“When you return home empty handed, you also face sleepless nights. You will be exhausted, but you find it hard to sleep. You know that waking up means living in a nightmare.”
‘Just you wait,’ they say with a knowing smirk, ‘life with a baby is exhausting.’ I’m here to tell you that life without the baby is exhausting too.’
‘He had ‘no idea’. I waddled up the driveway with terror of dropping my insides out on the cement.’: Woman recounts emotional miscarriage, ‘My husband was pale, quiet’
“I looked in every bloodied towel, piece of clothing, and bathroom for a sign of a precious life to bury. I whispered to myself, ‘Why are you doing this?’ In a fog of confusion, I quietly sobbed.”
‘The doctor handed me a bunch of pamphlets and spoke the words, ‘We feel this fetus is not compatible with life.’: Mom chooses to birth baby who now ‘very much LIVES LIFE’
“I stopped her right there. ‘I don’t care what this baby has or doesn’t have, I WILL be delivering this baby.”
‘On my honeymoon, I had an ‘is this it?’ moment. Your mind says that’s crazy. You’re crazy. I don’t see another way to escape this rabbit hole.’
“Friends, don’t say, ‘If you need anything let me know.’ We won’t. We won’t tell you. We never want to be a burden.”
‘He had the neighbor watching me. ‘Bet you weren’t even raped.’ ‘Were you drinking?’ No one knew who he really was. I never thought these were red flags.’
“I found out he had been cheating on me. He convinced me it didn’t really happen and he went back to being the perfect guy. I couldn’t escape. I pushed on his chest and said, ‘No, I don’t want to.'”
‘You can’t leave me until we’re married.’ I ran to the jewelry store for a ring. I told her she was my life. She smiled as she looked up.’: Man marries ‘best friend’ 19 hours before she passed away
“When I spoke to the chaplain, he advised me his schedule was open until the 16th. My response was, ‘I was thinking tonight at 7:30.’”
‘I went to the bathroom 10-12 times a day. Each time, I sat crying and begging for it to be over. Then, the last straw. My bottom ripped open after a 2-week recovery.’: Woman’s journey with Crohn’s and perianal disease
“As I opened my eyes, I could see the blank white ceiling, hear the sound of alarms going off, and feel the indescribable pain spread across my body. The surgery was successful, but did that mean I was okay?”
‘By age 9, I had thoughts about my own funeral. I wondered who would attend. Mom would find my Barbie dolls with notes like, ‘I want to die.’ Not at all normal for a child to be saying.’
“I remember telling my parents, ‘I love my life.’ That would soon change.‘ I lost the majority of my friends due to bullying. ‘I couldn’t even kill myself. I’m a failure.’”
‘We decided to fight for Oliver. His dad said, ‘If you’re in, I’m in.’ I was extremely nervous. He looked right into my eyes the moment we met.’
“What would we tell his big brother? The results came back negative, so we were left with no answers. I was then approached by a family member who informed me of a syndrome that had affected boys born into my family in the past.”
‘Why didn’t you call the police?’ ‘I would have fought back.’ ‘Well, why didn’t you?’ ‘You got married really young. Did you see the signs before you were married?’: Woman ‘angry’ she was never ‘educated on what abuse is’
“I would hear the words, ‘I want a divorce,’ for the first time, on our honeymoon. A friend had an intervention with me. An aunt told me, ‘You know, you don’t have to do this,’ right after we were engaged. I remember scoffing, thinking, ‘All it takes is commitment.’”