“As I put my leg over the rail wanting to end my life, a soft, still breeze swung upon my head. The breeze brought me to my mother’s empty coffee cup, sitting half drunk on the table. I love you Josh,’ my mom said, kissing me.”
‘I walked to the balcony in a rage of frustration. ‘Jump,’ I said to myself. ‘Just do it, no one loves you, you don’t even love yourself, do it.’
‘I received suspicious looks for being a grown man at the park at 2 p.m. with his kids. ‘It’s nice of you to do your wife’s job,’ is what they were really saying.’
“I ran into friends at the grocery store, and they asked me if I’d lost my job. All of it was maddening.”
‘Staring into my Poppy’s eyes, I asked him to pick a baby for us when he got to heaven. I kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear, ‘Make it a girl.’: Mom births baby with Spina Bifida, ‘She does things in her own way’
“One morning, a woman came in swiftly wearing a leopard blouse and clicking her heels. She walked right over to me. ‘Sorry for the bad news,’ she said and walked away. What bad news?! I wasn’t informed of any bad news! I broke out into tears as she exited. During the gender reveal, I was hiding this secret while watching my mom cut into our cake. I was giving them a broken baby.”
‘Our attorney told us we shouldn’t get our hopes up. It doesn’t happen like this and it would not turn out in our favor. I didn’t know if we would hear from her again.’
“We were contacted by several women. Then I got a Facebook message from a woman who had seen our post.”
‘We have a baby who cries for hours, with a mysterious rash. Bright red, with a distinct swirl-like pattern. We had fallen under the radar, but my mama instinct knew we were dealing with more.’
“We were prepared to keep pushing until we were satisfied! Then she paused. ‘Unfortunately I have something else very important to tell you.’ I looked over at Dane, unable to speak. His face was so pale I thought he was going to pass out. My heart now felt like it was going to beat out of my chest.”
‘I can’t look like this anymore!’ I begged my parents for surgery. I’d arrive a new person and no one would have anything to say about my looks anymore. I was sure this was it.’: Woman overcomes bullying for cleft lip and palate
“She replied ‘Oh my god… it is unbelievable they let people like you work in a place like this! I want someone else to serve me, someone normal.’ I returned to school after going under the knife. ‘Are you thinking about a career in porn? You look like a porn star now,’ a boy said. I was shocked. I decided it was time to finally fight back.”
‘When I was pregnant, I thought about a perfect ‘going home’ outfit for my child. A soft, blue sleeper with tiny elephants. I never had that picture-perfect moment.’: Mom shares child loss, grief journey
“I stood outside the children’s store, my hands shaking as my heart started racing. I took a deep breath, wiped away my tears, and put on a brave face as I walked inside. I handed the outfit to my mother and told her I had to leave, the heartache proved too much.”
‘It’s the nicest thing you can do for a mom. Getting hand-me-downs. Mothers giving other mothers their kids’ clothes that don’t fit anymore.’
“Getting a bag of clothes from another mom is like she’s giving you a piece of her heart. That little dinosaur t-shirt she packs in a bag to give to you reminds her of the adventures her little one had in it. They hold memories, and they hold love.”
I remember looking at the doctor and demanding him to leave the room. ‘Wow Crystal you can’t even grow a baby correctly.’ I looked at my husband and we both began to cry. ‘WHY MY BABY?’
‘Hearing the little baby I was growing inside me was already going through so much made me feel like the biggest failure.”
‘Every night, I put a sign on our door that read, ‘Come in and kiss me. I didn’t cheat on you.’ Almost immediately after we were married, the abuse began.’: Woman overcomes domestic abuse
“I thought I hit the boyfriend jackpot, my knight in shining armor. He wined and dined me and spoiled me rotten. Within 2 weeks he decided it was unbearable to be away from me and was going to pack up his life and everything in it to be with me.”
‘A nurse grabbed my hand. ‘I’m right here,’ she squeezed tightly and said. I remember looking around the room to find some sense of peace.’
“When they discovered my diagnosis, my hospital room erupted into chaos as nurses rushed in. I remember being filled with fear as they wheeled me away. But when the world seemed so dark, our best friends would step in and help bring us back into the light.”
‘What the heck?’ I was staring at a naked picture of myself on my father’s computer.’: Sexual assault survivor speaks out parental abuse, ‘I finally have power again’
“The camera was planted upside down and was sitting on a brown bookcase, hiding between books in my room. My thoughts began to race.”
‘Ten weeks. That’s when I found out I was having twins. 11 weeks, when I was guaranteed I wouldn’t be having twins. ‘Baby B is not going to make it. You’re putting Baby A in serious jeopardy.’
