“We went in at 11 weeks to find his heart had stopped. We were done… Crushed, confused, and heartbroken. We took a break from it all and almost through in the towel. But we knew we had one embryo left. If we didn’t try it, we would have to discard it and there was no way we could do that.”
Mom said, ‘4 years, 7 attempts, 3 miscarriages and 1,616 shots.’
‘Some kids at school want to cry sometimes.’ I felt a tug deep in my chest. I started to see where this was going.’: Mom shares heartfelt moment with daughter starting Pre-K
“‘Shall we put these up on the fridge when we get home?,” I asked. You paused, reluctant to answer me. ‘No, I don’t want to.’ You said quietly, your usually steady voice shaking a little.”
‘She is smiling while digging in her heels. I try. My brother tries. Dad does not try. He is tired. He is waiting. He has run out of words.’
“Mom would look down the table at them and you could almost feel the sadness as she went back to eating her breakfast. She knows what laughter is. She also knows she no longer understands what brings that wonderful sound to others.”
‘Thursday started off like any other day. But by bedtime, I was a mom of 3 little tired souls.’
“I was single and 27 when the tug of foster care came.”
I Don’t Want To Get Over My Grief, And I Shouldn’t Have To
“When he died, I as so angry about his death and so frustrated with some people that I actually envisioned myself at his funeral turning them away if they showed up.”
‘At first, I received lots of criticism for my new lifestyle. I sit at 150 pounds from 236. I knew that Intermittent fasting had been the right choice for me.’
“I was bullied from the first day of middle school to the last. I skipped so many days they threatened to hold me back. I eventually met with a counselor to avoid the hallways and stay ‘undetected’ by the tormentors.”
‘We sat at our kitchen table making a list titled, ‘How to spend $25,000!’: Couple adopts baby girl thanks to game show contestant earnings
“On a whim, he filled out the application to be a contestant on the show. Several rounds of interviews later, and he was flying out to Los Angeles to have a final interview and find out if he would get to play for $25,000. Well, he did! And he won! Aaron’s phone rang 3 weeks later. ‘Holly, I got THE call. They have a match for us. When can you come home? They want to talk to both of us.’”
‘At 11, I had one foot on Earth and one in Heaven. While other girls complained of their periods, I longed for one. My body was a ticking time-bomb.’: Youngest female to ‘undergo hysterectomy’ embarks on adoption journey
“In my 20s, I watched all my friends marry and have babies. I saw their lives unfolding while mine was stuck. I felt like guys could somehow sense my ‘barrenness’. Like somehow other girls gave off some mysterious appeal I couldn’t. I knew infertility would one day rear its ugly head. I was an old soul trapped in a young body.”
‘Lathered in sunscreen, poolside, I suddenly realized my son wasn’t with me. My eyes hit the shallow end. I spotted a toddler completely submerged in water. The world stopped. I plunged in.’
“I was not the mother to make this kind of error. The mother who looked away. ‘If he’s alive, he’d be kicking, fighting.’ Why wasn’t he fighting? I pulled him onto the cement and thrusted my hand against his back. Fingernails pink, skin pale, lips discolored. His white knuckles gripped my neck. ‘ANDREW. Andrew, please come back to me.'”
‘I had finally been found out. The wails coming from my hysterical sister’s mouth were horrific. I had just confessed my truth.’
“There was another unfamiliar feeling sprouting through the cracks of my bruised and battered psyche. That feeling was hope. I didn’t have to be this monster anymore. I didn’t have to hustle to find my fix and I didn’t ever have to use again if I didn’t want to, I finally had a choice.”
Dear Son, I Could Have Never Predicted How Hard The Drive Away From Your College Would Be
“I decided to write Peyton a letter before he left. I needed to get out all of the things I wanted to say to him – the good and the bad. I’m sorry we took the easy way out. I wish we would have fought harder for you.”
‘The grocery store. For most people, it’s a place of necessity. For a grieving parent, it can be an emotional gauntlet.’
“I notice the cashier’s name is Grace. I smile because I love seeing any part of my daughter’s name. It’s like a little wink from her and I know she’s okay. ‘How are you doing today?’ the cashier asks. ‘I’m good,’ I say, only half lying.”
‘On Monday my son should have started kindergarten, but he never will. As back to school happens, consider those around you.’
“He will never bring home homework. He will never miss the bus. He will never forget his lunch money. We will never meet his teacher. We miss them all. Our son never finished PreK.”
‘I couldn’t help but stand there and gaze at her with my own two eyes. She’s perfect when she does nothing at all.’
“She laid there with her AC/DC shirt on, and her new hair color she trusted me to put in her hair. It reminded me why I loved her so much.”
‘I’m a teacher dreading this question when school starts. You want to know how my summer really was? It was awful.’
“I was an emotional, hormonal mess who was pregnant, but won’t be having a baby anytime soon.”
‘We decided if Dad couldn’t make the wedding, we’d bring it to him.’: Daughter has hospital wedding so father can attend
“Two days prior to the wedding, the doctors told us it would be best for him to stay in the hospital to heal. It crushed all of us. My dad has dreamt of the day he would be able to walk one of his daughters down the aisle in his barn.”
‘She said, ‘Would you rather not be here, or have your daughter eat formula if necessary? She needs mama here.’: Mom’s near-death experience with sepsis
“If you had waited another day, I think you’d be dead,’ my doctor said. At that point, I realized how serious this was. I had put it off, trying to fight how I felt with Tylenol.”
‘We had to accept the severity of what was done by her ex. A DHS worker pointed out her behavior. The walls she built cracked.’: Family struggles to overcome epilepsy, Crohn’s disease and sexual assault
”’I was supposed to be the sick one,’ I thought. When I sat at a grocery store with Caitlin seizing on the floor, and the 2-year-old in the cart, we truly had to come to grips with our limitations.”
Motherhood Ruined Me
“In the absolute best way possible. And I wouldn’t change it, I wouldn’t change me. Not for the world.”
To My Dearest Son On The Anniversary Of Your Death
“You taught me not to sweat the small stuff in life.”
‘Someone I loved had been expertly lying to me for the entire length of our relationship.’: After experiencing infidelity, woman says ‘once you’ve recognized the true capacity of the pain, it gives you the power to create something beautiful out of it’
“I woke up every morning thinking maybe it was just a sick joke. All at once, I was with a stranger instead of the person I thought I knew so well.”
‘We were two hurting people, hurting each other. We spent 2 years in therapy, weekly. I felt so embarrassed and ashamed.’
“I wasn’t about to tell anyone how difficult married life was. It certainly wasn’t what I hoped, imagined, or dreamt it would be. I was so lonely.”
‘You will not live a fairy tale. You will not be a Snow White. There is no one to kiss you to resuscitate you to life when you’ve been living with 7 men.’
“We have been fighting lately, so it’s made me ponder about marriage. I’ve learned marriage can be quite ugly. But you stay.”
‘There’s this stigma attached to parenting that for some reason, makes people think they’ll lose themselves when they have kids.’
“As if it’s going to change who they are. Some people plan it. Some people fall into it. And some people avoid it simply because they think they’re not ready.”
As our doctor was moving from baby A to baby B, I saw another blip on the screen and thought, ‘wait, what?!’ At the same time she said, ‘Guys, I’m seeing a third.’
“That was the biggest curveball of my entire life! If God had gotten us here, how could He not get us through a triplet pregnancy?”