“Mothers so often come last.”
I’m A Doula To Hold Mothers, Not Babies
‘I am not sure how you do it.’ More than one child is rushed to the emergency room at once. If I’m being honest, I’m not sure either.’: Special needs mom births 3 children, fosters and adopts 8 more
“After having my own accident that caused a permanent disability, I had to advocate for myself and my kids. 8 of 11 of them are special needs. There are many days I want to pull my hair out, but I never look back and think, ‘Why me?’ I am forever grateful to be their mama.”
‘My husband said, ‘Emmy go put on your Elsa dress, I feel like dancing.’ Minutes later, he came down the stairs dressed as Anna!’: Dad surprises family with Frozen dance during quarantine, ‘Even through a pandemic, he keeps us grounded’
“I’ve been sick for over 3 weeks with what we suspect is COVID-19, so my husband has had to stay home to watch our kids. Today, I have fallen in love with him all over again. He truly will do anything in his power to make us all smile.”
‘I see you spend day after day raising your sweet babies, aching to get her reassurance you are doing it all right.’: Woman pens touching letter to ‘the mother without a mother’
“I see you aching for those phone calls, those visits, those reassurances, those moments. I see you thinking time and time again, ‘If only I could call mom right now to ask her.'”
‘My innocent son was already born a stereotype. He has to fight to prove his worth, because of his skin.’: Mom and son run in honor of Ahmaud Arbery, ‘Don’t turn a blind eye’
“Today I cried heavy tears. Today I ran with my 9-year-old who has no clue how cruel this world can be. One day, I will have to explain all this to my compassionate and loving son.”
It’s Time To Stop Treating Young Boys Like Grown Adults
“Emotion is normal. Wanting love and comfort is normal. What’s NOT normal is telling a child or another parent that holding them past the age of one isn’t okay.”
‘Mother’s Day didn’t mean as much to me when my mom was still alive as it does now that she’s dead.’: Woman feels ‘lucky’ for time with mother before passing
“My mother passed away just before Mother’s Day, and just before what would have been her birthday. Now, Mother’s Day without a mother weighs down on me each year, a heaviness on my chest. It’s not a sharp pain. It’s an empty feeling that’s hard to shake.”
‘The birth-mom changed her mind, AGAIN.’ My eyes filled with tears of joy. She chose to give him the best life she could.’: After miracle preemie, woman becomes adoptive mom
“We had already arrived at the hospital to let her know we forgave her. The nerves were high. ‘Who are you?’ the nurse asked. They were surprised to see us. We contemplated leaving, but received a text: ‘Come back and meet your son.’ We were in complete shock.”
‘Just get out of bed and work out.’ A darkness set over me. I was in the therapist’s office at 6 weeks pregnant.’: Woman shares reality of prenatal depression, ‘I hope women feel understood, not abandoned’
“Within a week of getting a positive pregnancy test, I could barely function. This darkness was scary and not something I had the tools to combat. It was like I was gone, and there was no magic solution to get me back.”
‘He went into a silent seizure. We heard ‘code blue’ over the loudspeakers. ‘If it’s his time, let him go.’ My mama heart just knew.’: Mom loses son to fatal Sanfilippo syndrome, ‘God entrusted me with the most beautiful human’
“We knew the symptoms would get worse. That one day, the smile that made my heart flutter would lose its spark. We were on ‘borrowed time.’ The parademics tried to resuscitate him. His heart stopped beating 3 times. Until his very last breath, Lucas made sure we had the time we all needed to know he was at peace.”
‘He let out a big sigh. ‘I feel funny asking, but does Autism last forever? Will he have it when we are old and in heaven?’: Mom to autistic son urges ‘have the emotional and honest conversations’
“I didn’t answer right away. I wanted to listen. He went on to say, ‘I remember when I was little mama and Cooper had it. I couldn’t figure him out. I used to think he was from a different planet because he screamed all the time.’ He sighed. ‘I just wish sometimes it would go away so we could talk.'”
‘My oldest son has said, ‘The school officer treats the black kids meaner. It gives me anxiety.’ I’d never tell you that at the ripe age of 14, my son ‘fits the description.’: Mom says ‘my mama heart breaks for reasons you’ll never fully grasp’
“I don’t tell you that even though we are careful not to watch these awful videos of unarmed people getting shot, your children are showing them at school. That my son has said the words ‘I can’t breathe’ when seeing a police car. I need you to love them like you love your own sons, because my mama heart cannot handle another man being shot that looks like my brothers, cousins, uncles, and sons.”
‘Her mother told me she could no longer be friends with me because I was black.’: Woman says ‘you can change the world’ in wake of Ahmaud Arbery death
“We snuck around town stealing moments of friendship when we could. I want something different for my 7-year-old daughter.”
