“Inexplicable things started happening. I looked pregnant. Everyone poked fun at me napping every day. I sat in the parking lot of my doctor’s office with yet another pamphlet for painful periods. Every ounce of me wanted to run back and tell him to figure it out! Instead, I put my car in reverse and drove away in tears. Silenced, once again. I was absolutely losing my mind.”
‘I got my period every other week, 7 days straight. I had bruises up and down my legs. I thought it was part of ‘being a woman.’: Woman diagnosed with Endometriosis after malpractice, urges us to ‘fight for answers’
‘Mama, please!,’ my daughter cried. She got in the tub, held me in silence, patting my back, giving me kisses.’: Daughter’s intuition picks up on mommy’s ‘debilitating anxiety’
“My husband swiftly removed her multiple times, as I said, ‘Mommy will be done in a minute baby, I am right here.’ I need someone to look me in the eyes and say, ‘I know you’re not okay.’ My daughter did just this for me. I try to hold it together for my child, but she knows. We sat like this for an hour. It was one of the most beautiful gifts anyone could give me.”
‘You’re done, RIGHT?’ I had 4 babies in 4 years. Truthfully? I never had that feeling. I never felt DONE.’: Mom of 5 says it’s ‘okay’ to want more children
“The second we took my firstborn home, I looked at my husband. ‘I can’t wait to do this again!’ I was exhausted, nervous, and overwhelmed with first-time motherhood, but I knew. I couldn’t handle or even afford 10 babies, but that need was alive and well in my heart. I’m now 40, with 5 kids and a full-time job. But feeling done? I don’t have that feeling. I don’t know why. And I don’t know if I ever will.”
‘How was it possible my Dad had a son out there for 30 years and nobody knew? We are literally neighbors!’: Woman discovers she lives next door to half-brother she never knew existed thanks to Ancestry DNA kit
“I received a message. ‘Hi! I never met my biological dad. I believe his name is Dennis. Does that sound familiar to you?’ My heart sunk. My dad’s name is Dennis. Growing up, my cousin and I were the only 2 kids in our very small, tight-knit family.”
‘When will we get our baby brother?’ We needed $4,000 and had no idea how to come up with that money.’: Couple embark on adoption ‘roller coaster,’ community unites to raise money
“We have his room all set up for him. We have clothes, toys, a family waiting for him. All the while, others share their highlight reel of adoption and make it look like a breeze. I want to teach him words, love on him, watch him run around the house and yard with his brother and sister. My heart is aching for him to be with us.”
‘I took LSD and had a ‘bad trip.’ My whole life shattered. When I began to ‘come down,’ the panic didn’t leave.’: Woman finally ‘free of the prison’ she made for herself after treating alcoholism
“I was living life on the edge; it felt glamorous and sophisticated. Then at 17, everything went horribly wrong. I went into drug-induced psychosis, but at the time I had no idea what was happening. I almost got married to a man I didn’t love because I thought that marriage would ‘save me.’ I eventually went to the doctor and told him everything.”
‘Babe, I’m so excited. REALLY excited!’ On the way to deliver our baby, we were struck by a drunk driver.’: Woman loses husband to car crash hours before childbirth, ‘I had everything and lost everything all at once’
“Ricky rubbed my belly. I looked up at him as we passed a green light. Suddenly, everything went numb and black. I awoke upside down in a ditch, locked in my seat belt, my water broken. I was 41 weeks pregnant. Ricky lay beside me. I held his hand and kept checking his pulse. His breathing slowed. At the hospital, they tried to find my baby’s heartbeat for 10 minutes. ‘This is all a nightmare,’ I kept thinking to myself.”
‘I saw him text a girl, ‘I miss you. I can’t wait for her to move out so we can be together.’ I was livid and shaking.’: Woman leaves ‘narcissist’ husband after years of ‘manipulation and lies’
“Within moments, he mentioned that he would be seeing other people. I said, ‘Pardon me?’ He had everything he could ever want. A housewife making homemade meals every day. A clean house, two beautiful happy boys, a gorgeous house. I took care of myself and couldn’t understand why I was not enough for him.”
‘I walked past my girls playing Barbies. They were pretending a girl on the playground had a wheelchair.’: Mom proud of daughters for advocating for baby sister who was diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome at 2 weeks old
“All around you right now are mamas who are terrified to send their kids to school this year. Their hearts break every time their amazing kid comes home with no stories of lunchtime conversations or playground games. My girls no longer have the luxury of living in a perfect, bubble-wrapped world. I, for one, know they are better for it.”
‘Are you competing with the Duggars?’ Our agreed upon 1 child led us to having 9 kids.’: Mom of 9 jokes she and husband would have ‘run from each other’ if they knew what future would hold
“Our son begged for ‘just one brother.’ Then we met Debbie. She was advocating for a boy with Down syndrome, to find him a forever home. I listened politely, thinking the entire time, ‘Nope, we’re full.’ Soon, we had 7 kids. I had my first-ever surprise pregnancy. I could hear the judgmental comments. ‘Do you know what causes this?’ ‘Boy, aren’t your hands full already?’”
‘Yes, I set a date to lose my virginity. And I texted my mom and all my friends about it.’: Woman says we should be ‘proud of our own stories’ and never ‘push ourselves to meet mile markers’
“Cue my montage of preparation: I went to Victoria’s Secret and picked out lingerie. I curled my hair and gave myself the best smokey eye I could without YouTube tutorials at that time. I didn’t have a religious motive for waiting, just the humiliation of my first kiss. I was at a party, drunk off Mike’s Hard Lemonade, when I met a guy. We made out in a hallway and an hour later, he turned his attention to my friend. There was no passion, no Hollywood glamour.”
