This is just a quick note to say “Happy Mother’s Day” to all you moms out there that have children with special health needs. I don’t have anything profound to say, so I’m just going to tell you a story.
Anna had surgery yesterday. It wasn’t anything major. It was just a revision of a stoma that was trying to close up. We made the decision to operate fairly quickly- it needed to be done soon. The doctor said, “How about this Saturday,” and we replied with “Sure.” I really didn’t think about it being the day before Mother’s Day. Not until one of our lovely board members suggested I go to the hospital with her to deliver treats on Sunday morning before church, did I realize I might be in that same hospital on that same floor. I jokingly told her I join her either way- I might come up with her, or I might be there as one of the moms she was serving.
As it was, Anna did fine, and the doctor gave us permission to leave at bedtime. I was not a mom in the hospital on Mother’s Day. But had I been, I don’t know how I would have felt. Would I have been sad? Would I have felt like it was just any other day?
I think there would be no irony in the situation. As a mom of a child (children) with special needs, our life is a little different anyway. To celebrate a holiday by being in the hospital, or packing our own allergy free foods, or by staying home from the festivities with a sick child is just how it can be around here. It really is just our life. I think I could have been just as much at home eating breakfast in a hospital bed on Mother’s Day as I would have been eating “breakfast-in-(my own)bed”. And that’s ok. I’m a mom because of my children. Wherever they are and whatever they are doing- that’s what makes me a mom.