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How I Got This Baby

Because no two paths to parenthood look the same, this series invites parents to share their stories.

how i got this baby

The Mom Who Gave Birth While Incarcerated

 “I gave my daughter a kiss and handed her back to the nurse. And then all of a sudden, I was being taken to a different prison.” By Stephanie Booth

More From 'How I Got This Baby'

  1. how i got this baby
    The Ukrainian Mom Who Gave Birth to Premature Twins As Russia Invaded“My mom and I left with one bag. We didn’t even take strollers. The babies were wrapped in big blankets.”
    As told to April Daniels Hussar
  2. how i got this baby
    The 10 Most-Read ‘How I Got This Baby’ Columns in 2024The stories from our biweekly column on becoming a parent that most captured Cut readers’ attention this year.
    By the Cut
  3. how i got this baby
    The NICU Nurse Who Adopted Her Patient“I had helped deliver dozens of babies, but there was something about this one.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  4. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Nearly Died After Her C-section“As soon as I got into the recovery room, I knew something was off.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  5. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Fostered 24 Kids and Adopted One“Dropping off my first foster baby was crushing. A couple days later, I found a rogue baby sock and broke down. I was really surprised by the grief.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  6. how i got this baby
    The Mom Whose Husband Died in a Car Wreck When She Was 9 Months Pregnant“I looked up from my phone and saw that we were crossing the double yellow lines of the two-way highway.”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  7. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Became the Adoptive Parent She Never Had“Being in foster care and knowing how many bad homes are out there, I’ve always known that I wanted to adopt a child.”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  8. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Had a Home Birth After a C-Section“I was determined to create a different birthing experience than the one I had with my first child. I needed to prove that I could do it.”
    As told to L'Oreal Thompson Payton
  9. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Became a Foster Parent After a Ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy“I had feared getting attached to a child and then losing them, but now I had a new mindset.”
    As told to L'Oreal Thompson Payton
  10. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Moved in With Her Sperm Donor“Once he met the baby, he told me, ‘I just held him and I fell in love with him.’”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  11. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Expected Her Baby’s Father to Leave His Wife“He was planting seeds in my head that we could be together one day.”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  12. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Didn’t Know She Was Pregnant Until She Was in Labor“A wave of pain hit me so badly that I catapulted up from the recliner, landing with my back arched like a cat ready to attack.”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  13. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Went Back to Work in Construction 9 Days After Giving Birth“That first year of my daughter’s life, trying to keep my business afloat and dealing with the pressures of COVID, was the worst year of my life.”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  14. how i got this baby
    The Single Dad Who Had a Baby Via Surrogate“I always say I’m doing this solo, not alone. Alone sounds sad. Solo sounds like more of an adventure.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  15. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Got Pregnant While on Birth Control at Age 46“I didn’t think about how much work it was going to be until I was all up in it. And then, suddenly, I was like, What did I do?”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  16. how i got this baby
    The Dads Who Adopted a Nonverbal 7-Year-Old With Autism“It was quite a frightening undertaking, to be honest. I remember thinking, Can we really handle this?”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  17. how i got this baby
    The Mom Whose Water Broke at 26 Weeks in a Foreign Country“They put me in an ambulance and transferred me to this huge yellow building that looked like a crumbling cathedral.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  18. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Got Ovarian Cancer After Having Her Ovaries Removed“We’ve fought so hard; we created our child, you know? What if I die and I leave her without a mom? What does that look like?”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  19. how i got this baby
    The Mom Racing to Diagnose Her Child’s Life-Threatening Food AllergiesI was panicking, thinking, Is my next call to my husband going to be me telling him our baby died?
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  20. how i got this baby
    The Single Mom Whose Friend Found Her a Donor Embryo“It took time to get to an emotional place where I could say: I don’t care if we share genetics. I just want a family.”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  21. how i got this baby
