“By 27 years old we had 2 beautiful boys and a baby girl. We were married, living well and happy. I was baking cupcakes and going on field trips – I was exactly who I thought I should be. Then it happened.”
‘Nurses told me to, ‘Not be so dramatic.’ I tried to get help from teachers, police officers, neighbors. Nobody listened.’: Woman survives abuse, finally receives proper mental illness treatment at 36
‘It was midnight and everyone was asleep. I texted my friend, ‘Come quick! I need you. Lots of blood.’ I prayed she’d wake to the sound of her phone.’
“On a whim, I decided to download a dating app. I came across a man who was in the Army. I knew he was ‘the one’ the moment I saw his photo. At first sight, I was in love. Something I had never felt before.”
‘You’re going to have to get off Facebook, the sadness is overwhelming and it’s time for you to take a break.’ My heart broke every day. It was way too close to home.’
“‘Bridgette is going to need more than a lemonade stand, we need to do something to make her smile and raise money.’ She pointed to one of the dresses and said ‘Mom these dresses are beautiful, maybe the lady who makes these can make mine?’ I looked up the designers and with a hopeful heart we reached out.”
‘Take your pants off.’ I took a deep breath and headed back. As I lay on the medical table, half naked, all I could hear was my heartbeat.’: LGBT couple embark on IUI journey, ‘our little one came into the world fast and furious’
“Around 11:30 a.m. I awoke with an immediate urge to poop. ‘Wait! I am 29 years old. I won’t poop my pants. That’s ridiculous.’ I started moaning. I could feel it in my bones — I knew I was close. And still no midwife. She asked me if I wanted to push. ‘YES!’ I cried out.”
‘She was born with her umbilical chord around her neck, her face blue from lack of oxygen. She came into the world feet first. She always goes about things her own way, birth was no exception.’
“I had no idea what was happening, but I knew my mom was behind a cold, closed door that I wasn’t allowed to go through. I wish I could’ve held her hand – she needed it.”
‘I was scouring for baby clothes, 8 months pregnant. That’s when I saw him. At 6’2, he’s hard to miss. His features were different, but it was him.’: Woman’s realization after running into ex who ‘walked out on her’ in store, ‘you will love again’
“He and his girlfriend were doing the same as me. She was about to pop, due any day. I often thought about what would happen in that moment. The moment I saw him in his new life. He had walked out on me 8 years prior.”
‘WHAT DID I JUST SIGN MYSELF UP FOR?’ I made a mistake saying I could foster by myself. What was I thinking?’: Single mom shares foster care adoption journey
“I was at the gym when I got the call. He was a biracial 14-month-old boy. ‘He can’t walk or talk. Are you interested in taking him in?’ I could have easily said no. About 45 minutes later, the investigator dropped him off at my house. Neither of us knew we had just met our forever family.”
‘I married the man of my dreams, created a family, and realized after 9 years we weren’t able to pray the gay away.’: Couple divorce and become best friends, ‘Our lives drastically changed in the most beautiful way’
“He pulled me aside and told me he ‘struggled’ with homosexuality. My response: ‘Wow, you’re going to need a really strong wife!’ For the very first time, Kyle actually said out loud, ‘I am a gay man and I want to be with a man.’”
‘Oh my God!,’ I gasped as I frantically pawed at my hair, as if I could find those absent hairs hiding just out of sight. ‘How long has it been like this?!’
“I quickly showered and washed my hair the morning of our first son’s baptism. We were running late, so I grabbed a brush and hair tie and resolved to do my hair in the car. I flipped down the visor. My eyes caught, to my horror, a glimpse of my new hairline. I shrieked.”
‘My friend said, ‘I’m so tired.’ I asked her, what did you do today? She replied with, ‘Nothing. I did nothing today.’
“I heard about her day. She got up early, made her husband breakfast, made him his lunch, dropped the kids off, rocked the baby to sleep, did the grocery shopping, cooked dinner, bathed the kids, fed the dogs, and when I called, she was folding laundry. I said, ‘Wow you’re right, you did do nothing.'”
‘He’s LOST. HIS. MIND. ‘What in the actual hell are you doing?’ Then I saw it. The glassy eyes.’: Wife hilariously recalls first time she ever saw her husband drunk
“I peek into the bathroom. He is NAKED, on the toilet with his face in a garbage can. He hears me shriek with laughter and screams, ‘CLOSE THE DOOR DANIELLE!!’ Me: ‘You drink a little too much?’ Justin: ‘NO! It was the chicken wings.’ I am DOUBLED OVER laughing at how ridiculous this is, and how stupid he thinks I am.”
‘Oh my God! Why did you slap me?’ He got out of the car. As I was crying I saw a big rock behind him. He told me he would give me all the money in our savings account if I told the cops to leave.’
