Magazine

Tired mother holding a silicone teether and looking stressed

Why That Freezer Teether Ring Is Actually Making Your Baby Cry

It was three in the morning in the middle of a Chicago February. The kind of bitter cold that seeps right through the windowpanes and makes the old apartment radiator hiss like an angry cat. My toddler was cutting his...

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A delicate floral baby loss tattoo on a mother's inner forearm

My Baby Loss Tattoo: Why I Needed Ink After the Worst Day

I was staring at the popcorn ceiling in my bedroom at two in the afternoon on a Tuesday, listening to the hum of the ceiling fan and absolutely nothing else. The house was dead silent. My oldest was at preschool,...

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A mother holding a warm cup of coffee looking out a rainy window

Comforting Baby Loss Quotes: Finding Words When You're Grieving

"At least you know your plumbing still works!" That was my well-meaning but completely clueless aunt, standing way too close to my face in the hospital room while I was still wearing those god-awful mesh underwear and bleeding through a...

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A half-finished knitted baby cardigan next to a massive cup of spilled coffee.

The Truth About Baby Knitting Patterns (And What Actually Works)

Maya was exactly eighteen days old and I was sitting on our beige living room rug in sweatpants that hadn't been washed since the Obama administration, crying over a tiny sleeve. It was somewhere around 2 PM, though time is...

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A chronological guide to helping family select a baby's headstone and processing the logistics of infant loss.

When Your Brother Asks You to Help Pick a Memorial Marker

The fluorescent lighting in the monument showroom was humming at a frequency that felt like a localized cyber-attack on my nervous system. I was sitting at a faux-wood desk next to my older brother, Dave, staring at a catalog of...

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Dad holding baby while researching true crime on laptop

Did Ed Gein Kill The Baby Sitter? A Dad's Late-Night Search

11:43 PM. The glow of the television is casting a sickly blue light across our living room, illuminating an abandoned silicone teething ring and a half-drank bottle of formula. Sarah is asleep on the couch, her head resting at an...

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Sarah holding a cold coffee mug while rocking a screaming newborn

How Do People Abadon Babies? A Letter To Myself

Dear Sarah from six months ago, It's 2:14 AM. You're sitting on the cold, weirdly sticky tile of the upstairs bathroom floor. You're wearing Dave's gray Villanova sweatpantsβ€”the ones with the literal hole in the left knee that you keep...

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A half empty bottle of pink baby lotion next to a breast pump

Smelling like a powdery Brazilian memory won't save your sanity

I was sitting on the edge of the tub, staring at a bottle of Giovanna Baby classic lotion my auntie brought over after the birth. It's pink. It smells like a 1970s powder room mixed with a lingering cherry blossom....

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Exhausted dad staring at baby videos on his phone in a dark nursery

Dear Past Me: That TikTok issa_hay_baby_ Account Isn't Real

It’s exactly 3:14 AM right now in your timeline, and you're sitting on the edge of the glider while the baby does that weird pterodactyl screech that means his sleep cycle is resetting. Your face is bathed in the cold...

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