“Both of my children have autism. Now here we are in self-isolation. I don’t know when our children will return to school. I am, frightened—and if I’m being completely honest—angry. We lost our village.”
‘I hung up my hat as a stay-at-home mom and outsourced my children’s needs to people more capable than myself.’: Mom to children with autism says ‘hope is equally as contagious as a virus’
‘You’re going to be staying with your dad longer than normal.’ I haven’t seen my kids in a week. I tilt my camera to the ceiling so they can’t see me cry as we say goodbye.’: Pediatric nurse practitioner urges ‘we all need to make sacrifices’
“My youngest immediately started crying and said, ‘I don’t want you to die.’ Every day I am in the hospital. My kids can only FaceTime me. I tilt my camera to the ceiling so they can’t see me cry as we say goodbye.”
‘I was 18 and so woven into the mind games I thought was ‘love.’ I couldn’t let go, no matter what I was put through.’: Woman emphasizes importance of self-love after abuse, ‘Learn to give yourself space to grow’
“I entered into the real world of adulthood without the slightest clue of what a healthy relationship looked or felt like. I was searching for that love I could create a life and family with, to make up for the experience I never had as a child. The first bite, that first taste. I all but derailed my entire life in my naivety.”
‘It’s probably just fluid in his ears.’ He had a huge patch of white hair and wasn’t reacting to sounds. ‘I hear Mila Kunis has it too.’: Woman gives birth to son with Waardenburg syndrome, ‘All I see is my perfect baby’
“Over the course of 9 months, it never once occurred to us there could be something wrong. The day before we left the hospital, a nurse casually mentioned, ‘Cooper hasn’t passed his mandatory newborn screening.’ I did a little research. By the time we got the diagnosis, I already knew.”
‘Due to COVID-19, visitors are no longer permitted.’ She was welcoming my mother’s first grandchild, and she was not there to meet him. It broke her heart.’: Woman assures ‘beautiful things are still happening every day’
“My nephew was born 48 hours ago at 34 weeks. After Liam was born, they were able to hold him briefly, until he had to be taken to the NICU due to difficulty breathing. Today was the first time that she was able to have her baby on her, skin to skin. My sister is far from alone in this.”
‘His lips formed the words, ‘No matter what, I want to marry you.’ This was happening. I didn’t want to wait for my forever with Alex.’: Couple ‘start their forever’ with social distance wedding
“We had plans of something great and big to be shared with everyone we loved. I never thought about what would happen to my wedding if a global pandemic struck. Honestly, nobody did. ‘What are you going to do?!’ His grandfather swung open the doors. The flow of love as our would-be guests blared car horns and waved signs broke me into tears immediately.”
‘WE’RE ALL INFECTED. If this or any virus doesn’t kill us, our busy and ingratitude will.’: Woman says the coronavirus has ‘forced us to re-evaluate our lives’
“I have been praying more for others. I have been more understanding of my spouse. It’s not a silver lining because I refuse to call it that. The coronavirus SUCKS.”
‘Both our kids suddenly had a very high temperature. Then the dry cough started and in that second, I knew what we were dealing with.’: Siblings test positive for coronavirus, ‘Please don’t take this lightly’
“We are a fit and healthy family. We eat well. We exercise. The fevers didn’t come down even after meds. Then the dry cough started. I kept hearing, ‘Kids don’t get sick.’ The doctor came out in full protective gear and said, ‘They’re positive.’ Our kids had been symptom free and up to the minute they got so unwell.”
The Harsh Reality Of Being A Pandemic ER Nurse
“Tonight is the last night that I’ll hug my kids goodnight or kiss my husband until god knows when.”
‘Dr. Cocky boldly said, ‘Give me 6 months and I’ll make you pregnant.’ Every negative broke me a little more.’: Woman beats infertility twice, ‘I am so proud to no longer be a statistic’
“My husband asked me when I had my last period. ‘I don’t know, what does it matter?’ I hated that question. ‘I’ll take another test, but you already know the answer.’ I was angry, I had taken so many and every negative broke me a little more, didn’t he see that?”
‘I breastfeed in front of my teens. May ALL teens see breasts whipped out in public and have the mystery of titties ruined for them.’: Former teacher mom calls for normalizing breastfeeding, ‘They can handle it’
“My teens have seen my breasts in their full, uncovered glory. Just like they see hands wiping noses, lips giving kisses to little injuries, and arms embracing small ones. They get it. They can understand. They can handle it.”
‘We have to cancel the wedding.’ In the midst of all the chaos, we thought, ‘What better place to start a marriage than inside our home?!’: Couple elope in living room after pandemic ruins wedding plans, ‘We wouldn’t have it any other way’
“Our RSVP count was 250 people. We looked forward to having everyone we love in one room. Due to the pandemic, we had to make the difficult decision to cancel. We were heartbroken. ‘Wait. We can postpone the wedding, but why postpone our marriage?’ This wasn’t what we planned, but now we wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
‘A month after my father’s death, I decided to give my 2 weeks notice. I need to sort myself out and return to my roots.’: Young woman reconnects to her heritage with DNA test and a refugee
“He died, suddenly. Unfortunately, after his death, his side of my family turned very sour. We lost communication. The only thing I had in terms of clues of where I was from, was the $89 DNA saliva test I took just four months before, and a memoir my Greek Grandfather, Papou, wrote before he died.”