‘I had a friend who seemed irritated by my grief. ‘Why don’t you just have the D&C? Save yourself the pain. Just do it.’: Woman explains it is no one’s place to ‘judge how you miscarry’
“I took my first dose of the medication to help my body miscarry. It didn’t work. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing ceremonial about miscarrying on the toilet compared to in an operating room. It was just what I felt was right for me.”
‘Yes, my mom died. No, I haven’t gotten over it.’: Grieving daughter frustrated by ‘how quickly people disappear’ after mother’s sudden death to stage 4 cancer
“My mom died. The food came rolling in. The cards. The visitors. The calls and texts. People bombard you. Too much even. Everyone wants to ‘be there for you.’ But the frustrating part? Everyone wants to be there, all at once, at the beginning, and then they all leave.”
‘I owe an apology to all the moms I gave advice to when I was young and thought I knew it all. I’m so sorry.’: Former nanny apologizes, claims motherhood knocked her ‘right off her high horse’
“Before I had children myself, I worked as a full-time nanny. I never judged you, I loved being your helping hand, but I thought your dirty house was just your personality. I’m so sorry. I just didn’t know.”
‘We are not your ‘typical’ family. We are white parents with a black child.’: Mom sends heartfelt letter to teacher ‘advocating’ for her black son this school year
“Eli is usually the only black student in his classroom. We are not a ‘colorblind’ family. Eli’s hair is a big part of who he is and how he expresses himself. Please don’t let anyone touch it without his permission. Please provide him with colored paper, pencils or markers that represents his skin color. Not many teachers in our small town think about this subject.”
‘I got in my car and drove away from my family. I didn’t know where I was going, but I wanted to go far away, for good.’: Mom feels ‘guilty’ the things she’s ‘always wanted’ bring her ‘the most heartache’
“I walked past the TV playing Mickey Mouse, the mess on the floor, my husband sitting silently on the couch. I started driving and I wasn’t sure where. I just walked out the door and left. Because I have a husband and healthy kids, I’m supposed to ‘enjoy every second’ even when I’m slipping. So, I suck it up because there’s real people going through real things.”
‘I witnessed adults rolling their eyes at the kids, pointing at their outfits, judging, disapproving. ‘Their parents must be so proud.’: Millennial mom argues she doesn’t see entitlement in this ‘younger generation’
“I’ve heard it so much, ‘Entitled.’ I went to a party. ‘Who is raising kids like this these days? iPhones and miniskirts,’ I heard them say. With this younger generation, I didn’t see entitlement. Not an ounce.”
‘Look what I did, Papa!’ Poop was EVERYWHERE!’: Dad says ‘the struggle is real’ when it comes to potty training
“I walked into her room. REALLY?! ‘Don’t lose your cool.’ I had to remind myself one day we’d laugh at this.”
‘It was just a cold,’ I was told.’: Mother realizes ‘the world isn’t out to get us’ after suddenly losing baby daughter to bronchiolitis
“She was still groggy and her chest sounded raspy. It was agreed it was almost certainly bronchiolitis. This was completely routine and very common. The hospital consultant came in. But before he’d even had done much checking at all, Carrie became distressed. And then she arrested. And then she died. Just like that. And our lives broke.”
‘2 days after my 43rd birthday, our ‘little frosty’ was transferred to me. My belly is growing at an astounding rate and I love it.’: LGBTQ couple pregnant with baby ‘so loved already’ after ‘agonizing’ miscarriage
“Our consultant discussed choosing a sperm donor with us and suggested while looking at our tiny heights we ‘Choose someone tall, let’s give it a chance!’ which really made us laugh. I just want the next 6 months to hurry up so we can hold him or her in our arms and say, ‘We’re your Mommies.'”
‘Olivia nearly died. She went to chew a grape, it shot to the back of her throat and got wedged.’: Mom’s warning for other parents to learn from her ‘carelessness’
“It was the first time since hearing about that poor child who died choking on a grape that I didn’t cut them in half. It was my fault. I figured, she’s almost 5, she isn’t the kind of kid to shovel food and choke, and I was rushing to finish cleaning the house.”
‘I can’t introduce you to my kids until I know. They’ll attach to you, and I can’t break their hearts.’: Girlfriend nervous it’s ‘too soon’ to meet boyfriend’s kids, feels anxious to not ‘replace’ mom
“While I waited, my mind raced. Did their mom know I was spending the weekend with them? Do I hug them? I was suddenly anxious. I heard the door open. ‘Natalie,’ Kevin called, ‘Come up here.’ I breathed in deeply and felt jitters. I wanted these boys to not feel awkward. I knew I wasn’t their mom, and I would never think I’m replacing her.”
‘I called our cable company. He couldn’t believe we were canceling. ‘It was my mom’s, she died 8 hours ago.’: Daughter realizes how many lives her ‘hero’ mother touched only after her death
“A neighbor in the apartments behind my house asked if my mom was okay. I slowly shook my head, I was confused… how does this stranger know my mom…? Turns out he watched my mom sometimes, but not in a creepy way. He could tell she was disabled and wanted to make sure that if she fell, he would see and be able to help.”
‘So uh, yeah, it turns out you’re my sister.’ He never knew his mom was pregnant with me.’: Adopted woman finally finds biological family, realizes she’s walked the same halls with them at church
“I told him I was a long-lost family member. He told me to give him a call so he could help me. I thought he knew what I was going to talk to him about. He did not. He said he grew up in Glendora, she moved away when she was around 40 years old, and he had 2 sisters. I knew it was him.”
Dear Kindergarten Teacher, We Must Be Helicopter Parents For Our Son With Congenital Heart Disease
“My wife and I have done everything in our power to do best by him. We trust you will do the same.”