“There the nurse was, taking this baby’s head and shoving it into my boob to start breastfeeding. ‘She’s your baby!’ I would tell myself, ‘just bond with her.’ I’ve made a huge mistake here.”
‘I didn’t love my daughter at first sight. I look at that picture and cringe. I just wanted to be left alone. I felt so heartless.’: Mom describes battle with postpartum depression
‘Fire burned in my eyes. He backed away. I pointed to the sink. ‘Oh yeah, I cleaned out my room.’ My eyes bulged.’: Mom hilariously recalls the joys of parenting
“‘WHYARETHEDISHESNOTINTHEDISHWASHER?’ Yes, I said it like it was all one word. ‘I dunno.’ My blood pressure shot to unsafe levels. Seventeen, yes, 17 cups in the damn sink. Not one. Not 5. Seven-fricking-teen.”
My Daughter Is My Best Friend, And I’m Not Ashamed To Admit It
“I’m well aware that many parenting experts and the majority of the general public think it not wise to be your child’s friend. ‘You are their parent, not their friend,’ they say. What do I tell them? Nothing, because I don’t need them to approve of my parenting decisions.”
‘Can I murder the baby now?’ My first day back to work from maternity leave, I got a text.’: 3-month-old shaken baby survives ‘extensive’ brain damage
“I called his father. ‘What happened?’ He didn’t have much to say. I choked down tears and made my way to the hospital. After x-rays, I was told they suspected child abuse. My baby was bleeding in his brain due to non-accidental trauma. I immediately went to his father. ‘How could this happen?!’ He just kept repeating, ‘He was choking on milk.’ I was enraged.”
‘Marriage 2! This one only lasted 9 months. I was broke. He was not. He drove a nice car. He treated us to things. I’m not proud of this.’
“Then one night, he poured me a glass of wine. I took a sip and saw something in the bottom of my glass. No… It can’t be what I think it is. Can I keep drinking and pretend I don’t see it?”
‘Don’t worry honey, I have no plans to die today.’ He asked me to watch a movie with him, but I declined.’: Daughter regrets turning down dad’s invitation night he was murdered
“I called my dad and he didn’t answer, which was weird. I drove over to his house. His car was there, but he wasn’t. I started panicking. I knew something had to be horribly wrong. My dad never ignored me. I called bars I knew he’d go to when he relapsed. I couldn’t find him. Finally, around 4:00 p.m. I called the morgue. The very kind woman informed us there was a John Doe. When she described him to us, I knew it was him.”
10 Things People Need To STOP Asking Twin Parents
“My rolling circus attracts the attention of every rando in the tampon aisle. This party on wheels, I’ve found, invites a menagerie of questions about my sons’ multiplicity…”
‘I knew why they were there. Our child appeared on the screen, only this time something was different.’: Wife documents ups and downs of infertility journey
“Someone once explained fertility to me and compared the journey to a tunnel. Some tunnels are short, and some tunnels are long. But at the end of every tunnel, there is a light.”
‘Hi, my name is Mom. I feel like a ghost walking through the aisles, completely unseen and unheard. I roam around lost secretly hoping someone will ask me if I need help just so I can interact with them.’
“My girlfriends still call, most of them don’t have kids yet. I try to be the old me, the one with a name. I’m getting tugged on, sucked on, and yelled at while trying to listen to their weekend plans. I remember those. I beg them to keep asking me to hang out even though I know I won’t be able to come. Hi, my name is Mom.”
‘Today, you are no longer an actual baby. I’m not sure what the official age cut off is, but in my mind, this is it. This is the moment we turn the page into toddler-hood.’
“These days, I feel lucky if you want to be held for more than a few seconds. You are so busy exploring and playing. You already feel the need to be independent. To do it yourself. To have things your way. Your little baby features are fading away, and I can suddenly see a big boy peeking through.”
‘I have nightmares about my child being ridiculed and assaulted.’: Mom transgender child candidly shares fears
“I want you to know about the nights I lay awake, helpless and shaking. I want to tell my story of our family, who fiercely love someone being attacked and can do very little about it.”
‘My mom drank. A lot. We were placed in separate foster homes. It was difficult to prove a mother unfit. She showed up to court intoxicated. The judge granted Dad custody.’
“Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. It’s unbearable to think about. It has always been the 3 of us that make sure the other is okay.”