‘They were dropped off sick with pneumonia. The oldest had underwear that had been worn for so long, it had fecal matter stains.’: Stepmom stands her ground against abusive ex-wife, ‘It breaks my heart’
“You want to talk crazy? She requested the judge order him to refer to her as his ‘wife’ and sleep in the same bed as her. It felt like I was in the twilight zone. She even refused to work or support her children financially. She didn’t let him see his children for over a year. It eventually tore my husband and me apart.”
‘The bus was the highlight of her day. She would confidently climb the stairs and hop into her seat.’: Couple buys real school bus for Autistic daughter, ‘The look on her face was worth all the struggles’
“We finally arrived at the location. We all got out and began talking over everything and went to get on the bus to get a thorough look at it. Braylee didn’t miss a beat. She hopped right into the bus, fastened herself right into the harness, and began singing loud and proudly, ‘Wheels on the Bus.’”
‘I went to the hospital in labor. All the doors were locked. When we entered the recovery room, things started to get weird.’: Mom grateful son’s birth timing was ‘untainted by the coronavirus’
“I assumed it was another bi-yearly media drama. I began to get nervous. We escaped with a ‘normal’ birth experience by the skin of our teeth. I held my breath on the way out.”
‘Why are you guys smiling? Don’t you take this seriously?’ We have no ‘normal’ at work. Every protocol we know is thrown out the window.’: Nurse urges ‘hug your healthcare providers, when hugging is safe!’
“We look around at our coworkers and wonder, ‘Who will get it?’, ‘How bad will it be?’, ‘How many patients will we lose?’ We don’t know what else to do but smile. We are trying our best to embrace this new reality-to keep our cool. Underneath, we are scared to death. We are scared, of death.”
‘Should we take our kids to China with us, or drop them in the US?’ The mood on the plane was somber.’: Expats make it back to China to begin quarantine, ‘We’ve been forced to realize just how lucky we are’
“We had fears and doubts in the back of our minds about what would be best for our family. It was in Dubai we discovered there were a few families in our gated community who had been infected, and to add salt to the wound, we discovered my daughter and I had picked up lice. The situation was almost comical at that point.”
‘To be fully honest, if I didn’t stay busy, I’d eat all of the quarantine snacks while standing in my kitchen staring at my phone.’: Quarantined mom urges ‘take it all one day at a time’
“Within a quick 24-hours, I became a full-time-working-stay-at-home-full-time-home-schooling-mom. I had no idea how it was all going to happen. Hell, I’d be happy with a general idea or suggestion of how this all will play out! I know we will figure it out, but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s going to be a lot of building the plane while we fly it. And I have to be okay with that.”
‘I’m going to throw up.’ He looked like an unfamiliar creature. Everything I expected went out the window.’: Woman gives birth to twin preemies at 24 weeks, ‘We knew this would be the greatest fight of our lives’
“A nurse said, ‘Do you want a picture?’ I abruptly said, ‘No.’ I was trying to erase the past 6 hours from my memory. I didn’t even know if my baby would survive. Why would I want a picture or anything that would make me feel attached to this little creature? Baby B was barely alive.”
‘She handed me a bag and said, ‘We want to thank you for what you’re doing. You and all truckers working hard to keep our supply lines open.’: Truck driver ‘touched’ by stranger’s act of kindness during pandemic
“I pulled my truck off to the rest area. I noticed two girls about 7-8 years old climb in the back of a pick-up and pull out cardboard signs. I couldn’t read the writing, but they were jumping around, waving them excitingly at every truck that passed. As I began to pull out, their mom came running towards me, waving her hands for me to stop. I left with a lump in my throat.”
‘Last night, I sat on the house steps after the kids were in bed. 10 minutes alone were the most ‘distant’ I actually was from anyone in the last 8 days.’: Mom of 6 credits exhausted parents, ‘We may be isolated, but we’re never alone’
“She would freak out when I left the room to go pee so I would just take her with me. This is why parents are so darn tired. And why it is even harder with social distancing. We may be isolated, but we’re never alone.”
‘Instead of seeing my son and potentially giving it to him, so he can give it to my parents, I just won’t see any of them.’: Single nurse mom says ‘I am doing my part, and I am now asking you do yours’
“I am a nurse at a Portland area Hospital. I rely heavily on my family to watch my son while I work my 12-hour shifts. But I am also so much more. I am a single mother to a 9-year-old boy. I am a daughter to a mother who has had asthma her entire life. No more hugs, no more kisses. I am making a sacrifice.”
‘I read a status from a fellow teacher. She’d called all 175 of her classroom students, talking directly with 150 of them. We will not give up.’: Teacher working from home says ‘not even global disease can stop our passion’
“I miss my kids. I miss seeing them light up when learning something new. I miss their laughter, conversation, varying personalities, and energy. This is not what I had in mind when I decided over 10 years ago to be a career teacher. We’ve combined powers of cafeteria staff, custodians, aides, and bus drivers to travel home-to-home delivering hot meals to our people. We will not give up.”
‘Do you have any jobs available?’ I was laid off from a great position at a great organization. I had to set aside my pride.’: Woman struggling to find work during pandemic gets second chance at Tesco, ‘No matter what job you work, you are winning!’
“The shelves of the supermarket were bare. I sat for 2 hours, without an appointment, just waiting to be seen. I didn’t even ask how much I would be paid. I was desperate. With the virus getting worse, I was hearing less and less from agencies. ‘Maybe I don’t need to do this?’ I had a great position at a great organization, but all that was gone now. I had to set aside my pride.”