Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
MOMMY FOREVER
My newborn was sleeping in my arms and I was looking at his face with his little, but manly, fists clenched under his chin. He was sleeping and probably didn’t have any idea what was going on. We had already packed our bag and ready to go home when the nurse entered the room.
By Dandelionclub6 years ago in Families
The truth about Pregnancy
Hello ladies. Its been almost two years since I was pregnant, and as much as I love my little boy I can tell you I did NOT enjoy pregnancy. When I was pregnant I kept asking how pregnancy was and especially birth time how painful would be, and I kept getting the same answer all the time..."Its great"... "a bit painful, but totally worth it".
By Elina Pagan6 years ago in Families
The simple, yet complicated Story About Falling Pregnant at 15 Years Old
It was one of those cold rainy days in March and my body was feeling real blah. March 31st was the day to be exact. The day I found out I was pregnant at just 15 years old. Rewind to the early morning where I had to get ready and head to school because hello, again I was only 15 years old. Blah blah blah, I get to school and head to gym class. As I stand there and wait for the teachers to come in the gymnasium, I start think to myself.. “what the fuck?? I still haven’t gotten my period” already knowing I was 2 weeks late, but not thinking anything of it because my period was always irregular. So i told my closest friend, Valriana and she said “let’s just go together to get a pregnancy test after school even though you're definitely not pregnant.” Now let’s fast forward to after school. We’re walking to a pharmacy in my town. At this point i’m too nervous to buy a pregnancy test when I literally look 10 because I am an extremely tiny person as well as still a little kid so my friend buys it for me because she gave zero fucks. We head to my local pizzeria where we walked in to use the restroom. I have seen women in movies take pregnancy tests so I knew exactly what to do. I peed on the stick and handed it to my friend because I was too scared to sit there and watch it myself. I made her tell me the result when it was ready. All she said was “Congratulations!!” and then proceeded to hug me. At that point in time I broke down crying, at a loss of words, confused, and scared more than ever before. I was a little kid who was in a toxic ass relationship with a boy named, Ryan. I called him immediately and told him we have to talk so we met up at a frozen yogurt shop near by. He saw what a complete mess I was and asked what was wrong. That’s when I just came out and said “i’m pregnant” and he didn’t even question it. He stated, in his exact words, “okay, we will do this together, we will be okay, and we will figure it out” and at that time I was still a sobbing mess so he just hugged me until I stopped. I wanted to have time to think about what I just got myself into so I told him I’ll call him when I get home and proceeded to meet back up with my friend, Valriana. We walked to her house which was right down the street so that I didn’t go home looking like the mess I was. After about an hour or so, I called my sisters to come pick me up since they were already out driving around. I get in the car and i already couldn’t keep it in. We drove about 2 blocks from my friends house, if that and that’s when i just came out and said “I have something to tell you guys” and my sister, Nicole jokingly said “haha you’re pregnant” and that’s when I started to cry and she noticed and my oldest sister, Jessica who was driving, slammed on her breaks and the car got really quiet. I said “I am”. They didn’t want to believe I was so they drove me to a cvs and bought me about five more tests and made me take them all. It was very clear that I was. They told me to take another one in the morning and so I did. Again, positive. So the date is not April 1st. April Fools Day..
By Katelyn Lee6 years ago in Families
Parents of a Lifetime
Thankfulness in life in general is a learned skill. The person who can be thankful in the midst of difficulties is a blessed person. In general, I believe we learn thankfulness best when we watch others model it, strive for it, revel in it. My parents embodied thankfulness this year, in many special ways. Through this challenging year they have reminded me again of the need for thankfulness in my life. The thankful thoughts I have for 2020 are all related to my special parents.
By Cheryl Duffy6 years ago in Families
Finding the Silver Lining
I remember when one of my biggest fears was losing my parents. I was so attached to them; at times they were my world. I felt that if they died, I would fall apart and not be able to survive on my own. I knew death was inevitable. After all, none of us will make it out of this lifetime alive. And yet, death of a loved one seemed so incredibly foreign to me. It was as if death and dying only happened to others; it did NOT dare happened to me...Until one day, it did.
