“It was horrific. Todd and I decided to separately seek counseling. We were no longer in a relationship, but we knew that we had to be the best co-parents to the girls. That same year, we were engaged to be married on our original wedding anniversary…again.”
‘Their biological dad stopped coming around. I re-married, divorced, co-parented, and married the same man again.’: Woman escapes toxic relationship, marries new husband twice, ‘it was the happiest moment of our lives!’
‘Is she going to die? Is she going to be ok?,’ I wailed hysterically. She paused. ‘I hope so.’ I started to see spots. ‘I feel lightheaded.’: Mom almost loses daughter to rapid decline from pneumonia
“It started like any other cold. Runny nose, sniffles, a light headache. ‘I don’t feel good, mom,’ she complained that morning, 5 days before. ‘Me neither,’ I groaned. I was suffering as well, and I assumed we both had the same thing.”
‘They tell you to hold the baby. They tell you to forget your to-do list because that sweet babe is worth snuggling. And you forget to hold the baby.’: Mom urges ‘there is nothing more important’
“But they fail to mention how that baby grows. That little one who once rested so perfectly upon your chest doesn’t fit there quite so well anymore. And you forget to hold the baby. But that babe, your growing babe, still needs you.”
‘She will save many lives. There are going to be two kids who make it a lot longer because of her.’: Parents urge organ donation after infant loss
“They expected her last breath to happen any moment. An hour goes by. A nurse still by my side waiting to call time of death. The doctors are shocked. We all are. We were not expecting this.”
‘Suddenly the officer sits down, pulls out lunch. He not only takes away your hunger, but your loneliness too.’: Woman touched by officer’s act of kindness for homeless man, ‘We are all just human’
“Everything you own fits in a backpack. You look up to see a uniformed officer walking towards you. Your mind flutters thinking of everything you might be doing wrong. I don’t know this man or this officer, but what I do know is today they made a difference.”
‘Last night I was a mama alone in the ER with my sick baby. As my feverish child sobbed, I paced the waiting room. There was panic across faces.’: Mom thankful for community kindness during ER visit
“But as I would learn, I wasn’t actually alone.”
‘I sank deep into my insecurities. Stop talking so much. Tone it down. You come off as too much. Don’t be so ‘you.’: Woman shares ‘miraculous’ changes in self-awareness and assurance
“I knew everything that was wrong with me. I didn’t need a list to point them out in black and white. I’d known since I was little. And I was over it. 35 years of that mess was enough. So, I deleted everything, and I started blank.”
‘I’ll never have a baby because I can’t stay sober.’ I revealed my addiction and her face lit up. Why did she want to pray for me when she was the one dying?’: Woman gives birth to ‘miracle’ baby she was told wouldn’t live
“I got married in the hospital chapel with our closest friends and family. Little CJ got to come out of the NICU to be the tiniest ring bearer in history. His nurses brought him in a little wagon with all his tubes and machines in his preemie tux.”
‘Six little words made my whole world fall apart. ‘Your baby may not make it’ – I jumped off the exam table and threw up in the trash can.’
“I was 22, pregnant with my first baby boy. I should’ve been ecstatic, preparing to welcome my sweet boy. Instead I was attending appointment after appointment to find answers as to what was wrong with him.”
‘I woke up, confused why he hadn’t come to get me. I came downstairs and found him dead on the floor. I was too late.’
“The next day I received a call. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in a while. ‘Hey, remember me?’ It was my dad! I rushed to the hospital in tears. My dad, my best friend, was dying.”