QUESTION: What are you thankful for?
For my little boy Max and his health, and that he is here.
QUESTION: Are there concerns about his health?
When he was first born he had to be in the NICU for three days because he had liquid in his lungs. Then after we went home he had really bad Torticollis. We had to spend a lot of time in physical therapy working with him. His head wouldn’t turn to the left at all because it was literally stuck to the right. Then that didn’t work even after we got his muscles to relax because his head went flat on one side, so he had to wear a helmet for awhile. It was a really emotional thing for me. I felt like I failed as a mother even though you shouldn't feel that way at all. I couldn't understand why his head was that way after so much work and all the physical therapy that we went through. I literally was watching his head 24/7. I would set alarms for every hour during the night to make sure his head was turned the right way so it wouldn't go flat any more than it already was, which is kind of ridiculous but that's what I did.
So he got a helmet and I was nervous about what people would think, but it honestly was a good thing for me to go through. Now I’m someone that people can talk to when their kids need helmets. I posted about it on my Instagram and have had quite a few people reach out to me wanting to talk about it and talk about what I did and the emotions that they are going through. As a mom it's tricky to put something on your child that they don’t want on them. It’s not fun to make your child cry on purpose. I think all parents go through something similar to this... I’m sure I’ll have to go through more stuff like this. So it's a good thing for me as a parent, but it was hard.
QUESTION: How old is Max?
He's a year and a half.
QUESTION: So with Max from a personality standpoint how is he as a child?
He's pretty easy for the most part. He knows what he wants, so he will throw a tantrum every once and awhile. But if he throws a tantrum, then he always makes sure he's on carpet because he doesn't want to hit his head. So he will look for carpet and then throw a tantrum. He’s pretty cute. For the most part he's really happy. He will let me know if he's sad, but that’s why I think I knew he really didn't like wearing the helmet because he'd let me know.
QUESTION: What is the most rewarding thing about being a mom?
I think there's so many rewarding things. I think seeing them smile or seeing them have pure joy is something that's so rewarding. When I take him to see a new experience and he can't even believe what he's seeing, that's so fun. I also think seeing them learn new things is so rewarding like Max right now is learning how to talk, and he gets so excited when he knows what something is. He sees a truck, and he will be like, “its a truck!
Truck! truck !” and it's so cute. Or He’ll see someone he knows, and he will say their name and it's really fun.
"When I take him to see a new experience and he can't even believe what he's seeing,
that's so fun."
QUESTION: What scares you the most?
How fast he is growing up I think and then not being able to protect him. Protecting him from the world or when he gets a cell phone or when he's in high school.
QUESTION: What advice would you give to prospective and new moms?
I think that no matter how big a problem seems right now, it won't seem so big later on. I think I kinda got obsessed over Max’s head and his health, so I'd be up until three in the morning researching ways to help his head. I think if you know that everyone’s going through something similar or that other kids have gone through similar things and other moms have, you will be able to get through it. Having a support system is really important too to find moms that are going through something similar. Lean on your family.
"Lean on your spouse or whoever you have that you trust. I think that's important to being a mom."
