“The nurse lectured me about being active and eating healthy, even though I could clearly see the box of Twinkies on her desk. I made three separate trips to the ER for bleeding. The doctor said, ‘There is nothing to be done now.’”
‘It’s just first-time mom anxiety.’ I was insistent something was wrong. The hours were unnecessarily traumatic.’: Mom mourns loss of baby born sleeping, ‘He came to heal parts of my soul’
‘My dad is the town crackhead. He cried when he met my son for the first time. Every year for my birthday, he gets me a present.’: Daughter to addict urges ‘he was someone before drugs’
“Next time you see an addict on the street and you think they’re just a junkie or piece of garbage, please remember that’s someone’s family, someone’s dad, someone son, someone’s sibling, and they were someone before drugs or alcohol took them over. My dad may be an addict, but he never stops trying.”
‘I noticed a decrease in my milk supply. ‘WTF is wrong with me?!!!’ The guilt was beginning to suffocate me.’: Breastfeeding mom urges ‘fed is best’ after switching to formula
“Stella was nursing very often but having very few wet diapers. I could tell she was losing weight. I panicked and tried all the things. I ate more calories, ordered breastmilk support supplements, latched Stella what felt like a million times a day, then pumped after that. I was suffocating.”
‘He already called 911, begging for help. ‘That idiot is in the hospital. He probably broke his leg.’: Woman loses husband to alcoholism, ‘I’m still healing’
“He used to say to me, ‘Why can’t I stop at one drink?’ It plagued him. He drank. Then he drank a little more. I grabbed the essentials and I left. I thought I was making the best choice possible.”
‘I started binge eating. ‘Do you want to be a boy?’ I was so ashamed of being the ‘fat friend’ of the group.’: Transgender man struggles through eating disorder on road to self-acceptance
“I didn’t quite look like the other girls. I was curvy and had a big chest. I stood in front of the mirror in my grandparents’ bathroom, analyzing the shape of my body. I was peeling off an old layer of me and discovering the depth of my true identity.”
‘Baine woke up crying about stomach pain. He was making whining noises, his eyes not tracking me. I hurried as fast as I could to the car.’: Mom raises awareness about OTC Deficiency in honor of late son, ‘He was the answer to other prayers’
“I made him toast and got him a coke. He seemed better. We talked for a minute and he fell back asleep. His eyes were no longer tracking me. I hurried as fast as I could to the car, carrying Baine in my arms. Within 5 minutes, he was losing consciousness. He was making horrible noises in his seat. He was scared, but he couldn’t communicate. His brain was being slowly poisoned.”
‘Pocket the money you would have spent. Spend it on wine instead. Being a single parent takes an emotional toll.’: Temporary single mom says ‘there’s no magic number that makes a family whole’
“There’s no time for self-care. I have difficulty finding time to even shower. Being a temporary single parent comes with its fair share of difficulties, but it has some pretty amazing perks.”
‘I need all you who lay awake at 2 a.m. to listen up. You’re honest ‘YOUness’ comes out in all the ways. That honesty is a gift.’: Woman says being ‘honestly you’ is needed in our world
“I felt like I had a connection with an elderly couple walking their dog on the side of the road. So, of course, I yelled. ‘Who was that?’ the kids asked. ‘I have no idea.’ They were both mortified. I realize I’ve said something weird, but they can’t see my flaming cheeks while I’m wearing a mask.”
‘I used to read him story books, now he studies textbooks. I wondered if he’d ever sleep through the night. Now, I pray he’ll get home safely at night.’: Mom talks parenting all-grown-up child
“I used to sit on the floor and play with him. Now, I sit court side while he plays. I used to plan play dates. Now, I watch him go out on dates. I used to pray for his health, his happiness, and that I could somehow be the mother he needed… and I still do.”
‘He swiped a tiny nibble from his brother’s peanut butter sandwich. That day, our lives changed forever.’: Mom shares hard-won lessons from experience and allergy community
“People will comment, ‘We don’t have allergies but…’ Honestly? We were given instructions to ‘avoid peanuts!’ Epi doesn’t solve the reaction. It’s a stopwatch giving you time to get to a hospital.”
‘My 2-year-old became lethargic overnight. His balance was off and his features started to droop. I wanted to take back every decision.’: Mom details hearing impaired son’s journey with cochlear implant
“’Everything went perfectly! He’s done.’ If that sounds too good to be true, it’s because it was. His balance was off and his features drooped. Nothing could have prepared me. Our story was not the one I’d hoped for, but it was incredible to watch.”
‘Ethan screamed, ‘NO! How am I supposed to live without her?’ He hit the wall and ran out of the room. She’d gone too long without oxygen.’: Girl loses life to influenza, ‘We miss and love her so much’
“The doctor reassured, ‘Today is the sickest she’ll be. Once the anti-virals kick in, she’ll be on the mend.’ Around 3:00 a.m. I awoke and thought, ‘Finally! The medicine is working.’ I lay there a moment longer and got a sick gut feeling. I said her name and heard nothing. In the police car, there were no sirens. There was no rush to the hospital. ‘This is where I give you the if-this-was-my daughter speech. It’s time to let go.'”
