“That guy staring at us does not look kid-friendly at all. That man looks very business professional. I hope he’s not the one sitting in front of us as my kids kick his seat on accident for the 14th time.”
‘Hi, nice flight attendant. Yes, there’s 7 of us. Keep walking kiddos, keep going. Nope, keep going. Yes, hi strangers. Yup, they’re all ours.’: Mom hilariously recaps what it’s like flying with kids this holiday season
‘Wake up, Stanley. Booboo, wake up!’ I heard a terrible crash. The TV was upside down across the room.’: Mom raises awareness about tip-over accidents after son’s harrowing experience
“You walk into his bedroom. Your son will look like he is sleeping. Daddy will shake him, until his sister notices he is turning blue. You will drop to your knees as Daddy starts CPR. This is the last moment you think he is ‘stable.’ The rug is about to be ripped from under you. Stay strong, mama…your journey as a special needs parent is about to begin.”
‘I heard an unusual sound. Planes went over the house all the time, but this was different. A cascade of plaster and roofing crashed all around me. ‘It hit us!’
“The tail of the plane was in our kitchen. I noticed a small opening above me. I tried pushing the obstruction, but had no success moving it. I tried yelling in case anyone might be near enough to hear me. ‘That’s our house. I don’t know where my husband is. Please help my daughter!'”
‘To the man in 2D – I don’t know you, but I imagine you saw us. I was pushing a stroller and was also lugging an oxygen machine for my daughter.’: Special needs mom thanks stranger for act of kindness
“Not able to hold back tears, I cried my way up the aisle.”
‘We finally got the call. This baby was due in 2 months, and she had a heart defect that would require open-heart surgery. The second I saw her little face, I fell to the ground.’
“I was nervous. I didn’t know if she would understand the baby I was holding is her sister. But when she came to the hospital, she pointed to my belly and said ‘no.’ Then she pointed to Josie and said ‘yes.’ So powerful.”
‘Best Santa Ever’ Gives Blind, Autistic Boy Magical Holiday Experience
“He asked Matthew if he wanted to feel anything and Matthew said, ‘Your eyes that twinkle.’ My heart was so full.”
‘You might look at these pictures, and feel uncomfortable. You might think, ‘I could never ‘share’ my child like that.’ She leaves the hospital with empty arms.’: Mom says open adoption does not equal co-parenting
“During her second trimester she sent me emails letting me know about the SpaghettiOs he was making her crave. She gave us a jar of pink and blue candies and made us count every single one to find out if it was a boy or a girl. They gave them life and I am teaching them how to live it.”
I’m A Big, Messy Contradiction—And That’s Okay
“At the end of the day, the only thing you really have to do in this world is show up, give yourself a little grace, and love hard.”
‘She was known as ‘Baby A.’ My husband and I hadn’t even discussed names when our triplets arrived more than 17 weeks premature.’
“None of our children were expected to survive. And as hard as it is to admit, I was worried about wasting a name. If none of my children survived, wouldn’t I need those names in the future?”
‘My son’s father got diagnosed at the age of 36 with stage 4 colon cancer, we had been together 10 years, our son was 3-years-old’
“I kept my own grief bottled up inside. Months and months later it just comes crashing back like a wave in the ocean and you can’t catch your breath.”
‘I started to get that pit in my stomach, telling me there was a problem. I went to his room. He was laying on his tummy. I patted his butt, thinking he was still sleeping. He didn’t respond.’
“It was like watching a movie. I wasn’t there. I was watching this poor mom kneeling by her baby boy praying and crying, trying to bring him back. I remember standing in the living room with the cops. Thinking, ‘They’ll save him. They have to save him. They can do it.’”
‘I grew up fat. I’d gotten down to eating only 1 orange a day. Then I got the phone call. My mother had died.’: Woman overcomes eating disorder, childhood trauma, ‘Cheers to a new year and a new me’
“My mother was an addict. My senior year of high school it got bad. One day she called me from rehab and told me to get out. I was 17 years old. I packed my bags and have been on my own ever since. My world spiraled out of control. I didn’t know how to cope. The only thing you can ever control in your life is what you put in your mouth. So, I went the opposite direction. I would see how long I could go without eating. I was sick. I knew what I was doing was wrong.”
‘My dad got very angry at me for crying. I was a tiny, 5-week-old baby. He shook me, threw me against a wall.’: Survivor of shaken baby syndrome’s powerful account so ‘other babies won’t have to go through this too’
“I lived with a new family, but things weren’t so good there either. I wasn’t gaining weight and my day care was very concerned about me – a lot of people were, I guess. When DHS finally came to take me, I was found on the floor in animal waste. My new mommy seemed very excited to meet me. I felt safe and loved right away. My new family never left me alone.”
