“To the mama who is on a parenting journey that is much more difficult than most, this is for you.
To the mama who crawls into bed at night aching from head to toe from the constant lifting, carrying, and re-positioning of her child who is unable to move themselves and the lugging around of equipment that you have been doing all day, this is for you.
To the mama who sheds a tear behind her sunglasses at the park when she sees other kids running and jumping around, knowing hers may never get to do this, this is for you.
To the mama who is not only a parent, but a physical and occupational therapist, speech therapist, honorary nurse, and professional crisis manager, this is for you.
Courtesy of Jillian Arnold
To the mama who feels so isolated because she doesn’t have time to go out with friends anymore, this is for you.
To the mama who can’t leave the house without oxygen, feeding pumps, barf bags, medicines, and pulse/ox machines, this is for you.
To the mama who feels like she is drowning in a sea of doctor’s appointments, therapies, and blood draws week after week, this is for you.
To the mama who stays up late nights even though she is exhausted doing research and finding the best doctors and treatments for her medically fragile child, this is for you.
To the mama who gets woken up 5 times a night to the sound of different machines in her child’s room alarming, this is for you.
To the mama who is doing EVERYTHING, but also feels like she is never doing enough for her children, this is for you.
Courtesy of Jillian Arnold
To the mama who feels like she spends more nights on a pullout bed at a children’s hospital than she does in her own room, this is for you.
To the mama who is uncertain about the future of her children’s health, this is for you.
To the mama who is so utterly emotionally and physically exhausted but gets up each and every day ready to take on the world all over again, this is for you.
To the mama who continues to have hope, this is for you.
To the mama who will NEVER give up on her children, this is for you.
I know this is not the parenting journey you had imagined yourself on when you chose to start a family but it is the one you were born to do.”
Courtesy of Jillian Arnold
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Jillian Arnold of Cincinnati, OH, mother of two young children battling a rare genetic disorder called ASMD. You can follow her journey on Instagram, Facebook, and her website. Submit your own story here and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.
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