By lisa speranzo6 years ago in Families
Spankings as a Child
I wanted to start my first writing to you a little about my childhood spankings, but also to make someone laugh a little bit along the way. How many of you remember spankings when you were growing up? Can you count them on one hand? Psh. Mine would take 6x more hands to get halfway through my spankings. Growing up in a pentecostal church with my father being the pastor, Yes I did say Pentecostal and Pastor. He was a very strict man, we had to present ourselves in a certain way within the church so that meant no jewelry, shorts, pants, tank tops, or anything revealing and worse of all NO MAKE-UP and our hair was never to be cut. My father set very strict rules to follow, we were never too miss one day for a church not even when we were sick, I was 5 years old when a little brat that also went to Victory Christian Academy (FYI Christian schools are worse than Public Schools) This little girl had some kind of vendetta against me, I have no idea why either. She told me about the Bloody Mary. If you don't know what bloody mary is, here is how it works... You go into the bathroom, shut off the lights, and call 0ut to Bloody Mary and she comes to you in the mirror. As a child of 5, I didn't know any better so I did it. Little did I know the little girl had plans to beat me up, well, she lost and I was the one who got into trouble. I told the teacher she was a fucking bitch and needed to take her hands off of me.....My brothers were old which explains why I had such a potty mouth at 5 years old. My parents had to come to the school for a parent-teacher conference, why they were speaking to my teacher my brother and sister (who are both older than me) was throwing the ball back and forth over my head not letting me have a turn with it, I finally got so angry I told them to throw me the G** damn ball!!! yep, I sure did, I don't use that word now that I know how harmful it is but as a little girl I didn't know what it meant, unfortunately, my sister screamed out I am telling on you! WHILE MY PARENTS WERE IN THE CONFERENCE WITH MY TEACHER my sister runs into the room and says Hayley said the G.D. word Hayley said the G.D. word... Let me tell you, I was PETRIFIED!!! That night when I got home my dad pulled my pants down and spanked me with a wooden paddle that had over 30 perfect holes in it. When I cried, he would say stop crying or I am gonna spank you again! I was running in circles from this damn paddle Talk about pain? My hiney was Black and Blue. That never stopped me though, I still got whooped with that paddle almost every single day. Parents spanking your children do NOT get the job done, there are other ways to punish your child or put fear into them. Spankings too me is just a way to feel tough it does nothing for your children except make them want to disobey you more. Maybe when they 1-3 and your pop there hand a little bit, spank their butt to scare them, but at a certain point in there, life spanking becomes no kind of punishment because in 5 minutes the can get on their phone play PS4 or XBOX best and most effective ways these days to give direct punishment your child. I hope this story helped you and also I was able to share a little about myself during a childhood memory. I have many more stories to come so I hope you enjoy them.
By Jordan Cercy6 years ago in Families
The Winter Prince
Chapter Four I turned and looked out through the glass door. I saw a dark figure standing there looking at me. I couldn’t see their face or tell if it was a guy or a girl. Whoever it was turned and walked away but my body still felt like it was vibrating and my eyes were burning. I must’ve gotten something in my eyes, so I headed towards the bathrooms. When I headed over to the sink and saw my face in the mirror. I shrieked and fell against the bathroom stall. My eyes were bright green, kinda looked like they were glowing. My body still was pulsing and my head started pounding.
By Nicole Lytle6 years ago in Families
I Get My Smile From Her
I’m losing my mind. In the past four days I’ve lost a jacket, $100, and a new prescription. To be fair, I believe the jacket and pills were stolen from my vehicle while I was working, and I only think that because none of my camera footage at home shows anybody going into my vehicle at night. The $100 I think worked its way out of my back pocket at the post office when I went in for mail on the same day everything else went missing. I assumed I had misplaced all of it and couldn’t remember where because of my complete lack of sleep and a combination of said new medicine which makes me feel a little loopy.
By Vincent Maertz6 years ago in Families
Thankful for my son!
