Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Moms
I became a mom in 2018. Before I had my baby, I never realized how hard moms had it. Not only is there a struggle to be the best mom you can be, there are also people surrounding you thinking they should give “good” advice. There are people around you judging every move you make.
By Courtney Keller8 years ago in Families
Being a Young Mother
Being a mother is amazing...However, it can be very hard, especially as a young mother. You have people who support you and people who shame you. Some people just avoid you altogether. If any of this sounds familiar, then you'll need to hear this.
By Jazmin Rodriguez8 years ago in Families
Getting to Know Grief
The thing about Grief that not everyone realizes is that it’s not just a word or a feeling or a pit stop on a journey. I capitalize it because Grief is the proper name of a living, moving presence. There are many different types of Grief, but for my purposes, I’m going to focus on the one that is the heaviest and most deeply permanent; the Grief that is formerly introduced upon losing a loved one.
By Meg Monthie8 years ago in Families
Parenting: Doing It Alone With a Husband
As a mom we take on a lot in one day. We feel like we're doing it all and sometimes we feel like we're doing it alone even with a partner. I live 300 miles away from my husband while taking care of our toddler. He doesn't see what I do on a day to day basis but let me tell you, it's a lot, while my husband works a 7-4 and gets to relax once his work day is done. He gets to shut it off at the end of the day, only worrying about himself. I on the other hand can't recall the last time I ate. I'm not knocking what my husband does, the physical labor he does every day I'm sure is exhausting but nothing compares to the 24 hour a day job of being a mother.
By Alexandra Powers8 years ago in Families
Trials and Tribulations of Being a Parent to an 18-Year-Old Daughter
At the age of 20, I gave birth to a healthy baby girl. I left her father during my fifth month of pregnancy because he was mentally abusive towards me and I felt I could give my baby a better life without him.
By Leanne Gagnon Foucault8 years ago in Families
Becoming a Mom
For some reason, people believe that women aren't real mommies all because they have C-Sections. The way I see it is that, I carried my child to 39 weeks making me a mommy no matter how I birthed him. He was born exactly at 39 weeks, March 4, 4:42 AM.
By Cassidy C Pelletier8 years ago in Families
How My Daughter Changed My Life
Dear Babygirl, I want you to know that your entire life, I've tried every day to be nothing but perfect for you. I never wanted to give you the chance to see that I made mistakes. You just mean so much to me, I just wanted you to look up to me and think, 'Wow, mom you're perfect, I wanna grow up to be just like you.' I didn't want you to see me as the woman that gave up on everything, because that's who I really am. I never wanted you to know that. All I wanted you to know was that I loved you. I love you more then anything in this world. I was 16 when people found out I was pregnant. They all said, "You're too young to take care of a baby." They said I was making a mistake. You are far from a mistake. At age 16, the only thing I thought about daily was suicide. That didn't stop until I got to hold you in my arms. I remember the day clearly. I was in the delivery room for 13 hours. I thought I was going to hate myself more than I ever had before, but there you were, 9 lbs. 9 oz. Big and beautiful. I had never seen anything as beautiful as you. All the weight I felt on my chest just lifted. For the first time in years, I felt happy. And that was because of you. My whole life I had fought with depression. I felt that I had nobody. When I gave birth to you, it was suddenly gone. It felt as if I could breathe again. I knew that the feeling of loneliness would be gone forever as long as I had you. You saved my life. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here right now. You gave me hope. You gave me faith. You made me realize that everything silly little thing in life isn't worth dying for. My whole life I looked at the things that made me want to die. I never thought about looking at the things that made me want to live. I never appreciated your grandpa and grandma. I never appreciated the opportunity to be the best me I could be. I looked at the sadness in my life and put it in the spotlight. It wasn't until the day I had you that I started to notice all the little things I had. I started to notice all the people that were in the hospital waiting for you to arrive. All my friends and family. Even the people I had thought hated me came. You showed me what love really felt like. You showed me greatness from the second you arrived. I knew from that day forward you were going to do great things. As you've grown, I've been here. I love watching you advance each day. I love hearing each word you learn. I watched you take your first steps. Your first run across the yard. I heard the first word you ever spoke. Just from watching you exceed in life I had realized how much you're going to accomplish. You're going to go from the girl that changed my life, to the girl that changed the world. There are so many things I wish I could explain to you how much you have changed my life for the better, but there's honestly not enough words in the world to let you know how you saved my life. I hope you understand that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. There's not a thing in my life that I would ever change. I wouldn't change anything before or after I had you. Four years ago I never would've thought I would be out living on my own with a family. I never would've saw so much happiness in my future. Everything I am now is thanks to you. Without you I wouldn't have this joy in my heart that will always be there. Through the good days and the bad days.
By Destiny Edmonson8 years ago in Families
Is Social Media Oversharing to Blame for Cyber Abuse?
