Survivor Moms Speak Out

Cathleen's Story

2010-03-16T12:49:00Z

A therapist once asked me, “Why don’t you feel any anger or resentment toward your parents?” I didn’t have an answer for her except to say, “I remember so little.” What I do remember is shrouded in dreams and impressions. I do recall the self-destructive Read More......(read more)

Karin's Story

2010-02-16T08:02:03Z

I am a survivor of multiple traumas. I was sexually assaulted multiple times as a teenager starting at age 12. I told no one for 20 years…the healing has been slow. In college, I lived in the highlands of Guatemala and was there when an earthquake measuring Read More......(read more)

Holly’s Story

2010-02-09T07:59:00Z

My husband and I chose to have a homebirth with a midwife and a doula. The labor was progressing quickly and my midwife explained that I was almost at 10 cm. I was excited that I would begin to push soon but then the contractions changed. The contractions Read More......(read more)

Tina's Poems

2010-01-25T08:17:03Z

Out of Clouded Waters Water pools where long have hidden my truths. Dusty fragments of past gather there and settle. I keep the pond still, ringless until calm is lost under storm of day to day. She rises from the water, thread-bare and stained dusty Read More......(read more)

tedi’s story

2010-01-14T13:47:01Z

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. (John 3:16) “You were so ugly the nurses in the hospital called you Monkey. I called you Peanut. I felt so sorry for you when you were born, you didn’t even weigh five pounds. I always felt Read More......(read more)

Joanna's Story

2010-01-03T12:03:00Z

When I was two, my first abuser came into my life. He was soon to become my stepfather, and by all accounts, it was to be the worst thing that could have happened to us. He was physically abusive to my mother, beating her nearly every day. He beat us Read More......(read more)

Erica's Story

2009-12-23T08:34:02Z

My parents were ahead of their time. Though I am technically a Baby Boomer, I have always felt a greater kinship with those that are a few years younger than me. When the characteristics of Generation X are compared with the Boomers, I identify more with Read More......(read more)

Lisa's Story

2009-12-09T14:07:04Z

I am a survivor of both childhood sexual abuse and Rape as a young adult, but I am so much more than that. I am a woman, a mother, a wife, and a daughter. I am a soul. I have had many experiences in my life, some of which have been incredibly painful Read More......(read more)

Sarah's Story

2009-11-20T09:57:04Z

I don’t remember how old I was when my dad started fondling me. I know I was always a very shy and withdrawn child. My dad was a heavy drinker and also read and looked at pornographic magazines. My mom tried to instill her values in her children. I have Read More......(read more)

Denise's Story

2009-11-06T09:45:02Z

There is no question that my past abuse history had a major impact on my ability to handle even the thought of having children, my pregnancy, birth and adjustment to parenting. From the moment I fell pregnant I went into a total depression – even before Read More......(read more)

Lena's Story

2009-10-27T10:39:04Z

When you remember, you remember...Sounds a bit like Yogi Berra in a TV commercial. But for me, the words ring a profound truth. In the autumn of 1998, right after I began therapy for incest, I attended a conference for survivors. I felt so jealous of Read More......(read more)

Hope's Story

2009-10-09T07:47:04Z

My mother left my father, my little sister and I when I was 5 years old. It’s very hard for me to separate the damage that was caused by sexual abuse from the damage caused by my mother’s abandonment (especially when it comes to my mothering journey) Read More......(read more)

Kristy’s Story

2009-10-05T11:47:02Z

I'm only 36 now, but I have shared my story with so many groups and people that the trauma has been diluted by the years and retellings. The pain associated with the original events has been replaced by insight, understanding, and reframing. I have Read More......(read more)

Elizabeth’s Story

2009-09-24T14:21:05Z

My one recurrent prayer in high school was to live long enough to move out of my parents’ house. Every night at bedtime I had wanted to kill myself. Images of me dead, ways of dying, and an overwhelming sense of oppression invaded my nighttime thoughts Read More......(read more)

Kathleen's poems

2009-09-18T10:59:05Z

Mother’s Law I do not know why my mother Chose to hurt me; How her life was twister Or why her love so painful. I only know that by every law Sacred to all mothers She betrayed her daughter. My mother broke my heart. Perhaps her mother also betrayed And Read More......(read more)