When I was 22 years old, I gave birth to the best part of my life, my son. When my baby was approximately 3 months old, I felt a lump in-between his rib cage. I made an appointment at the local Family Medicine clinic. The doctor told me it was a hernia. I researched hernias and my baby did not have hernia; it kept growing. I took my baby back to the clinic approximately 5 times. They gave me a referral to see a surgeon at The Children's Hospital in Denver. The only problem, it was 3 months away. I was referred to a local Surgeon. He confirmed that the lump was not a hernia, but the chance of it being cancer is so low, he recommended I wait the 3 months. The following day, I drove to Children's hospital and walked into the surgeon, Dr. Hendrickson's office. I was obviously distraught. He fit us into his schedule. After examining my son, he sent us to get a CT Scan. After the scan, I was approached and told that the mass was the size of a grapefruit. It was definitely cancer, they just didn't know what kind. They scheduled a biopsy. They told me I could admit him now, or go home pack and prepare because we would now be practically living at children's hospital. The night after learning of the enormous mass on my baby's liver, I prayed, called family and friends. The night after the CT Scan, I fed my baby like any other day, but this day has changed my life forever then he immediately started to projectile vomit. His screamed in pain, it was the worst feeling for a mother. I was terrified. I called 911 and Children's hospital. The EMTs arrived and said my baby's vitals are normal. I told them to take us to the ER. Once we arrived the emergency department had received the information from Children's hospital. I remember seeing my little baby tangled in medical equipment. They gave him an x-ray and determined that his tumor on his liver ruptured and he was not hemorrhaging. They took him on a flight for life to Children's that night. I don't recall what I said or how I reacted, all I do know is that I was scared, and angry at every doctor that told me to wait. What if I listened to them? They could not find the source of the hemorrhage. They pumped my baby with blood for almost 48 hours, then the pressure stopped the hemorrhaging. Dr. Hendrickson came to see talk to me. He told me the risk of the hemorrhage returning was high; he felt confident to remove the tumor and the left half of my son's liver. The surgery lasted about 3 or 4 hours. Dr. Hendrickson successfully removed the tumor and a portion of his liver. For the next 10 months, my baby was on chemotherapy treatments. 8/5/2020 was 15 years since my son's last chemo treatment; he is now a happy normal 16 year old boy. I thank god for him everyday.
By Tish Bendixen6 years ago in Families
Quarantine Thankful
Quarantine Thankful 2020 While we are all suffering in different ways and going through or own problems, its important to remember that we are all in this pandemic together. Two sides to the same coin. Its like being part of a well-built machine; we all have a part to do and while each job may be different, no matter big or small, they all need to function for the machine to work to its full extent.
By Sharee sav6 years ago in Families
Family is important
Being a full-time mom is so exhausting but fun. Many times we think that we will never accomplish to be good parents. We think that we are going to turn out like our parents where we thought they didn’t raise us right. What we do not realize is how much they had to struggle to take care of us where they have no money and had a hard time getting everything for us. Many times we think that we turned out to be a disappointment to our family. We may think that we are the black sheep in our family, but how can we know if many of us don’t figure out what family really is. How can we relate to family? Well we need an example as our parents struggled, they were poor, they built an entire kingdom from the bottom to the top . I remember my mom telling me that life will be hard but in reality we’re the only ones that will know how our life will look like later on in life. Our parents are the first generation to how life should’ve been but our grandparents are the ancient history of how hard life was earlier than our time. We should never underestimate family; they are the biggest blessings besides our kids. We might get scared of life and how we will turn out when we’re old whether we live a long or short life. How can you relate? Well as a kid I never got what I truly wanted, what I mean by that is having to spend time with my family instead of most of my friends. I would’ve killed more time with my mom and grandma and to know who my whole family is. My dad was only around when I was three years old and then he disappeared out of my life. How would I consider how my family should be? Well for one I love spending time with my kids and I dedicate a lot of time more than my parents ever did. I don’t blame my dad for not being there but who I do blame is my mom and my grandmother. They thought it would protect me, but in reality they hurt me from spending time with my dad. I would’ve killed more time with my dad, more time to be a daddy’s girl. I mean the love from a father is more important later on in life because we become more confident with ourselves. Family is really important to me because I wasn’t close with my family. That’s one reason why I’m a strict parent and also a loving one as well, but most importantly whether my kids think of it or not they know I love them and I do what’s best for them. Many times we think we failed as parents when your children say either “I hate you” or “you're not the boss of me”. I mean who can blame them if we’re on top of what they do every time. We only do what’s best for them and what we know they will accomplish in their life and that’s what we worry about. If we really think about it our kids are more successful then we would ever be. I never thought I would be a mom or even the thought of being a mom. I've never thought I’d ever be good at it. No one thinks we would be good parents but we try the best we can be for the ones we truly love. One day our children will thank us for what they will become in life and they will return the favor because they feel like they owe us their life. They don’t because no matter what they will always be our children and to us they will always be our babies in our hearts and in our eyes.
By Ezra Colton 6 years ago in Families
