“I was cutting my son’s hair on a Friday afternoon when I noticed his head looked a bit different. His forehead popped out quite a bit and the top of his head was higher than the back. Months later, we noticed our puppy was becoming more and more sleepy. He was having a hard time standing on his legs and would get winded very fast. ‘The odds of them both having this are astronomical.’ The news hit me like a brick. Thanos and Branson were meant for each other.”
‘The vet said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this in my 35 years. The odds are astronomical.’: Boy battling craniosynostosis finds puppy with rare, nearly identical brain pressure condition
‘Hey, Mrs. Norman. Can you take a 4lb premature baby? We really need a place for him to go.’ Newborn? Baby? Preemie? ‘Are you sure you’re asking the right family?!’: Woman unexpectedly gets call to foster preemie baby
“‘Is that a yes? We can meet at Walmart. Thanks so much.’ Meet at Walmart? With a 4lb preemie? In the middle of cold and flu season? I kept my children in isolation for 6 weeks and here was a newborn heading to his first outing in the middle of winter. It was all too much to take in. I had no idea what our future with him might hold, but I did know this: no baby deserves to be alone.”
Mom Famously Gave Birth At 57; 4 Years Later She Admits She Was ‘Too Old’ To Have A Child
Susan Tollefsen of Britain was in her late fifties when she became the country’s oldest first-time mother.
‘The doctor said, ‘I don’t want you to think everything is okay. It’s not. Your baby’s hands are fused together,’ then left the room.’: Mom to son with Apert Syndrome urges for kindness, ‘It’s the best gift you can give’
“‘I’m sorry, but he will definitely have mental issues and live in a home.’ The doctor told me to go home. The second I made it to the car, I lost it. I was crying uncontrollably. I called my husband, but I couldn’t get anything out. ‘Ashley, I need you to PULL OVER. I’m coming to get you.’ I couldn’t, I was so distraught. I just wanted to get home where no one could see me.”
Adoptive Mom Advocates For Inclusion After Haitian ‘Shoeshine Boy’ Rejected From Multiple U.S. Schools
“You cannot deny a child an education based upon his nationality.”
‘This pair I worked doggedly to keep together until the end, will be separated, condemned to die alone, and cared for by strangers.’: Social worker urges medical planning, ‘Your loved ones are worth it’
“I watched in horror as the Leviathan of our legal and healthcare system grabbed this couple and sucked them into the abyss, pulling them out of my hands. I fought with everything I had to secure this couple a happy ending. As one patient said to me, ‘Getting old is not for the weak or poor.”
‘The nurse handed my daughter back. I instantly noticed her teeny tiny ears. ‘Do you think she has IT?’ I looked at my husband in fear.’: Mom of 3 births baby with down syndrome, ‘She is the most amazing human I’ve ever met’
“I thought my husband would tell me to stop being so dramatic and ridiculous. After all, I was only 32 and I had a 0.0014% chance. Instead, he looked back at me, glossy-eyed, and said, ‘Maybe.’ My heart sank. The nurse unswaddled my baby and stared as my eyes filled with tears. I felt like my life, as I knew it, was over.”
‘The word ‘miscarriage’ sounds like the woman miss-carried and she’s to blame for her loss. And you know what, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.’: After miscarriage, woman says ‘there is pain because there is and was love’
“I was pregnant for a few short days with baby #4 only to have that ‘PREGNANT’ reading turn to ‘NOT PREGNANT’ in a matter of 72 hours. I had gotten excited. I had told the kids. When a woman miscarries, she will never not be carrying the pain of that loss within her. I beg you, don’t dare miss a chance at being there for her. It was me. It could be you. Or it might be her.”
‘Your tattoos will get in the way of a real job.’ I learned to collect his affirmation like a treasure hunt.’: Woman tries to repair relationship with dad, ‘We’re finally getting to know one another’
“I don’t really know my dad. I’ve heard more stories from others than I’ve heard from him. I’d go weeks without talking to him, months without seeing him, and we’ve always lived in the same town, only miles apart. When it all fell into place, I knew he would be my biggest fan.”
‘It goes by so fast, but a mama always thinks she has more time.’: Mom encourages us to cherish every moment, ‘They grow in the blink of an eye’
“She holds back tears as she looks at the disassembled crib leaning against the wall. She sits in the audience with a tissue in her hands, and the proudest smile on her face. She sees that baby up on stage in a cap and gown, and she wonders where the time went. Her heart beats with a mixture of pride and pain.”
‘You’re the girl who cries on her way to work but walks in with a smile on her face. The girl who never asks for help.’: Woman reminds us ‘there is no shame in being vulnerable’
“I never reached out to anyone for help in any way — whether it be a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or just some advice, support, and borrowed strength. I know many reading this have been there as well. We are not so different.”
‘I think you need to go buy me some diapers.’ I hung my half-naked self off the side of the bed and peed in the bowl.’: After laparoscopic surgery, woman says husband’s care is ‘real love’
“Surgery isn’t sexy. A man by your side going along with your crazy ideas because he loves you so much…that is sexy.”
‘To the woman in the trenches, still clawing gracefully at the sides – be proud, you are doing it.’: Woman pens appreciation letter on International Women’s Day
“To the woman who cried herself to sleep last night because the fridge is empty 3 days before payday. To the woman so unsure where life is going that fear keeps her awake at night. To the woman who woke this morning and it was her ‘day one’ for the 52nd time since New Year’s Eve, but she won’t stop fighting for it. To the woman who encourages other women. You are all doing it. Every single woman.”
