiction alongside her mother, gets clean after surprise pregnancy in jail, ‘My son is a daily reminder to do the right thing’
“The nurse at the jail came in with a serious look on her face. ‘Hunny, when was the last time you had sex?!’ I nonchalantly answered, ‘this morning.’ She then asks me, ‘Well, have you been sexually active a lot lately?!’ My fiancé had just gotten home from jail a month ago. ‘Your pregnancy test is positive.’ I broke down in tears, called my fiancé. ‘This is good Brianna. This is your chance to get clean and do the right thing. I finally get to be a dad, please don’t cry.’”
‘What kind of sick joke is this?!’ My heart dropped. A letter in the mail read, ‘I’m SOOOO happy for you! Hope you enjoy these!’: Woman shattered by maternity company’s insensitive marketing after miscarriage
“It felt like a slap in the face. I’m almost certain you didn’t think this through. You didn’t think about the consequences. And now, you can’t take it back.”
‘You’re not going to believe this.’ ‘Look!’ My husband squeezed my hand to comfort me.’: Woman told she lost her baby, but miraculously didn’t, ‘My baby was still there’
“She tilted her head. ‘What did they say at the hospital?’ They said the baby was gone. She looked at me, looked at my husband, and smiled. She pointed at the flicker on the screen. The slightest light, like a little firefly. ‘That right there, that little flicker is your baby’s heartbeat’. I cried. ‘That baby is a fighter, they are hanging on with everything.'”
‘You know if you’d stop eating all those donuts and Frappuccino’s, you’d stop gaining weight.’: Woman fat-shamed by doctors until learning of PCOS diagnosis, ‘Find a health care provider who listens instead of shaming you’
“I was gaining weight pretty quickly, 20 pounds in a year. I finally go back to the doctor, the one who didn’t listen. The one who was losing my trust. She was not happy to hear I had stopped using the Nuva Ring and again tried to get me to start using it. She also went on to fat shame me. After reading my new weight and asking, ‘What’s going on?,’ she shared with me her solution… No joke, this was from my doctor. It was cruel.”
‘Uh, where’s the wine?’ I ask for club soda. Blank looks. ‘Wine. Immediately!’ They don’t know I’m newly sober.’: Woman gives up alcohol and dissects female drinking culture, ‘it shattered me’
“‘Thank God there’s places like this where we can have lady time,’ a woman in a yellow dress says. ‘I’ll be hungover by dinner,’ says another. When did women drinking become self-care? Another group sips champagne through straws. ‘Girl time! We’ve earned this!’ Driving home, I pass billboard ads for Cinnamon Churros Smirnoff. I learn my yoga studio is now practicing monthly wine events. I feel sick.”