“We went to the store to get the morning after pill. As we stood in line, pregnancy tests caught my eye. Something kept forcing me to look at them. The longer we stood there, the louder this voice in my head screamed to buy one. I told Tim, ‘Let’s buy a pregnancy test instead.'”
“‘Mommy? If you don’t have a midwife… I can help you with the birth.’ I wanted her to be prepared for the home birth of her little brother, so I showed her a birth video. ‘Can we watch another one?’ She was fascinated.”
“It was not over yet. This time it was different. This time CPS came to visit me. She told me I was mentally unstable, and there was an open investigation. My whole world flipped upside down. I begged to not let this happen.”
“The ultrasound photos showed a perfectly formed body, 10 beautiful fingers and toes. Once born, she cried out one time and then fell silent and blue. Her nasal passages were blocked by bone and my placenta was torn to shreds. Avery’s condition was so much more complicated than any of the photos led us to believe.”
“He said, ‘I’d ask you out if you weren’t wearing that wedding ring.’ Newly single, it was the first day of the rest of my life. I had to act swiftly.”
“My husband and I had been married for over 10 years and due to a cancer diagnosis and treatment shortly after college, we were unable to conceive children of our own.”
“I instantly begin crying. ‘Can someone please get the other dad?!’ A nurse says, ‘Sure, where is he?’ ‘Waiting in the delivery room.’ Nick rushed into the recovery unit with the most happy, surprised, and confused look. ‘They are BOTH here?'”
“I cuddled up with my ferocious 5-year-old in bed. She said, ‘keep your hands to yourself.’ Then she smiled at me, and fell asleep. God, I hope for her.”
“I was ready to burst into tears. I was trying to talk to him, because being on your last week of pills is like standing on the edge of a cliff. Everyone heard me, even the pharmacist could hear the panic and my voice quivering.”
“I finally ended my silence and told my dad. His response was, ‘I had a feeling that was what was happening.’”