‘Find a friend who won’t think twice about your kids tagging along. The one you can meet up with, no questions asked, no need to explain.’: Mom says ‘you don’t deserve to feel like you’d be better off staying home’
“The ones who grab the extra pack of crayons for them at the restaurant. The friend who will playfully rock your toddler while you finish your cup of coffee. The ones who welcome them with a big smile that says, ‘I’m happy to see you.’ You don’t deserve to feel like you’d be better off staying home.”
‘When I walked into that hospital room and lay eyes on these perfect little strangers, I knew in my bones they belonged to me.’: Adoptive mom says ‘it’s the choice to parent that makes you one’
“Within seconds of feeling the weight of my babies against my chest for the first time, my heart was made to love them. It was an unexplainable love at first sight I thought was only reserved for mothers who gave birth to their children. And now, a decade later, science is proving what I’ve always known in my heart.”
‘I was 11, hooked up to morphine. ‘If I get rid of my leg, I never have to go through this again?’ I had to make a decision.’: 11-year-old with Osteogenic Sarcoma voluntarily amputates leg
“I was told it was just ‘growing pains.’ I felt the pain with every bend of my knee. Hours later, I heard people crying around me about a ‘missing leg.’ I tried to open my eyes. The pain is still so vivid.”
‘In the middle of the night, I heard our bedroom door creak open. I froze. It didn’t make a sound, but it silently drifted closer.’: Woman shares hilariously terrifying mom fail
“I figured it was my son Lennox, but it was pitch-black. I blinked away the sleep so I could help him up into our bed. In the doorway was a set of terrifying glowing eyes and mouth hovering a foot or so above the ground. ‘Lord, it’s Angela. If you’ve got any of that white light lying around, would you mind sprinkling some around my bed?’ I was completely freaking out.”
‘We’ve recently found ourselves trading boxes of face masks for bottles of Purell. We’re trying our best to plan ahead.’: Mom of micro-premie says ‘think of our family and others like us too’
“We do not take her out of the house. Her life depends on it. We are trying our best to plan ahead, but as stores quickly lose stock and people hoard items to resell at an upcharge, we have begun to scramble. She is immunocompromised.”
‘We arrived in Daytona Beach on a red-eye flight to discover the hotel we booked had been demolished weeks earlier.’: Mom hilariously compares Spring Break ’00 to now
“Picture it: Spring Break, 2000. We spent the week playing volleyball in the burning sand and drinking $1 rum concoctions as Sisqó’s ‘Thong Song’ pounded through the speakers of every club we went to. It was inconvenient, exhausting, and absolutely amazing. Spring break at 40 looks a little different.”
‘I was completely caught off guard when the boy next door from my childhood friend-requested me on Facebook. ‘Sometimes a simple hello can open a door. Great smile.’: After divorce and bad luck in love, woman finds her ‘forever’
“Gag me with a spoon, right? I wasn’t sure it was true. I mean, who would leave this fine specimen of the male species? He asked for my number and we agreed to meet for coffee. It was snowing, pretty hard. This guy offered to drive over an hour in it to see me. This was a big. freaking. deal.”
‘Recently, I walked into a room full of young men. I didn’t find any of them attractive. It hit me: I like girls.’: Teen comes out as lesbian to her family, ‘They love me no matter who or what I am’
“I totally cried. As my mom told them, I hid behind my tea mug (it was a pretty big mug) because I didn’t want them to see me crying. I thought I was strong enough to not. Of course, my dad then joined as well and stated, ‘Yeah, I’m straight, I like women.’ We all laughed as he looked at my mom.”
‘I remember calling the police so they wouldn’t blame me for abuse. I knew he was going to harm himself. I could no longer keep him safe.’: Mom of son with aggressive autism says ‘he’s perfect to me’
“I stood behind him, yelling to my husband to watch as I clapped repeatedly behind his head loudly. He didn’t even flinch. I said, ‘He’s deaf, right?’ When he was in elementary school, he was physically abused by a speech pathologist. I reached out to anyone and everyone for help, but I was left empty-handed for a very long time.”
‘The surgeon put a foreign object in my womb instead of tying my tubes. The hot, metal coils unraveled and poisoned me.’: Woman undergoes hysterectomy after faulty sterilization, ‘The procedure is now banned’
“A few months later, I could barely walk. My hips popped out of their socket every time I stood up. The pain was excruciating. I’d turn down social invitations and dates out of fear for my appearance. I had major brain fog and my memory was non-existent. The OBGYN assured, ‘This procedure is WAY better.’ Countless others said it topped the ‘older method.’ In hindsight, I should never have agreed to it.”
‘I grabbed his phone, punched in the numbers. My heart was pounding out of my chest. We’d just made love, and there she was.’: After affair woman says, ‘We don’t have the perfect marriage, but we do have a renewed one’
“There it was. Or should I say, there she was. Mystery solved. She helped me craft a letter. My husband was having an affair. He felt I had abandoned him when he needed me most. He was an easy mark for any woman. I would pray my husband would have a heart for me. My husband was becoming a new man.”
‘At 12, the psychiatrist gave an ultimatum. ‘If you don’t gain 0.2 pounds by Monday, I’m sticking a tube down your throat and admitting you to the psych ward.’: Anorexia survivor says ‘recovery is a choice I make every day’
“I cheated my way out, really believing the worst was over. That lasted 12 hours. My mom took me to the supermarket to buy a birthday cake for my friend. I stood in the cake aisle and started to panic. I couldn’t do it. I was so consumed by it, even looking at the cake felt like something I’d have to punish myself for. I left the story empty-handed and in tears. I didn’t think I’d live to see my 15th birthday.”