‘One day, you’ll realize you’re serving whole chicken nuggets instead of cutting them into pieces.’: Mom urges ‘you never know when the last day of a precious phase will be’
“One day they’ll want a shower instead of a bath. One day you’ll realize their car seat is no longer facing backward, and you don’t need that little rearview mirror on the headrest anymore. One day you’ll miss brushing their teeth because now they can do it themselves. Before you even know it, that precious phase will be gone.”
‘I have 7 children. They do not give me purpose and meaning. My world does not revolve around them.’: Mom finds meaning beyond her children, ‘I will not burden them with being my universe’
“I didn’t want to be a mother. I knew I couldn’t do this. Parenting involves sacrifice. I have a purpose outside of them, passions and interests that aren’t dependent on them.”
‘I didn’t know that about you,’ said a patient at work. I was embarrassed to be placed in the same category.’: Widow shares why she carries late fiancé’s Narcotics Anonymous key chains
“My first reaction was to be defensive; my second was the opposite. The second reaction came when I realized why I carry these key chains. Jamie was 5 years sober when he bought a pill he didn’t know was fentanyl, and he died. Jamie was 29 years old. He was a dad to five kids.”
‘That new car they just got. The house they built, the trip they went on. You don’t have to keep up, sis.’: Woman urges ‘when you love everything you have, you have everything you need’
“I let someone else’s highlight reel persuade me into thinking I needed to do more, be more, achieve more, make more. I’ve been so distracted lately by the success of others that I’ve taken my eyes off my own. So here I am, with my 11-year-old SUV, and still going strong.”
‘What’s your kid’s biological mom’s name?’ Our kids’ sister had been placed with my best friend. My heart leaped.’: Couple adopts 5 siblings from foster care, ‘There was a greater purpose in it all’
“I picked up my phone and thought to myself, ‘Hmm, I wonder what she’s up to.’ I saw an image I thought was a mistake. It was baby number 4. ’Somehow, someway, send that baby to her siblings.’ I knew in my heart we were going to experience this all over again.”
‘He is nothing short of a miracle.’: Couple adopt boy in critical condition
“‘I don’t think he has any real family.’ The nurse looked up and loudly proclaimed, ‘Noah, your new mommy and daddy are here!’ We both smiled as big as we could at the little boy in the hospital bed with the swollen head and adorable chubby cheeks.”
‘This isn’t normal behavior.’ His lip marks were all over the window. She saved me that night.’: Mother survives grief predator with daughter’s help, ‘There is hope’
“‘Just stop it! Act normal! I don’t even know this person you’re acting like!’ I was sitting firmly in the ‘acute sorrow, helplessness, hopelessness, depression, and despair’ section. I suffered greatly at the hands of this man, and so did my child.”
‘Daddy knows and loves Mrs. Goodner, and I do, too.’ It shocked me.’: Mom thanks teacher for supporting daughter through grief journey, ‘It meant the world to us’
“Her whole world had just come crashing down around her. But she just kept reaching out and hugging her teacher. It shocked me.”
‘Locked in their cells, they saw our deputy fall to the concrete floor. Soon, the entire unit was pounding on their doors.’: Inmates rescue unconscious deputy, ‘There is goodness’
“These inmates had no obligation whatsoever to aid a bleeding, vulnerable deputy, but they didn’t hesitate.”
‘WHAT IF THEY TAKE MY KIDS?’ I dig around the house, opening boxes and leaving folders full of paper sprawled open like a tornado hit it.’: Mom shares ‘one hour in a life with anxiety’
“My brain is on hyperdrive. ‘They’ll probably arrest you, too. But is the gate closed? The dog can escape if the gate isn’t closed.’ Now, it’s 9:30 p.m. and I’m lying in bed having a panic attack because I can’t prove my kids are even mine. The only solution was to get out of bed.”
‘Did you get kicked in the face by a horse?’ In that moment, I saw red.’: Woman shares cleft lip and palate surgeries to give other parents hope
“To tell you I was hurt doesn’t do it justice. In that moment, I saw red. ‘No, I was born with a cleft lip and palate.”
‘Get those kids out of here!’ They began chest compressions. The pictures showed a happy family. Would I ever have that?’: Foster youth becomes adoptive mom after ‘aging out’
“I realized I’d be ‘aging-out’ of care. No one ever adopted me. I had to get a job and work. I needed to save money. I cried. I cried for the sacrifices I was forced to make.”
‘I don’t want to die.’ Tears ran down his face as he held his little brother’s hand. I want to take away his pain.’: Mom says 7-year-old son with rare cancer is ‘a force to be reckoned with’
“He started wearing his winter coat throughout the day and complained he was cold. I noticed he had some swelling on his privates. In my gut, I had a bad feeling something just wasn’t right.”