“I told my cousin I needed to lie down. He offered his bedroom to me. I didn’t think twice about it. I was safe. I was with family. I went to sleep. The next thing I know, my body was rocking. There was pressure. Unrecognizable pressure. Someone was behind me.”
‘Why did he choose ME?’ I lay in a hospital bed, the nurse conducting a rape kit after I’d slept in my cousin’s bed.’: Woman overcomes sexual trauma with help from son, ‘there is finally joy in our life’
‘The security guard says, ‘Nope, you can’t come in with breast pump.’ It was not allowed unless I had my baby with me. Are you kidding me?’: Mom advocates for other breastfeeding parents
“‘The whole reason I have my pump is because I don’t have my baby.’ The Wednesday before the concert I called Guest Services and they verified it was a medical device and I would be allowed to bring it in, but it would be searched. I was absolutely okay with this and so I planned to bring my pump. I was livid.”
‘I went into anaphylactic shock and had to be given adrenaline to keep me from dying. My body turned red and I started to pass out. She had to speak to me through the doorway.’
“There was something wrong with my body. I was told my illness was all in my head. Was I really crazy? Something deep down inside of me knew I wasn’t.”
‘I was okay with him having a daughter. NOT an ex. When I met her, she said ‘hi’ and walked away. Hi? That’s it? She hates me!’: Stepmom recalls jealousy, insecurity over husband’s ex-wife
“I was so nervous thinking, ‘I wonder where she’s sitting? Are they sitting on the same couch? Surely Sam would be in the chair across the room. Would they start talking and realize they wanted to be together? It’s been an hour, why hasn’t he texted me and told me every single thing they talked about? They’re definitely back together, in Vegas getting married.’ I was a total crazy person.”
‘One of the moms told me, ‘She’s not athletic; she’s a girly girl.’ I couldn’t sleep that night. All I could think was, ‘Why does she have to choose?’: Girl mom urges ‘our daughters can do it all’
“My youngest daughter is trying softball for the first time. We were at practice, and I was talking with other moms. I said I hoped she learned to love the game because she was athletic. Her comment stopped me in my tracks.”
‘We were both speechless. ‘We’re almost 40 and we’ll be changing diapers again!,’ my husband finally muttered. I didn’t say a word. I was so shocked, my jaw on the ground with tears in my eyes.’
“Two children in Heaven, one here on earth; we were at peace. We signed the paperwork with the fertility clinic to finally close that chapter in our lives. Six months later, we were relaxing with a bottle of wine. Before I poured a glass, I ran upstairs. I was ‘late.’ I barely glanced at it, assuming it would be negative.”
‘I vividly remember. My right arm held the new baby I birthed less than 24-hours ago. My left held my foster son, patting his new sister on the foot. I felt so much joy and so much pain.’
“We sat in the courtroom and listened to the story of lives that had been destroyed. We watched as the judge decided our son could no longer live with his biological parents. I’d be lying if I said a part of me wasn’t relieved. I struggled with feeling I wasn’t enough for these two babies 15 months apart. I believed the lie.”
‘I would spend sleepless nights worrying about my missing brother. Is he dead? Two years of searching led me right to him, shocked by a reality I wasn’t ready for.’
“I can only imagine how he felt and what he went through, even though he did nothing to deserve such treatment.”
‘Take a pregnancy test, crazy!,’ my sister said. My husband was out of town. He thought I was pulling a prank. We were SHOCKED. I was mind blown to see that positive! I WAS PREGNANT!’
“Jared and I met in the Army. For me, it was love at first sight. We started trying to have children right after we got married. At first, it was just fun. Then I started to get sick.”
‘She is literally an angel from heaven. But We. Were. Terrified. Instead of leaving the doctor smiling, we were scared. ‘There’s something wrong with the baby!,’ we sobbed.
“I was a first-grade teacher. My students didn’t know anything was wrong with the baby. It was difficult. They didn’t understand why I was out so often, why I wasn’t myself. I felt isolated. Alone. Misunderstood.”
‘I couldn’t believe it. I opened the pregnancy test and there was my first ever positive. BIG FAT POSITIVE! Baby was the size of a pearl. ‘That’s not good.’ Dr. Hiener said. ‘Did she fall out?’
“Our doctor couldn’t do the emergency surgery. My father-in-law did. I tried to enjoy every moment I had with her. Jason and I were surrounded by love, and so was our little girl.”
‘My mom rushed in shouting, ‘Get up! Get up! I need you to keep your dad from getting out of bed.’ I sprinted to their room. ‘911? This must be serious! My mom is running, she never runs!’
“My dad was a zombie. He groaned this horrendous noise. As tears rushed down my cheeks, I ran over. There was a surprise guest waiting to pick me up. ‘They are not sure your mom is going to make it,’ he said. ‘But everyone said it wouldn’t be like my dad!,’ was all I kept repeating.”
‘He was married. My fiancé was not who I thought he was. He was leading a double life ’: Woman discovers fiancé deception
“He had extra wives, extra children, a different name. A formally dead girlfriend and now alive wife. My body froze. It hadn’t needed to be this way.”