‘I started telling my 5-year-old, ‘I can’t wait to meet the boy or girl you bring home to mommy when you grow up.’ I always get shocked eyes.’: Mom says ‘I want my children to know I will always love them’
“I always get comments, looks, and shocked eyes when I say that. The fact that I don’t assume he is going to grow up and marry a woman is shocking to many people.”
Being A Stay-At-Home Mom Is Drastically Harder Than I Thought It Would Be
“Without a full-time job weighing me down, I was going to be the domestic goddess I had always dreamed of becoming. A cookie-baking trophy wife who worked out regularly, kept a beautiful home, and had a fiery libido. Needless to say, I am none of those things.”
‘Snap out of it, Christina! This will end, they will go back to school.’: Special needs mom gives advice for stages of grief, ‘Just make it to acceptance’
“Those first few weeks, I feel like we were all in denial. I know I was. My practical self found its way to bargaining. I’m not going to lie, I did convince my wife to let us get the trampoline. Give yourself a little grace.”
‘My psychiatrist called to ask about Mother’s Day. ‘Can we just skip it this year?’ My mom’s response was an emphatic, ‘No!’: Mom who lost daughter to epilepsy says ‘happy Mother’s Day to all, we’re with you’
“Last year my mother and mother-in-law spent a combined eight weeks living with my family as we prepared for the end of my daughter’s life and grieved her afterward. I’ll survive the day, because it is just that, one day and I’ve survived much worse.”
‘I texted my husband. ‘I’m really scared. I can’t sleep at all.’ I had NO symptoms. ‘I’m sorry, the biopsy tested positive.’: Breast cancer survivor advocates for early detection, ‘Cancer has taught me what is most important in life’
“That night, I could not sleep at all. So many things ran through my head. I was also grieving the sudden death of my father. ‘I’m sorry, the biopsy tested positive.'”
‘It doesn’t end for us on the frontline. You see, we take it all home with us.’: Nurse urges ‘love on your people as much as you can’
“I started my 12-hour shift with two COVID positive patients. I ended my 12-hour shift without both of them. We don’t want to take you away from your loved one. We don’t want to see your eyes fill with tears from the reality sinking in that this is probably the end. We don’t want YOU or YOUR loved one to become the next statistic.”
‘Yesterday, it happened. Complete panic and total rage. And I took it out on my husband, who doesn’t deserve it.’: Woman struggling with anxiety says ‘love suggests you should say you’re sorry anyway’
“After I calmed down, I told him I was sorry. I felt terrible. ‘You don’t have to apologize. But thank you.’ What would make him say that? I thought a lot about it. But I’ll give it to ya straight. I always thought that was a bunch of crap.”
‘I got a bad cold. Within 24 hours, I was fully paralyzed. Parents pulled their kids away like I was contagious.’: 12-year-old girl with Acute Flaccid Myelitis finds joy despite paralysis, ‘I love life and the people in it!’
“We all got a bad cold. They got better, but mine got worse. Three days later I was paralyzed and put on a ventilator to breathe. I was sedated and missed my birthday.”
‘She cried, then I cried too. Six years and three kids later, I still feel like that new mom again, waiting for the moment it all clicks.’: Mom says ‘even when it feels impossible, you will keep going’
“I’m still waiting for the moment where I know exactly what I’m doing. Because truth is, I rarely do. While I don’t always feel like Mom of the Year—I still feel like a mother. Her mother. And most days, a pretty good one.”
‘You have always been my loudest cheerleader. I never knew…but now, I know. You are not just my mom, you are my truest friend.’: Woman pens touching Mother’s Day tribute, ‘You taught me how to be a mother’
“I was still 15 and so you drove me the 30 minutes there, stayed in the car doing your nursing school homework during the 3-hour rehearsal, and then drove us the 30 minutes home. Every single day.”
‘Didn’t think prom would be breaking it down in the cheese isle of festival foods with my father, but it was a good time.’: Father treats daughter to fun night after missed prom, ‘We can’t make up for their losses, but we can love them through it’
“It should have been her prom. But instead, she is in the car with her father, taking her first trip outside these walls since March. A ride to the store is a treat that brought tears to her eyes tonight.”
‘I will not be there for the moment I become an aunt. Today, I’ll wait. I’ll pray. I’ll count the seconds until my sister calls and says, ‘Meet your nephew.’: Aunt-to-be says ‘my love cannot be quarantined’
“I will not be there for the priceless moment my sister becomes a mother. But a piece of me is with her in that car, headed to the hospital. A piece of me that cannot be hidden, or quarantined, or kept out. It’s a sister’s love.”