“They must’ve thought I was crazy. I didn’t cry. I didn’t even hardly react, other than to adamantly stick with my gut. I was pregnant with 2 LIVING babies. I sure as hell wasn’t going to just cut the cord because it sounded like a good idea.”
‘My fingers were numb, but I blamed the cold weather. I had feelings of rug burn across my legs. ‘Mommy, my chest feels funny.’ Those were the last words she would hear me say.’
“My mom held me and then boom! I was crying ‘mom’ as I hit the floor. I took her phone and typed, ‘Pull the plug.’ She cried and cried, and I remember her saying, ‘I’m not gonna let you die.’”
‘My kid’s school had a lockdown. I saw this on her arm. ‘In case the bad guy got to us and I got killed, you and daddy would know I love you.’: Mom shares daughter’s heartbreaking reaction to school lockdown
“I cried as I watched her innocence get stolen away. To know my 7-year-old was put in a position to think that thought is absolutely gut wrenching and it’s killing me inside.”
‘Been trying a little experiment for the last 2 weeks, putting breast milk on one side of my stomach. I can’t believe the difference!’
“I rub it into my tummy while nursing and lather it on so it’s almost dripping off. I let it air dry and just pull my shirt over after. I put it on every time I nurse.”
‘I was head over heels for a man with ‘a past.’ We were an on-and-off again couple, and I thought sex would fix what was broken. I gave in.’: Young ‘sterile’ woman gets pregnant with ‘wrong man’, re-discovers love
“This decision didn’t fix anything. Instead, it all came crashing down. When he moved and we agreed to no longer see each other, I found out I was pregnant. I was completely in shock. I was told I would not be able to have children naturally. But there I was, alone, scared, unwed, and pregnant.”
‘I’m trapped. I wonder how many times I can grimace when he touches my arm or roll away from him in bed before he quits trying altogether.’: Woman recounts her relationship struggles
“I don’t want to be touched. I don’t think about my fairy tales anymore; I just read them on repeat to my children. I’m in survival mode.”
‘I am SICKENED this phrase is on a lunch box.’: Mom urges ‘girls, you are beautiful, worthy, and whole beings’
“See this? This is a picture I snapped today of a little girl’s lunchbox I saw for sale. We wonder, ‘Why do our girls worry so much about their bodies so young?’ THIS. This is the reason why.”
‘I was crammed in a car with my girlfriends, driving to the hospital to support our best friend about to place her baby boy.’: Mom shares adoption journey, what she would have told younger self
“By the time we got to the hospital she had already delivered him. I remember walking in the room to see my beautiful friend laying there, a sheen of sweat still visible on her forehead, tired, solemn and more quiet than usual – and thinking she was the bravest, strongest, person I’d ever known.”
‘I don’t fit in. They don’t really want me there. I wonder why I wasn’t invited. I walk up to a circle of people and don’t know whether to force my way in or hang on the outside’: Woman’s realization on ‘fitting in’
“Circles are great if you’re on the inside. But circles can be awfully cruel if you’re left on the outskirts. They can be excluding. Exhausting. Cliquish. Childish. They are far, far too common.”
‘The government thought I was a superhuman. My parents met in a cult called ‘New Testament Church’ in the 1980s. You can see things ranging from demons, to Big Bird, to Ryan Reynolds.’
“I had a forty-percent chance of getting it, but always knew I would. Although I tried to avoid it, it was ultimately inevitable.”
‘I am so, so sorry. I gave you the wrong results, I read them wrong, you are actually not pregnant.’ I remember thinking, oh no, here’s where the skeleton comes out of the closet.’: Couple given wrong results during infertility struggle, finally experience ‘miracle’ pregnancy
“He then looked at us, and said, ‘What are you talking about?! No sperm??’ ‘We were told there was no sperm,’ I said. I burst into tears, not believing that what he was saying was true. It couldn’t be true.”
‘What did you do to your child!’ I hadn’t grasped the accusation, I could see the fractures. He continued, ‘I’ve ordered a full CAT scan to determine if you caused brain damage to your daughter!’
“I couldn’t understand how, but there was the evidence right in front of me. Undeniable proof that she indeed was hurt and hurt badly. How could my precious little one-month old baby have four broken bones at once!”
‘She must have known she was pregnant.’ I was four months pregnant, and I had no idea.’: Woman has rainbow baby after miscarrying at home without realizing she was pregnant
“I hadn’t known I was pregnant, but I have photos of Pippit hugging me like this as I slept while I was pregnant with Liam. I was emotional, exhausted and couldn’t help but fall asleep when I least expected to. I had been 4 months pregnant, and I had no idea. It was a shock. I was in disbelief.”