Mastering the art of LEARNING to be a superhero….

OK, anyone that knows me, knows good and well that this is something I have not mastered. I actually wouldn’t even say I was all that good at it. I can say that I’m much better then I was, and I’m OK with saying that. This is a very hard thing to master. Especially for women. We have what I call, “Superhero syndrome”. We like to take on everything! Most of the time its not even ours to take on. In this day in age I’ve seen this take off even more. With Pinterest and Facebook and Instagram, we feel the need to keep up.

You know, keep up with the mom that’s working full time, raising all her kids perfectly, lives in a perfect home with her house spotless, makes every meal from scratch and probably sows her and her children’s owns cloths. You know this woman! We all know at least one! We also know that woman that grows all her own food, makes everything from scratch and churns her own butter, home schools all of her children and they are well adapted, gives freely to everyone and donates her time at church, women’s group, children’s group, small group, homeless outreach, etc..and both examples are always well put together ….These examples are what I call superheros. Those women that set the bar so high it seems unreachable. Why do we compare ourselves?! I, for a long time tried to be woman number 1, and then woman 2 for a period. I remember working insane hours, starting at 5am and ending at 6pm. making dinner, doing homework, cleaning my house (spotless), doing the laundry, making the lunches, making homemade bread, prepping dinner for the next night and then putting my kids to bed. After they were down I would get back on my computer at 8ish and work til 12am or 1am…… INSANE!!! I was literally killing myself. I remember having a gathering at my house at one of the men came out of the bathroom and said, “Wow, your house is always so clean! You could eat off the toilets!” I felt so accomplished. A short time after that my life completely changed. My career went away when the market took a turn. I was no longer a “successful woman and mom” in my eyes. I had a false sense of what a superhero was. After a tough process of learning to let go of control and the effed up idea that a super woman has to be perfect at everything, I had a good heart to heart with myself.  What if a superhero is something so much simpler? What if its simply loving my children 100% without any distractions, or sitting and listening to my husband be goofy and laughing at all his jokes. What if its taking the time to have coffee with a friend that needs some human contact because shes isolated herself because she doesn’t think she is a “superhero”? What if its being a good sister, daughter, friend, wife, mom….A loving person?  What if its letting the house be a little dirty, leaving work on time and not working overtime, saying “no”, ordering take out and remembering your not perfect?

We need to give ourselves some grace. This is the art of LEARNING to be a superhero. Its a process, a journey and seldom do we master it. Our jobs aren’t to be perfect but instead, to be excellent.  Excellent at loving, excellent at laughing, excellent and letting go of control, excellent and not being perfect and excellent and mastering the learning process. We need to be one another cheerleaders and give a warm hug, or pat on the back to one another. Then we will realize that everyone is a superhero and master the process of seeing the superhero in the unassuming ways.

A long way from home…My journey as a mom having a child with special needs. (part 1)

On July 29th, 2003 My Kali took her first breath. She was perfect in every way. A chubby baby from the beginning. I love chubby babies! I truly believe it’s the only time its adorable to be chubby is when you’re a baby. Lets be honest here… She had a faint cry and didn’t really scream. Her sister was 2 and when she was born, she screamed. So that concerned me at first. Her scores came back perfect and her oxygen level was good, so I didn’t have a reason to be concerned…..or so I thought. My delivery wasn’t really a piece of cake and I had started to hemorrhage and bleed out. Now, I don’t really remember too much after that but I do remember a bunch of blood being rushed in for a blood transfusion and the Dr. and nurses rushing around. I remember 4 or 5 shots going into my legs to stop the bleeding. Meanwhile, I was more concerned with the faint cry of my child. I think they were able to get the bleeding to stop without the transfusion, but I honestly don’t remember and neither does anyone else. That’s how much chaos was happening at that time. You tend to block it all out and in that moment when your life is a huge concern, as a mother, your child’s life is more of a concern….always. We took Kali home and all was well until day 3. She was 8lbs and 13oz when we took her home and had lost weight since we brought her home. Completely normal, however, she had lost a good amount of weight. She started projectile vomiting. Ok, I’m not talking about throwing up a good distance; I’m talking about vomiting a good 4-5 feet. No exaggeration. I went in the room to take a nap and about 30 min later, my husband came rushing in with my 4 day old baby not breathing. She had vomited and aspirated it. She was blue. My husband was freaking out and I flipped out. I called 911 and started trying everything I knew to do in order to get her to breathe. I had even tried to pinch the bottom of her feet so she would let out a scream. Nothing. I just prayed and cried watching my 4 day old baby girl suffocate. I could hear the faint sounds of the ambulance in the distance. All of a sudden her color came back and she let out a scream.  My husband and I both were hysterical but trying to hold it together for our 2 year old. Her vitals checked out but her oxygen was still low for comfort. I got on the stretcher and carried my baby in the back of the ambulance. They put an IV in her and oxygen up to her face. Flipped her around like she was a rag doll checking all her vitals. We were transported to Loma Linda children’s hospital where we were there for 3 nights and 4 days. Little did we know that this was the start of many visits and stays at that hospital. They ran test after test after test on her little body. They took x-rays and didn’t let her eat. She was 4 days old, that’s it. The most innocent little baby and as a mother, I could do nothing. That’s the worst feeling in the world. She screamed for hours because she was hungry and hurt. She would only be soothed by me. So, I walked around the hospital children ward for 24 hours straight, bouncing her on my hip. It was the ONLY thing that calmed her down. We tried giving me a rest and having my husband or mom take her. She wasn’t having that. So in my exhaustion, mentally, physically, emotionally, I had a perseverance that I didn’t realize I had. That protective nature comes out, the “mama bear” so to speak, and I would do whatever it took for my child…..

After a long 4 days, they found nothing. Weird huh? A little acid reflux that they said was pretty bad, but that was it. They were still concerned about how much she projectile vomited and how often, that they prescribed her medication. After 4 different medications, some 2 and 3 at a time, and zero progress, I had enough. I told the Dr. I was done and to take her off all of the medications. Meanwhile, she had her immunizations. She was 5 months old and at one time, she had 9 different immunizations at one time (3 shots with 3 immunizations in each). 9!!! Now, with a 5 month old baby, who is already on 4 medications and then gets 9 more on top of everything, do you think that a baby’s body or brain could handle that? Would you take 13 different rounds of medications and viruses? I didn’t know any better. I just listened to what the Dr. said. Looking back now, I would do so much different. Isn’t that life though? We learn from our mistakes and life choices and move forward with the knowledge to make better choices.

This is my journey and it will take time to tell. Please be patient with me 🙂

To be continued…..