    The Mom of 3 Who Has Been a Surrogate 4 Times“I’ve come to look at it as extreme babysitting. I tell myself I’m babysitting an embryo, and then a fetus.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  22. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Gave Birth Minutes After Being Turned Away From the Hospital“I told them to call 911. Then I started hollering, ‘Baby’s coming! He’s coming!’”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  23. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Left Her Husband at 20 Weeks Pregnant“He had been lying about being in a master’s program for a year and a half. I had thought he was going to be graduating in June.”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  24. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Told Her Cousin She Could Adopt Her Next Baby“I wrote explaining my reasons for not wanting to do it anymore — later, she saw me in a parking lot and tried to hit me with her car.”
    As told to Yolanda Wikiel
  25. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Lost Her Home the Day Before She Gave Birth“When I returned to my apartment later that afternoon, my key didn’t work. They had changed the locks while I was gone.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  26. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Had Three Babies with Cystic Fibrosis“We were at my parents’ house when we got the call. I lost it.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  27. parenting
    The Single Mom Who Fostered Three Afghan Refugee Teenagers“You can’t fathom what they’ve been through. You can look at them and judge them, but until you know their story, you can’t understand.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  28. parenting
    The Dad Who Became a Widower at 30 With 8-Month-Old Twins“I couldn’t stop thinking, How am I going to do this without her? We wanted to do this together.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  29. parenting
    The Mom Who Was Fired a Week Before Her Due Date“My son was born in early June. And on the day he was born, I couldn’t stop thinking about the lawsuit.”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  30. parenting
    The Couple Whose Twins Survived Birth at 22 Weeks“He said, ‘There’s no point. Your babies are not going to survive.’ He kept saying that: ‘There’s no point.’”
    As told to Kristen Mascia
  31. no expectations
    ‘I’m 8 Months Pregnant and My Husband Tested Positive’“If we’re both presumed to have it, who’s going to care for the baby?”
    As told to Erica Schwiegershausen
  32. no expectations
    I Met My Baby Over FaceTime“I could see the baby a little, and then it was time for them to take him away to do the measuring.”
    As told to Erica Schwiegershausen
  33. no expectations
    They Said She Wouldn’t Give Birth Alone“It’s been hard for me to come to terms with the fact that the ban really only was in place for a number of days.”
    As told to Erica Schwiegershausen
  34. parenthood
    The Single Mother Who Couldn’t Leave Her Job“The doctor said I should leave my job — but how could I leave? I was a pregnant woman with kids.”
    By the Cut
  35. parenthood
    The Mom Whose Husband Worried She’d Never Lose the Baby WeightIn this week’s How I Got This Baby, a mother whose marriage fell apart while she was pregnant with their second child.
    By the Cut
  36. the cut on tuesdays
    Anna Sale of Death, Sex, and Money Shares Her Life-Hack for Working MothersThis week’s episode of The Cut on Tuesdays.
    By the Cut
  37. parenthood
    The Widow Co-Parenting With Her DadThis week’s “How I Got This Baby.”
    By the Cut
  38. parenthood
    The Stepmom Who Hates the Word ‘Co-Parent’“It reminds me of the idea of ‘conscious uncoupling.’ It’s really not how parenting is at all.”
    By the Cut
  39. parenthood
    The Mom Who Realized Life With 4 Kids Wasn’t Always Going to Be EasyThis week’s How I Got This Baby.
    By the Cut
  40. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Did IVF for Her Husband’s Infertility, Not Hers“Male infertility is almost never talked about — and when it is, it’s a joke. There’s zero nuance.”
    By the Cut
  41. parenthood
    The Mom Whose Husband Died Weeks After She Gave Birth“To be honest, I don’t know how I got through it, having a newborn and a very sick husband.”
    By the Cut
  42. parenthood
    The Single Mom Who’s Not Worried About Her Son“He’s not going to be screwed up by this, not at all.”
    By the Cut
  43. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Can’t Imagine Paying for Fertility TreatmentsAn American woman who did IVF in France, where the government covers infertility.
    By the Cut
  44. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Wishes Her Son’s Father Would Stay Out of Her Life“I don’t want to let my husband ruin being a mother for me.”
    By the Cut
  45. how i got this baby
    The Adopted Mom Who Cherishes Her Biological Daughter“For me, having a biological connection to her represents so much more. I’m grateful for it.”
    By the Cut
  46. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Had an Abortion at 8 Months, Then a Surprise PregnancyI believe I lost more than a fetus, less than a baby.
    By the Cut
  47. how i got this baby
    The Canadian Woman Shocked by Reproductive Care in the U.S.“I just figured that if I needed one, my health-care provider in town would do the termination, and that would be that.”
    By the Cut
  48. how i got this baby
    The Mom Who Was Pregnant and Addicted to Opioids“I was already worried, but after I got pregnant, it became imperative that I had to do something.”
    By the Cut
  49. how i got this baby
    How I Got This Baby: The Mom Who Went Abroad to Make a Baby“In a way, knowing that I might need to pursue motherhood on my own was a kind of relief.”
    By the Cut
  50. new mom
    How We Got These BabiesTwenty women tell their stories.
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