Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. I always wanted to be a mother, but a mother four kids…now that’s a BIG wish.
I’m a stay at home mom and I care for my four beautiful children: Isaiah 7, Micah 4, Gabrielle 3 and Noah 15 months. Sounds like a handful, but they are really good kids.
I use to be in the workforce, but that all changed with my daughter was born. In 2007, our daughter Gabrielle was born with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. It was all a surprise to us when she was born at home.
Spina bifida is a neural tube birth defect (NTD) which occurs within the first four weeks of pregnancy. The spinal column fails to develop properly resulting in varying degrees of permanent damage to the spinal cord and nervous system. So you can say life for us had turned down a different street.
Also that same year, my husband was accepted into Medical School, where he is studying to be a doctor. I consider myself a part-time single mom and still having the benefits of having a husband.
My day is regular like any other mother: cooking, cleaning, homework, bed time battles and grocery store runs with the kids hanging off the cart. What’s make us different is the special care we have to give Gabrielle in order for her to have a normal life. That involves follow-up appointments with her doctors, medications, and good old TLC.
Gabrielle has been an inspiration to us since her birth. She has shown us that she can do anything that she sets her mind to do. Gabrille is still to young to know about Spina Bifida, but she a little girl who is enjoying life the best way she knows how; and that’s with a lot of laughter. It makes no sense for me to stop living and feel sorry for myself all because Gabrielle was born with a birth defect. It’s all about pressing forward, as a family, with your goals and dreams in front of you. As a mother, you have no other choice but to do your best. And no one can love your kids and make them feel more special than you.
The Spina Bifida & Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario initiated the Spirit Wheel Walk Run (SWWR). It’s a one-of-a-kind fundraising and awareness initiative that happens during the month of June in celebration of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Awareness Month. In celebration of this special month, our family, hosted an event called “Gabby’s Gift”, in honour of Gabrielle. It’s a time where we invite all our family and friends to come out, dressed in our SWWR t-shirts, we walk for an hour and end with a great BBQ in the park. It’s also a chance for Gabrielle to see how many people have come out to support her. We want her to see that for years to come. To watch last year’s “Gabby’s Gift” click on at ImagesofU.tv.
Gabrielle will always have follow-up appointments, therapies, medications in her life, but that doesn’t define who she is and what she will be. Everywhere we go, people turn their heads. I always have strangers coming up to me commenting: Boy, do you have your hands full. Yes, I do, but I'm blessed. Having to take care of a child with special needs is overwhelming at times, but as a mother, you always find the strength to do it.
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