“Strongest Kids God Created” – Sarah

I thought this post I would write about some of the things I guess us parents all go through, at some point or other.
It feels like Ella makes such huge leaps forward every day – new words, new emotions, new actions. We can forget the horrors that we have been through and focus on the positives, because that’s the only way to move forward.
But at some point, life can serve you a stark reminder that it’s not always ups – we have to learn to take and deal with the downs too.
Ella, a few weeks ago – had a seizure as she was being tucked into bed and when she came round her whole right side from facial drooping to her toes was completely paralysed. She couldn’t swallow and her jaw was locked, she couldn’t move anything from her fingers to her toes. Doctors, paramedics and myself thought she’d had a stroke at 7 years old. After a series of tests including an MRI she was diagnosed with having teds palsy which can occur after focal seizures. It is not common however.
The paralysis is temporary and went away completely after 7 days. The memory however, will stay a lot longer. These beautiful babies of ours go through so much – every day their bodies battle what others take for granted. Even with this paralysis which they believe to be quite painful – Ella just handled it. Like it was nothing. She was incredible in the hospital. She was perfect having all her tests, she didn’t complain once about the paralysis, she just dealt with it. And I don’t know if it makes me happy or sad that she can just cope like that?
We are so pro positive parenting, we know that we’ve got the strongest kids God created, we know they truly are one in a billion.  We are so amazing at not letting them become a label- acknowledging that these kids are truly individual and not to be defined by their condition. But I think maybe sometimes we should allow ourselves the right to be a bit sad or mournful that this kind of episode, for us, probably won’t be a rarity or a one off. It doesn’t mean they’re not kick ass all the time or that they have been let down! It just means we’re human and behind our iron parent suits that it’s ok to hurt sometimes.