“My boyfriend wasn’t always faithful and being a scared, pregnant teenager wasn’t easy. My boyfriend and baby’s dad asked me, ‘Can you get an abortion?’ I often put on a happy face for everyone, but at home alone with a toddler, I would lay in bed for hours, not wanting to get up. I wouldn’t brush my hair. I wouldn’t clean my house. I didn’t recognize myself and the people around me.”
‘Something is wrong with Dad. He’s not breathing!’ It felt like a horrible dream.’: Teen mom faces depression, alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy after losing father, ‘I’ve finally taken my life back’
‘He cannot speak. He plays differently. He may not look you in the eye. Every day, I wonder, ‘Did someone play with him in the schoolyard?’: Mom says ‘thank you’ to young boy for acknowledging autistic son
“‘Hi Riley, see you in the yard.’ This one sentence made me beam from ear to ear. At that moment, I knew that my little boy was OK. My little boy had a friend, one who finally took the time to learn his name.”
‘Is this the time they fire me?’ I see you practicing your speech for your boss on why you have to leave early AGAIN. I see you racing home to MAYBE make it in time.’: Mom details the guilt of being a working parent
“We are told ‘You can be whatever you want to be! You don’t have to live in a 1950’s mindset! You can be a CEO!’ What they don’t tell you is the pit in your stomach you feel when you get a notice about a 6 p.m. conference on the day of your kids practice or activity. The panic when your kid’s school calls and asks you to pick them up because they are sick and you don’t want your bosses to be upset.”
‘I pressed the spray tan button and suddenly started leaking. I hadn’t nursed in an hour. Milk was squirting onto the sides of the booth. I stared in horror.’: Mom shares hilarious postpartum spray tan fail before wedding
“My best friend’s wedding was only 3 weeks away. As we got closer to the date, I realized I needed to get my sh*t together if I didn’t want to look like a hot mess at the altar. After all, I’d just had a 9-pound baby boy cut from my uterus. I headed to my local spray tan salon. Milk was squirting onto the sides of the booth. I was leaking, BAD.”
‘The sounds, the smells, the whole NICU experience. It never leaves you.’: Mom of preemie creates nonprofit organization to ‘give back to the premature baby community’
“When I first saw our boy after he was whisked away, it looked more like a NASA mission. He was hooked up to so many computers, wires were coming out of everywhere. It was terrifying. It’s wonderful what they can do to keep our tiniest little ones alive. It’s a community you never want to be a part of, but once you’re in it, you make friends for life.”
‘Without you, I’d be the same size I was 6 years ago. Without you, there’d be no 3 a.m. panic. Without you, life would be how it used to be.’: Mom says without her children ‘I wouldn’t be me’
“No sleepless nights. No post-natal depression and anxiety. No fights with daddy of who does more. No interrupted conversation. But without you, I wouldn’t know love.”
‘Tonight, my husband took the kids to a movie. ‘Do something you enjoy.’ Suddenly, I couldn’t think of anything. I walked into the bathroom and didn’t recognize myself.’: Mom says ‘it’s a journey to get back to who you used to be’
“I had spent all this time looking forward to a break from my kids and husband, I hadn’t really thought about what I would do when I was finally alone. I walked into the bathroom and just stood there, staring at myself. ‘Okay, now what?’ I didn’t even recognize myself. I have been so busy being mom, I couldn’t remember who I was before that.”
‘My breasts are different. My hips are different. I’m happy with different. It means I did everything I wanted my body to do.’: Mom says ‘there is no bounce back’ after childbirth
“This amazing thing happens when you become a mother: you transition into something different, something new. I can work out every day and get in awesome shape, but I still haven’t bounced back. I can go out with friends, do the things I’ve always enjoyed, but I still haven’t bounced back.”
‘I was served divorce papers at my therapist’s office 2 weeks after we slept together. The back and forth between his mistress and I was enough to kill me.’: Woman overcomes infidelity, ‘Divorce was my liberation and I didn’t even know it’
“My husband partied the night away. When I asked where he was, I was told, ‘None of your business. I’m not coming home.’ I threw what little clothing he had into a few bags and tossed them onto his parents’ front yard. The back and forth between his mistress and I was enough to kill me.”
‘My daughter grabbed my face. ‘You got this, mom. It’s time for you to move on.’ I signed the divorce papers, and finally put myself first.’: Teen mom divorces after 12-year emotional battle with husband, ‘Never be afraid to start over’
“I got pregnant at 17. Every anniversary we celebrated made me angrier. We were living together, doing everything a married couple would do, yet he never popped the question. ‘Why am I not good enough for him?’ We argued so much my insecurities took a toll on my well-being. When we said ‘I do,’ our issues only got stronger.”