“I was 22 when my head exploded on a Tinder date.”
‘She’s just a stressed millennial and needs to take Valium.’: Woman survives brain hemorrhage, becomes stand-up comedian
‘WHY, of all people, was the nicest made to suffer? I was angry at the world.’: Sister honors brother battling Glioblastoma, thanks community for acts of kindness
“The staff member told me, ‘If it’s Franco’s he wants, its’ Franco’s he’s having!’ I’ll never forget the kindness strangers have shown us.”
‘She gripped my hand. ‘Don’t worry. If they give you a hysterectomy, I’ll have your babies.’ We laughed.’: Woman shares ‘sacrificial love’ of surrogate twin sister after cancer battle
“My twin said, ‘If you needed a kidney, I’d give you a kidney. You just happen to need my uterus.’ This is more than a gift. It’s a dream come true!”
‘Do you ever put that baby down?’ The question was unwarranted and filled with judgement.’: Mom urges ‘just hold the baby, you won’t regret it’
“You’ll blink and they’ll be walking. You’ll turn around and they’ll start running away from you. And you’ll wish you would’ve held them more when they let you. You’ll wish you could rock them to sleep again and watch those little eyes flutter as they’re dreaming.”
‘I’d heard of ‘surprise’ and ‘accidental’ pregnancies. I thought it’d be easy for me.’: Woman births 5 kids through IVF
“No one told me I’d have days where I’d cry for no reason at all. I had no idea I’d have to give myself injections in my abdomen. But I knew I was meant to be a mother.”
‘How could she let her blood pressure get so high?’ The right side of my face went numb and started to droop.’: Stroke survivor details recovery journey, ‘I chose to fight’
“I felt my right leg falling asleep. A few seconds later, I couldn’t move my leg or arm. I yelled for my husband. ‘Allen!’ My speech was slurred. Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what.”
‘Just be happy with the child you HAVE.’ I grappled with the fact I couldn’t carry my own baby.’: Best friends share surrogacy journey
“I didn’t do it because I love pregnancy: I absolutely HATE pregnancy. I did it out of the love I have for ‘my person.’”
‘I remember that scared 13-year-old sitting in a hospital refusing to eat. I think she’d be proud.’: Anorexia survivor donates breast milk
“For years, I couldn’t even manage to nourish myself. 15 years later, I am nourishing my body enough to feed my own baby and many others!”
‘As I passed over bags filled with frozen milk, I knew this was huge.’: Woman donates breast milk to moms in need
“How you feed your child is nobody’s business but yours.”
‘You never know, a miracle might happen.’: Same-sex couple shares beautiful open adoption
“We heard it all. ‘You’ll have no trouble getting pregnant! There are so many things you can enjoy without kids!’ I was crushed in a way I hadn’t known was possible. I felt like part of me had died.”
The Five Undeniable Stages Of Grieving
“No matter what you are grieving – a relationship, job, diagnosis, death, etc. – you will go through all these stages.”
‘Are you having more kids?’ I didn’t want more of my own, but I had a desire to be pregnant again.’: Mom embarks on surrogacy journey
“We had our boy, we had our girl. We felt complete, but the desire to be pregnant again still lingered.”
‘Mom, I signed up to be a LIVING organ donor.’ 5 weeks later, I had a match.’: Woman donates liver to stranger, ‘It doesn’t take a superhero to make a difference’
“It was simple. I had no hesitations compromising a few months of my life if it meant preventing someone else from heartache.”
‘When will I be adopted by another family?’ He couldn’t accept he was safe.’: Adoptive mom talks trauma-informed parenting
“When he came to us, his rap sheet was already long. His mother drank while pregnant and moved without him. We didn’t know how to help this broken little boy.”
‘A psychic took my hand and said, ‘You WILL have a daughter.’ I became obsessed.’: Mom welcomes rainbow baby
“I ate, slept, and breathed getting pregnant. I tried every old wives’ tale and even drank a tonic from our local mystic store owner. I became consumed.”
‘Dear baby, in our hearts, we believe this is the right choice.’: Mom battling infertility pens letter to kids
“Because of the unique way you came into the world, you’ll be a very special person. You’ll be the exact baby we are supposed to have.”
‘They didn’t know he was dying when they took this picture, but he did.’: Widow shares powerful reminder to ‘keep showing up’
“They didn’t know as he stood there smiling, his organs were being attacked by tumors. They didn’t know his lungs, kidneys, stomach, spine, shoulders, thighs, intestines, abdomen – all of it was covered in cancer. And, they didn’t know he would die in just 58 days.”
‘Dear woman in Target, I’ve heard it before. That I ‘spoil’ her. That she’ll never learn to be ‘independent.’ If only you knew.’: Mom urges ‘spoiling her is the most important job I’ll ever have’ after taking in abused orphan
“If only you knew she spent the first 10 months of her life utterly alone inside a sterile metal crib, with nothing to comfort her. If only you knew how we will spend years trying to override the part of her brain that screams ‘trauma’ and ‘not safe.’ If you only knew this baby now whimpers when she’s put down instead of when she is picked up.”
‘So, we just take him home and that’s it, you just trust us with him?’ The nurse laughed. ‘Yep! He’s all yours.’: Mom delivers pandemic rainbow baby after 3 angel babies
“Part of me was joking, but the other part was serious. I hadn’t been able to protect my three babies before him. How was I going to protect this perfect human in the middle of a pandemic? I was terrified.”
‘My birth mom held all 3 of her children. It felt like the earth stopped spinning just for us.’: Adoptee reunites with biological family
“I walked up to the window and began to cry. I put my hands against the glass, and my birth mom, my sister, and my grandmother met them with their own. For the first time in my life, I touched people who shared my blood.”
‘Are you dying? Do you have cancer?’ I had absolutely nothing left to give. In 2 months, I was completely bald.’: Woman raises alopecia awareness
“There was hair on my pillow, the fridge, the shower. Every time I caught my reflection, I could see more of my scalp. I avoided shiny surfaces so I didn’t have to see myself.”
‘We sat in a dark room listening to our baby cry as they pried his eyelids open with clamps.’: Newborn diagnosed with ultra-rare Norrie Disease
“This wasn’t right. I was supposed to be blissfully loading my baby into the car, excited to get him home. Instead, my 5-pound baby, was to have eye surgery at 1 week old.”
‘Can you believe you can love something so much?’ I genuinely said no. I had love for her, but I wasn’t drowning in it.’: New mom says ‘my love took time and that’s okay’
“They pulled her out, and I was unfazed. ‘Do you want to hold her?’ I said no, shocked at my own response. I was so overwhelmed I just couldn’t bear the thought.”
‘He confirmed I was disgusting and worthless. He instilled in my mind there was better out there.’: Woman battles Ulcerative Colitis, finds love after infidelity
“Just last week I was celebrating my birthday and now I’m in the ER with the unknown happening.”
10 Clever Ways To Tame Your Toddler
“The next time your kid is behaving like an a-hole, get on their level.”