“After a dreadful ride home, I walked into the bathroom with my mom. 16-year-old me stood there, already knowing what the outcome of the pregnancy test would be. Two lines. My mom and I started crying. I fell to my knees. ‘What am I going to do? I was supposed to graduate. I was supposed to go to college.’ My mom looked down at me, ‘You will.'”
‘On the bus to school, I texted my boyfriend, ‘Is it possible I could be pregnant?’ Only 16, something inside me knew.’: Teen mom of 2 shares young motherhood journey
‘Everything would change between us,’ he said. I didn’t want to wait to be in a relationship.’: Single mom by choice shares high-risk pregnancy journey
“I cried my eyes out. They chalked it up to being more prevalent if you were young, Black, and poor. I prayed she would be born alive.”
‘Is this about YOU having a baby or US having a baby?’ I lost faith.’: LGBTQ couple has daughter after infertility, ‘She’s the bridge to our heart’
“‘Are you going to help to find a donor?’ She said, ‘I’m sure you’ll pick a good one.’ I was crushed, but said nothing.”
‘The night I found out, I circled the kitchen island, repeating, ‘God! I PRAYED for her!’ I was SO angry.’: Woman describes healing after little sister’s suicide
“When I say her name, I don’t imagine a hospital bed and a funeral. No, I imagine her great, big smile that lit up an entire room. I imagine her laugh, her soft hands and perfect pixie nose. I imagine her holding a flower crown on her head, the wind softly blowing her hair.”
‘Daddy, what did you do?’ Our charcoal grill was sitting in the middle of the room, towels blocking the windows. I started screaming.’: Woman shares grief of losing father to suicide
“One day, my dad handed me half of a rock. He pulled out the other half and said, ‘If you ever miss me, put the two halves together. Then it’ll be okay and we’ll be together.’ I didn’t really understand, but I took the rock.”
‘Look what Mama let me get!’ She’s the cool one, I’m the mom who cleans up the mess.’: LGBTQ mom says, ‘They have two moms, we can’t both be cool’
“To all the non-cool parents out there, I see you.”
‘At 18, I had my WHOLE life ahead of me. It was a FREAK incident.’: Woman endures random back injury, leading to chronic pain, ‘I’m strongest when I embrace myself’
“I began leaking spinal fluid, and it soaked through my sheets. My parents were told they needed to prepare themselves to lose me.”
‘We ask each other ‘real’ questions. This is real friendship, and it is scary.’: Woman’s advice on close friendships, ‘Be the kind of friend you are hoping for’
“In high school, friendships were easy. Once I turned 30, I didn’t have the patience anymore for the superficial.”
‘Really? But you’re so young! You have your whole life ahead of you! How can you know what you want yet?’: Young married couple celebrating 11-year anniversary offer newlywed advice
“Marriage is work, yes. But I’m here to tell you newly engaged, newlywed people—it’s working at your dream job. The one you’ve always wanted. With the person you’ve always wanted to work with. Some days suck, but at the end of the day, you wouldn’t wanna work anywhere else.”
Please Stop Asking Women When They’re Having Babies
“Today, I literally had to hold the tears in while my lips quivered under my mask.”
‘She’s my best friend, but she knows I’m her mother. She has a safe space when she needs one.’: Single mom shares growth journey
“I’m a mother when I need to be because I’ve set boundaries. We have an open relationship where we can talk about everything. She trusts me. Even though she’s my daughter, she’s such an inspiration.”
‘Will you be giving birth here or in the States?’ As soon as I heard that heartbeat, I knew my life was about to go down a very different path.’: Single mom travels the world with daughter
“We’ll be moving forward, hand in hand, for the rest of our lives. I’ve searched the world for love and she was within me the whole time.”
‘I survived off of cigarettes and energy drinks.’: Woman battling eating disorder urges ‘you deserve recovery’
“I choked down an orange while holding back tears. I felt so weak for getting help, for eating an ORANGE. It was one of the bravest steps I’ve ever taken for myself.”
‘That’s all we were, Facebook friends. Until one day he commented, ‘Would you like to go on a date?’: Woman grieving soulmate to random act of violence gets ‘wink from heaven’
“From the second we saw each other, we had a connection like we’d known each other for dozens of lifetimes. Only 5 years later, he would be found lying on the side of the road. Just as I was questioning if he was in heaven, a 2-year-old saw something.”
‘The morning AFTER walking the stage and receiving my diploma in active labor, I delivered a handsome baby boy.’: Teen mom shares son’s autism diagnosis
“Just a day out of high school, I’d become responsible for a whole new life. I was in complete control of our future… until I wasn’t. I put it on the back burner, thinking maybe he’ll ‘grow out of it.’”
OCD Is So Much More Than Cleaning Obsessively
“It is debilitating, mind warping, and disturbing.”
‘FAMILY. We’re your people. You’re safe here.’: LGBTQ mom shares moment of ‘community’ on playground, ‘It gave me comfort I wasn’t alone’
“Her openness in this moment was a ‘Hey, Family.’ It’s about recognizing your fellow human who knows how it feels to avoid glares of judgement. I had forgotten what it had felt like to be recognized like this by a stranger.”
‘My mom died without knowing what happened to me.’: Woman hides sexual abuse for entire life, loses mom
“He was always trying to get me to go places alone with him, bribing me with presents. Funny, he never did that for my brother.”
‘6 months after Scott’s death, I woke up and decided it was time to take a pregnancy test.’: Widow births IVF baby after husband’s sudden death, ‘He’s the medicine my heart needed’
“‘I’ll call you when we land.’ My phone started going crazy. Holding his hand, I promised him I would move forward with building our family.”
‘Follow me mom. I’ll protect you.’ I realized this wasn’t just an iPad game. This wasn’t just another screen time activity.’: Boy finds comfort ‘healing’ mom with breast cancer in Roblox game
‘In our world of surgeries, doctors appointments, and chemotherapy, he is powerless. In Roblox world, he can protect me. On our couch, tapping our screens, we both rediscovered our strength.”
‘Oh my God! There’s another one here!’ I thought she was just mocking me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.’: Single teen mom raises awareness about alopecia, ‘You are not alone’
“I went speechless. They were scared to tell anybody because people would make fun of them. Our imperfections don’t define us.”
Slow Down, Breathe, And Follow Your Child’s Lead
“When time permits…you will see the wheels turning in their heads, the excitement of not knowing what will happen next, the gleam in their eyes as new experiences unfold before them.”
‘I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like you’re only meant to carry two babies at a time.’ It was a culture shock.’: Woman births three sets of rainbow twins
“The days of having a perfect, tidy home are gone, but the mess is daily proof that every needle plunged into my skin, every surgery, every hateful comment, and every disappointment was completely worth it.”
‘We have a 3-day-old baby with drugs in his system and no family to take him. Can you get to the hospital in 2 hours?’: Family of 5 adopt son from foster care
“He filled a void we didn’t even know was there. Blood doesn’t make a family, love does.”
‘Grace, who do you want us to adopt?’ My eyes burned with tears. I could hardly look at them.’: Sister of adoptees shares perspective, ‘I wouldn’t change our story’
“‘Are we adopting a baby?’ There wasn’t a hint of concern in my entire body. Adoption was the hardest thing my family ever went through, but it made us stronger.”