‘I was pregnant at only 17. In true Jerry Springer style, I married the childhood best friend of my baby’s daddy.’: Teen mom says she was ‘petrified but determined’ and ‘always knew’ she’d have the baby
“The news rocked my parents’ world. I was smart in school and dumb in love. I enrolled in community college, worked a full-time job and went to class at night. I married a man who had been my friend from the start. He too was at the hospital the night my daughter was born. When my daughter was 11, my husband adopted her. The paperwork was the thing that gave her his name, though she already had his heart.”
‘To the nurse who held my stillborn baby, unfazed by the appearance of a tiny child born 20 weeks too soon.’: Mom thanks nurse for her ‘love, compassion’ during ‘darkest night of my life’
“You stroked those itty-bitty fingers and toes. You talked about those eyes. You told me my baby was beautiful, although the rest of the world would likely have disagreed. As you placed my breathless baby into the palms of my hands, I too became breathless.”
‘I promised him we’d go trick or treating. I got home to find him asleep in his costume waiting for me and ugly cried.’: Woman overwhelmed by other mom’s act of kindness for son
“I messaged a local Facebook moms’ group to ask if anyone still had their decorations up. Immediately I was flooded with messages. I have been in tears all day.”
‘My husband is on the floor. eyes closed, moaning, ‘Syyydd. I can’t see.’ Is this a joke? He has a flu symptom that doesn’t even exist. I should leave. Where is this dude’s mom?’: Wife hilariously recalls husband’s ‘man flu’
“The nurse spotted the ‘man flu’ from a mile away. I drive my pregnant butt alone to the hospital while puking in a plastic bag with my husband in front of me, on a stretcher, being doted on. It’s the first time I’ve ever considered divorce.”
Dear Dads: Your Job Does Not End When You Get Home From Work
“You see, while you’re out working that day job, she’s home doing a job too. One that comes with big responsibility so that you can be at that day job with the peace of mind your babies get to be home.”
‘We had been waiting a long time for this moment. Our doctor shared big news: ‘Congratulations, I see 2 heartbeats!’ She continued the ultrasound. Suddenly, the demeanor in her face changed.’
“The palms of my hands were sweaty as I interlaced my fingers with Ryan’s. It felt like it was taking forever for her to share with us what she was seeing in my womb.”
‘He couldn’t take it anymore. I noticed a dramatic shift in him. He got home and said he was done.’: Wife pens post about veteran husband suffering from severe PTSD, ‘We are ready to break the silence’
“I’ve been hiding our family’s ‘secret’ for years. My husband has severe and debilitating PTSD. Masking our smiles. Faking ok. A complete nightmare. Ty is a combat vet and has been a police officer of 10+ years. He knew they would look at him like he was crazy. He didn’t want his coworkers to think he was weak or less than. Year after year, I’ve begged him to hold on.”
‘My worst nightmare was happening. I laid on the OR table gasping for air. ‘Help me! I can’t breathe!’ I stared into my mother’s eyes. I could see the fear written all over her face.’
“A huge splash of fluid hit the curtain in my face. All I could think was, ‘I’m going to die right here. I was born on this day, and I’m going to die on this day giving birth.'”
‘My father was murdered 6 weeks before my wedding.’: After dad comes to her in a dream, daughter inspired to make costumes for toddler son
“When people find out about our costumes the first thing out of their mouths is ‘why?’ I typically give a throw-away answer like ‘because I’m crazy’ or ‘because I don’t sleep,’ but that’s not the full truth.”
‘I’m sure it’s nothing.’ She had a look on her face I’ll never forget. I got the call the next day. ‘It’s not what we thought it was.’: Mom diagnosed with breast cancer while pregnant, ‘I found what’s important’
“‘What about the baby?!’ The surgeon said, ‘Your baby is going to be okay.’ How could my body betray me in this way? I begged them to take both of my breasts. My baby’s steady heartbeat kept me going.”
‘We took the kids Trick-Or-Treating and had fun being together. Little did we know, we would take our last family photo that day.’: Mom loses youngest son to SUDC, ‘My heart aches to hear him say ‘Momma’ one more time’
“Avery seemed to be coming down with something. All he wanted to do was snuggle and nap. He had a low grade fever but nothing alarming so we put him to bed like we always did.”
Friendship Looks Different In Your 30s
“Now it looks like ‘Ok, I’m coming, but I’m so tired I may fall asleep right in this glass of wine.'”
‘I like Mama’s milk and I cannot lie!’ Mom’s HILARIOUS take on ‘Baby Got Back’ is the breastfeeding anthem we all need
“My baby friends tried to warn me, but that milk you got makes (me so thirsty), ooh, you’ve got some smooth skin, you say you wanna fit in your old jeans?, Well, use me, use me, ’cause I’m breastfeedin’ groupie!”