“This was the start of me planning my escape. Shortly after that, the fights worsened.”
‘Normally she texts us when she leaves. We hadn’t heard from her. ‘She was in an accident. She didn’t make it.’: Mom says her normal was ‘forever changed’ after losing daughter in car accident
“Our doorbell rang. We opened the door and stood face-to-face with two State Troopers on our front porch. My head was spinning. This could not be happening. To us. To HER.”
‘The morning we left, I snuck into Olive’s room, kissed her cheeks and said goodbye, never knowing if I would see her again. I never knew how dearly I would come to love such a tiny little human.’
“She would cry many mornings as I cried, broken over the pain she was experiencing and longing with a deep ache for an adoptive family for her where she would know the love of a forever home.”
My Teen Was Assigned To Care For A Fake Interactive Baby, And All Schools Should Follow Suit
“She came into my room last night around 3 a.m. She was crying real tears while feeding him his bottle. She was begging me to help her because she just wanted to get some sleep. She is absolutely exhausted, ready to quit the class and give William back. Maybe even throw him back.”
‘As we stood in the doorway, I said, ‘Someday this will be our nursery!’ Then the foster care agency called. ‘A 4-year-old boy needs placement. His mom is having brain surgery.’
“He came into our lives, and the bedroom became his. He was delayed due to the neglect, but quickly loved to be snuggled. We thought he could stay. But that was not to be. Through our tears we hugged him and told him we loved him. Then, we buckled him into a car and watched it drive away.”
‘I understand my options.’ I felt Malachi twist inside my belly. From that point on, I knew. ‘Tell them we sent you.’ My mind raced. My palms were sweating. ‘It’s time,’ I wrote. ‘I’m checking in now.’
“Through tears, I asked: ‘Will I ever hear his little voice again?’ But, what can you do when your baby can’t breathe? We knew it was the right decision. Something had to be done for him. ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Let’s do it.’”
‘Look at that fine a**.’ He followed me down the sidewalk. I felt that familiar tension in my chest and a knot in my throat. I was disgusted by my own skin.’
“I was bombarded with numerous questions. ‘What were you wearing?’ ‘Did you make them think you wanted it?’ ‘Why were you walking by yourself?’ For years, I recoiled at anything that made me feel sexy.”
‘It’s THIS stage, you first said the words, ‘Lub you too, mommy.’ You reach for mommy’s hand, then give her a sweet smile. You sing at the top of your lungs in your car seat.’
“Everyone warned me about the toddler years. The ‘terrible twos.’ The tantrums. The tears. All the dramatics. And right now, we’re in it. But let me tell you a little secret about this ‘trying stage.’”
‘I can’t believe I’m sharing this photo. An in-the-moment meltdown. Raw, vulnerable and unattractive. I accidentally snapped this pic of me in tears.’
“My anxiety was at an all-time high. I was embarrassed and ashamed of my kid’s behavior. I needed a mental break. I needed to be alone. The very next day, the triplets’ Pre-school teacher recommended therapy for my boys. I was devastated. Defeated. How has it come to this? Is it really that bad?”
‘When I was a little girl, we knew if mom came home with chocolate cake, we better shut up. Something had not gone right, and Momma was NOT happy.’: Woman recalls how late husband always knew how to fix her ‘bad day’
“My brother would do the recon. Sneak down the hall, hide behind the china hutch, peek around the kitchen door until he had an unobstructed view. No cake? Life went on. Yes cake? He’d army crawl back to my room with fear and panic on his face, and squeak out the word, ‘caaaakkkkeeee!'”
‘It’s just cramps. All girls have cramps.’ ‘You went home from school for that?’ Doctors told me it was all in my head. I felt embarrassed and ashamed.’
“If this piercing pain that brought me to my knees in tears and sent me home from school was so normal for so many women, then how come I never saw other girls on the floor gasping for air? I couldn’t understand how this was normal.”
‘He’s wearing his work clothes, just like daddy!’ My daughter exclaims each time her little brother wears a button-up shirt.’
“She follows up by saying, ‘But you don’t wear work clothes, because you don’t go to work, mommy.’ I cringed.”
‘He wasn’t so sure this was for him. Late in the pregnancy, they told her there was a chance the baby girl could have it. Deep in my heart, I already knew.’
“While at the game, an older gentleman came up to me and was hitting on me, creeping me out. Then I saw him. We chatted and he let me sit with him and his friends, ‘saving’ me from the creepy man.”
‘Well, if you ever need a kidney, I have two good ones.’: Woman ‘surprises’ best friend by becoming his kidney donor
“I chug my Bud Light and point finger guns at him. Oh, but how serious I would be. My best friend decides, after SEVERAL drinks, it’s time to tell me he was diagnosed with kidney disease.”