‘My husband said, ‘My chest hurts. I feel like I’m having a heart attack.’ I started getting angry. He wasn’t demanding answers.’: Mom delivers triplets after finding husband has Chiari Malformation, ‘Each day I am more grateful’
“I called my husband: ‘You have to leave work.’ I couldn’t find the right words, so I just showed him the ultrasound pictures. Three perfectly healthy babies. I felt like I was in a dream. We both sat there for what seemed like the whole afternoon. How would we manage this with his new diagnosis and 2 active boys who were already taking up all of our love and energy?”
‘I love inspecting the vessels in umbilical cords. My awe never ceases over how our bodies are so intricately woven in the womb. I love to share my excitement over what others consider ‘gross.’
“A lot of people think it’s just a ‘tube’ of sorts transporting nutrients to their baby. But…it’s so much more intricately designed than that!”
‘My husband was fuming. I was BORN to be her mom. She is here to prove everyone wrong.’: Daughter diagnosed with ‘extremely rare condition’ Lissencephaly, family ‘cheering for her every step of the way’
“In the coldest bedside manner alive, the doctor said, ‘There is no cure. If she lives, she’ll stop mentally developing at 2 months old. Here’s some paperwork. Any questions?’ I stared at him, my body slowly over heating. I told my husband to get me out of there. I looked up at the sky and thought, ‘Well, here we go.’”
‘We called it ‘Naughty November.’ We were on a roll for the first 3 days. And then I got my period and lost my mojo. I didn’t want my husband to touch me.’: Mom admits she’s ‘just too damn tired to be intentional about intimacy’
“I hate to admit it, but having sex feels like a chore. I can’t be the only one? I felt like I failed. I would rather just sleep and be alone.”
‘Yes, I am a single, widow in her 40s. I know that can be tough to deal with. But frankly, I am tired of hearing, ‘I don’t think I can ever live up to him.’
“There’s something about ‘dating a widow’ that is so hard, and so intimidating for men. They struggle with the idea that a woman can develop feelings for somebody while still loving a man who has passed away.”
‘I spent hours searching, which told me my daughter had autism and was mentally impaired. I cried and cried for weeks, absolutely devastated my child was ‘not like the rest.’
“I started to notice she wasn’t ‘just like her sister’ around 9 months old. She still didn’t have her first teeth, and was barely babbling any words, let alone noises.”
‘I heard rumbling uncharacteristic of the bathroom. Shouting ensued. I burst in to discover my son had hurled a suitcase into the shower at his sister.’: Mom’s ‘wild’ and ‘unpredictable’ son
“I heard a frantic screaming from upstairs. My daughter had gone into the bathroom to use the toilet. This provoked the unbridled anger of her brother. Infuriated, he stood and peed on her in retribution.”
‘How could this be happening again? My body did not want to let go of my baby, and neither did I. Nothing prepares you for delivering your dead child.’
“The very cord that was meant to sustain her ended her life so abruptly.”
‘Hey, Grace. A baby girl was abandoned at the hospital. She doesn’t even have a name. Can you come pick her up in an hour?’: Couple adopt abandoned baby with special needs
“I open the fridge, over and over, to prove to children there is always food. I attend IEP meetings and I advocate for kids. But you know what else I do?”
‘We just don’t know right now. We will have to wait and see.’ WHAT?!? In less than 24 hours, my sweet, active, PERFECT baby boy was paralyzed from the neck down.’
“As the doctor was trying to tell me it was ‘just a virus,’ I looked at her and said, ‘But he can’t move.’ She suddenly stopped and looked at him a little closer. After prompting him, he still did not move. I saw the panic rush across her face. My entire world collapsed in front of me.”
‘Despite having 5 beautiful children, I still couldn’t shake the feeling our family was not complete. ‘Surely we have room for one more, right?’: Family of 9 shares adoption journeys, God’s answers to prayers
“At only 17 years old, while still a senior in high school, I vividly remember the intense fear I felt when I looked at that pregnancy test. What would become of me? I had always been the good girl – the one that got good grades and followed the rules.”
‘I was so skinny my ribs poked through my shirt. I was an easy target. I couldn’t fight back.’: Man battles ‘body dysmorphia’ after years of bullying, finds ‘confidence’ in new body
“I was pushed around, thrown, kicked until I passed out. I looked in the mirror and felt ashamed of how I looked. I didn’t tell anyone what was going on. Until one day I fell to the floor at my mom’s house and cried like I never had and talked about driving off a bridge. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like for my mom to see her 6’8″ son breaking down in front of her, not knowing how to help.”