“If I want to scurry around every morning, freaking out about forgetting to move the darn elf the night before, and panicking that I’m going to get caught by my 7-year-old while trying to place him in a new spot…that’s my choice. If I want to sing ‘Baby it’s Cold Outside’ while sipping egg nog in front of the fire, next to my handsy husband… don’t be concerned for me.”
Please Stop Telling Me How I Should Celebrate Christmas
‘Will she survive? Will she breathe?’ This was it. There was no turning back. I heard her loud cries.’: Mom births baby with Lymphatic Malformation, condition makes her ‘love her little girl so much more’
“I’d carried her 9 months and soon doctors would be taking her away from me to save her life. ‘When can I see my baby?’ I asked the nurse. ‘Not yet.’ I was finally able to gaze at her through a plastic incubator. There were wires all over her new skin and into her tiny little nose, tape securing them down. But nothing could ever steal away what she was. Beautiful.”
‘I yelled upstairs for Carson and his brother to come eat. Carson did not answer. This is the second my whole world turned upside down. I screamed. My whole family rushed upstairs.’: Mom loses son to ‘pass out challenge’
“He had recently started taking gummy vitamins and drinking 2-3 glassed of milk each day so he could ‘buff up his bones.’ In that conversation he mentioned the ‘pass out challenge,’ but he did not elaborate, and with much regret, neither did I.”
‘Evan was suddenly tired. I truly thought he’d caught something in Mexico on our honeymoon. The word was Leukemia.’: Infertile couple adopt son, say he ‘doesn’t carry our blood, but carries our whole heart’
“We were given the news that chemo would cause us infertility. Always being the patient, I’d never known what it meant to be on the other side of it. To watch your loved one suffer and feel so completely helpless your insides were miserably aching. But that was all about to change. How did this happen? What about all our plans and the family we were going to have? I was headed down the road to be a widow before we even had a chance to experience marriage.”
‘I was the only one that could protect her, I was the only one that could take care of her, I was the only one that really loved her.’: Sisters fight to stay together as they transition through different foster homes
“Two ladies were standing in the doorway. I questioned how they found out. My father was going to be so angry. I screamed, ‘Where are you taking my sister?!’ Why were they doing this? She was all I had.”
‘I was tired. I was irritated. I sent my husband a text. I was fed up with how much he works, and with all I have to do every day by myself.’: Wife realizes she should really feel ‘thankful’ for husband
“The full-time job, cooking dinner, bathing kids, weekend trips without him, keeping up a home. You name it, I was resenting it. Then this happened.”
‘There’s a Christmas tree. There’s a gingerbread man.’ But it’s what she said next that took my breath away. ‘And there’s Parker,’ my daughter recited.’
“As I looked at the plate of cookies, sure enough, there was a cookie angel I had decorated. I smiled at my daughter as my eyes welled up with tears.”
‘I thought his bunk bed was safe. His doctor said he has a significant, horrible concussion, one of the worst she has ever seen in a child.’
“Please reconsider the use of bunk beds/loft beds for your kids, even with a safety rail.”
‘YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS.’ I decided enough was enough.’: Single teen mom of special needs child details journey
“Now I was really scared. Here I am, 19 years old, with a kid – a special needs kid at that – and totally alone.”
‘Her eyes were huge, her skull was misshapen. Even though we had prepared ourselves as best as we could, it was still a shock to see Emmy in the flesh.’: Mom gives birth to baby with Pfeiffer Syndrome
“My honest thought when I first saw her was, ‘It wasn’t supposed to be this bad.’ Our doctor didn’t say anything. The nurses were silent. Emmy was silent. It was eerie and terrifying. We know she will always look different and will face bullies in her lifetime, but our goal is to always show her how loved she truly is.”