‘I got in the shower. ‘Dana, are you alright?’ My boyfriend heard a loud crash. He rolled me on my side, stuck his fingers in my mouth.’: Woman with epilepsy explains how she has ‘cheated death’ countless times
“My boyfriend heard a loud crash. ‘Dana, are you alright?!’ No response. He rushed in thinking our shower curtain simply fell. It did. But me with it. I began to choke as he rolled me on my side and stuck his fingers in my mouth. My guard was down. I woke up in the back of an ambulance.”
‘I gave birth to my son while high on methamphetamine. I wish I could tell you I sobered up, but I did not. We were joined at the hip. We were both addicts, but wanted to be sober.’
“I was so afraid. I just knew CPS was going to take him, but a miracle happened. He was born completely clean. No drugs in his system. He was perfectly healthy. Neal and I cried and cried. We went home that following Monday and swore we would stay sober.”
‘You are a 13-year-old girl with a sick dad, you must just want attention.’ I was heartbroken, betrayed by my best friends. There were YEARS of doctors saying, ‘We don’t have an answer why she’s in pain.’
“Can you imagine being 15 with a cane in high school? I was called ‘the blue cripple’ because my cane was aqua blue. My Spanish teacher saw my cane for the first time and yelled, ‘YOU HAVE A WALKING STICK? OH MY GOD!’”
‘On my birthday, my husband drank too much. He started calling me his ‘future ex-wife’ in front of all my friends. Something felt off, but I ignored my gut. It was the worst mistake of my life.’
“He’d been acting strangely and kept telling me, ‘You deserve better.’ That was the first clue. I had no idea what sparked this until the next morning when I jumped out of bed with my heart in my throat. Before I knew it, a ‘Take my Ex’s Stuff Yard Sale’ was in full effect.”
‘What mother does that? Have some decency!’ He was screaming for milk and I hurried to lift my top. Another said, ‘Do you think she knows who the father is?’ I was mortified.’
“I remember thinking, ‘Did I do something wrong?’ Neither of them directly spoke to me. They made no point in hiding their conversation. ‘I hate when women seek attention. It’s like, that’s how she got into this mess to begin with.'”
‘If you’re not busy on Monday, you can come see me in the hospital?’ We left our info with this stranger. He showed up for 6 hours, talking and calming us down.’: Mom touched by waiter’s outstanding act of kindness
“He stood in that ICU waiting for Tommy to open his eyes so he could fulfill his promise to an 8-year-old boy he did not know. THANK YOU IS NOT ENOUGH.”
‘I still remember the text I sent my husband. ‘Do you want TWO babies?’ Boy, girl, black, biracial, a year apart, biologically shared one parent. My voice trailed off.’
“When I saw my son-to-be’s date of birth, I choked back tears. To understand why, I need to rewind. My husband was feeling run down. It was sudden and pronounced fatigue, odd for an avid cyclist. At 32 years old, he was fit. We both shrugged it off. I promised our kids we wouldn’t be gone long.”
‘It’s going to be okay. I’m here,’ she said into my hair, holding me tight. A perfect stranger was rocking me like a child in the airport.’: Woman recalls stranger’s act of kindness after brother dies in tragic accident
“‘Your brother was kite-surfing. They don’t know what happened.’ I fell utterly to pieces. I found a quiet gate down the concourse and slumped down with my suitcase and a massive jumble of airport toilet paper. Opening my eyes, I saw a beautiful woman. She simply opened her arms.”
‘Your dad is going to die. This is a gut-wrencher. You will adopt a child. He will be your brother – the 4th child your dad has with his new wife.’
“Your dad’s wife will die unexpectedly of a drug overdose, followed by your dad to cancer just days later. Before your dad dies, he will sign over custody to you. You will fight tooth and nail through the courts for this child. This is your rock bottom.”
‘We swiped right. She was heading on a huge trip. My first thought was: SHE’S ADVENTUROUS. Then she asked me if I’d join. My second thought was: SHE’S CRAZY.’
“Nevertheless, I booked all my flights. We had a match. We spent every single day together. It could have gone awry, but it didn’t. It became clearer that, ‘If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it.’ So I did.”
‘Whatever. Clearly it’s the police officer’s fault.’ I crawled out the sunroof knowing my parents would murder me.’: Woman finds sobriety after 11 years of alcoholism, now ‘the person drunk me desperately wanted to be’
“Stressful day? Wine, please! Getting married? Drinks on me! Someone died? Dang, let me buy you a beer. Relationship problems? Shots! Sunday Funday. Manic Monday. Tipsy Tuesday. Whiskey Wednesday. Thirsty Thursday. 16 years old was the first of my many nights sleeping in a bathroom, remembering nothing. It didn’t stop for 11 years.”
‘The guy who brought me to the party passed out. I should have left him, but I’m a loyal person. I fell asleep and was awoken by a man’s body on top of mine. I couldn’t move and yelled for help.’
“I remember telling my mom, ‘I would die if something happened to you.’ She always reassured me, ‘I’m not going anywhere Erica.’ I whole-heartedly believed she would live forever. Then she started complaining of severe headaches. Selfishly, I thought, ‘Well if God took my Grannie, he can’t take my mom too.'”