It is mind-blowing to see and hear about so many stories of cyber abuse: cyber bullying, cyber stalking, child pornography, sex trafficking, body shaming, baby shaming, etc. Yet people from all area codes and backgrounds continue to furnish unnecessary information on the web.
By Crystal E.8 years ago in Families
Pregnancy
Pregnancy. The thing we all eventually want to do to spread our little demons on Earth. They may say you'll miss being pregnant or that it's fun and exciting but I'm going to tell you the things that aren't so pretty. I found out at right about six weeks. I just remember looking in the mirror and finding myself getting stretch marks without gaining weight! What the hell, right? So I order some cream to help it go away and get ready for bed. I go to lay down and I swear to god it was the worst pain I had ever felt. My boobs were falling off I swear. I couldn't touch them, lay on them, nothing. It was ridiculous! I ended up going to the doctor for a routine check-up and just casually asked for a pregnancy test like I did for the past year. Let me remind you, I'm 17 at this point. The doctor walks in, asks how I'm doing, and starts up a conversation as usual when she tells me, "You're pregnant!" What did I just hear? So I went from a 12th grader in high school to a 12th grader in high school having a baby before the legal age that needs to get the hell outta school. Yeah. I remember telling my school counselor that I was having a baby with a former student of hers. She was all excited, as was my mom. I straight up told her I need to get the hell out of school before this baby comes. She agrees and sets me up with six online courses that I need to finish in two months so I can graduate early and be done with school way before the baby comes. I do it and pass all my classes with a 79 percent and higher. Baby now has two graduated parents already. The first few months were a breeze besides trying to remember to take those prenatal pills you need every morning. I remember my first time yawning since knowing I was pregnant and it seemed like something was wrong because it hurt to yawn unless I arched my back. Scared first time mother goes crying to her mother about how, "Oh I'm going to lose the baby mom what do I do?" She has me explain and laughs at me. Yeah, that was my first scare during this long pregnancy. Let's skip to about four months. I remember that someone said to never lay on your stomach when pregnant and it's an obvious reason why. Well I didn't listen and I laid on my stomach and let me tell you, don't do it. I was in so much pain from the extra pressure on my gut cause of my baby I literally cried. Worst pain that had come yet. Still had a month to find out gender and that was the longest month there was. At 19 weeks I found out I was having a boy, hoping she made a mistake I asked,"Are you sure?" Well she showed me and sure enough he wasn't shy at all. Damn, I wanted a girl but hey, as long as he's healthy. That's when the discharge started. Ugh it was so gross! It felt like I was peeing myself but when I used the bathroom, lo and behold, it was a discharge. Me by this time, not being able to shave my legs very well or anything, just kind of gave up on shaving all together except my armpits. Putting on tennis shoes? Nope. Flip flops it is. Wearing jackets from pre-pregnancy? Almost too small already. It was awful. You can't keep anything the same! Your clothes, your shoes, your food, your routine? All ruined. Let's not forget about feeling like you're starving because you can't keep anything down. At six months, everything sort of calmed down. Picked out a name, got baby stuff, and finally settled for a kinda same routine. Then I hit seven months. Worst thing to happen yet. I started getting super sick again and not being able to do anything comfortably. It was a mess. Hurt too much to stand and do the dishes, took too much time to cook dinner, my feet swelled, and tried to lay down and not get cramps from gas. It was a nightmare. Round ligament pain and Braxton Hicks were in store for me. Not to mention the contractions that started around seven months and one week. I decided let's go camping! I always loved camping but this was the worst. I couldn't keep a temperature that was comfortable, couldn't sit comfortably, couldn't lay down, nothing! Not only was I shitty but the weather decided to take a turn. Blew our tent away, put out our fire so we couldn't cook breakfast, and then it started raining. We packed up all of our stuff and got ready to go when we realized our van battery had died. Great! I'm sitting in this van having a contraction while try to get this thing started when we lose hope. Yeah, we're stuck in the hills with no service and a dead van. A couple cars pull by us and ask us if we got this but are unwilling to help or unprepared like us. The last car finally says they can help after sitting there for about two hours. Thank god. So we jump it and go home to me being a bitch because I just want this baby out of me! I'm ignoring my boyfriend, throwing things around, and being a monster just to find out that I wanted food. Got food, laid down, and went to bed. For the past two months I've been dreaming about holding this baby and it pisses me off to wake up to no baby right? So I go to my mom's room and cry, saying I don't want to be pregnant anymore and just go on a rant about how my dreams are making this worse for me and it's not even enjoyable anymore. Well, I'm now eight months pregnant and want him out and to be done being pregnant because I don't believe this will be one of those things I miss. In the end, this long and awful pregnancy will be worth it but as of right now I want nothing to do with it even though I have no choice.
By Jaden Friel8 years ago in Families
