“She was my understudy. A woman I would never know. We didn’t want to have to explain why I gave birth to a half Asian baby. By this point, we had spent SO MUCH MONEY, and to walk away without trying one more option seemed like we just blew it all for nothing.”
‘It was like searching Tinder for a threesome without any of the sex, and I was terrified. We looked for women who closely resembled me most.’: Woman shares insight into infertility, ‘I truly would have stopped at nothing’
‘You didn’t like your sister. ‘Meh, at least she won’t be here long.’ I worried about how we would ever navigate this growing chasm between you.’: Mom thankful for growing bond between siblings, ‘What a privilege it is to watch this friendship blossom’
“You picked on her. You were extra rough and rambunctious as a toddler. You were jealous. It was hard. I made it a point to explain…over and over again… if you were on the same side, at least you’d always have a friend. I’m awestruck when I see you protecting her from harm.”
‘My anxiety feels unmanageable.’ I feel my entire body get tight. I get incredibly tense, from my legs to my head.’: Autism mom explains anxiety during COVID-19, ‘Lack of control can feel paralyzing’
“I get defensive about anything and everything. I immediately feel like everything is my fault and there is no way I can be enough. I turn into someone who is unrecognizable to the people who know me, as I’m simply the worst version of myself.”
Your Husband Is Funny—Don’t Forget To Notice
“Somewhere between the dirty laundry and dishes, I stopped laughing at his jokes. I watched my husband come alive under the appreciation of another woman.”
‘I wonder what she would have thought of all the hoarding. That’s not how they did it back then. She made reusing aluminum foil fun.’: Woman worries about her generation, ‘We have a bold task ahead’
“I can remember my grandmother’s engaging and sometimes horrific stories of sacrifice. She could cook big feed the masses until all of our buttons burst. And she did this with a very limited fixed income. No part of a chicken roast was ever wasted.”
‘We’ve had two children go through some form of gender identity struggle. ‘How can you deal with that?’ It’s a life or death question.’: Mom says ‘be affirming and accepting of your kids, however they identify’
“Both have settled at this time on their assigned gender at birth but for both, there was a time when that wasn’t what they felt was true for them.”
‘Everything’s going to be alright,’ we whisper. She can swoop in and make it all better, but she doesn’t have superpowers.’: Mom says ‘we’re humans that struggle too’
“You see, she’s been fighting mental illness on top of a pandemic. She’s been worrying about her kids every second of the day. She’s been trying to make everyone’s world as normal as possible, and guess who’s forgotten? Her. Don’t let her carry all the burden alone.”
‘Sorry, I’m just tapped out.’ I said this to my kids’ teacher as she requested a private zoom. I’m trying to function in the unfunctionable.’: Mom of 5 says ‘we’re freaking rockstars’
“At the same time as this, I had two other kids hopping on their google meets, I had to pull my oldest from her work to hold the baby, the kids’ Dad had a call just starting, and as I struggled with my laptop to even find which Godforsaken link I needed to even click, I was ready to crumble.”
‘You might want to think about having only one child.’ I knew the risks. The OB kept tapping my face, screaming, ‘Get the doctor, hurry!’: Woman with HELLP syndrome says, ‘I’m happy with the choices I made’
“My husband called his family to say, ‘Mom and baby are okay.’ When he stepped out of the room, my blood pressure dropped. It was my worst nightmare all over again. I don’t know if others would make the same choices I did.”
‘I am carrying a child and I’ll also be his dad.’: Trans man births son, ‘I wouldn’t have been able to survive this journey without the people in my life’
“I always had a perception of what ‘outside people’ would act like when I told them, ‘I carried my son as a dad.’”