MP Story by Bailey Vincent Clark (Staunton, VA)
April 10, 2009 by Mommy Power Staff
Filed under Mommy Power Stories
Stay-at-Home Mom / Writer / Teacher * Mother of 1 * Make Over Mamma
I didn’t know that I had any Mommy Power inside of myself (or ever could) until my very first day of motherhood. After spending my entire life torturing my own mother (as the baby of five) and thinking I would do everything differently from her… I have now realized that my greatest goal in life would be to give my own children even a portion of the childhood and foundation that she gave us.
I have tried to make a living off of helping other mothers, and connecting with women during this crazy time in life. As a former personal trainer, I founded a variety of mother and baby fitness programs in my area, taught family and post-partum health classes as adjunct faculty at colleges nearby, and founded the website Makeover Momma for all busy, budgeted mothers out there. Yet, none of these jobs have been more demanding, challenging or rewarding than the proud title of full-time, from-home mother to my three-year old daughter.
Perhaps the hardest part of my motherhood journey thus far has been dealing with sickness along the way, and trying to fix my health (without affecting my family). After being diagnosed with celiac disease years ago (my daughter was diagnosed months later), it has been a struggle to deal with the aftermath of years of malnutrition and poor health (including accelerated hearing loss, requiring the soon-to-be use of double hearing aids), and the latest diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Even though it has taken a great deal of Mommy Power to deal with so many things at once, I still feel that I haven’t even touched the surface of what millions of mothers handle on a day-to-day basis (including my own!)
In the end, it seems that Mommy Power is something that keeps building and growing inside of ourselves- despite the odds- and seems to hold no limits within every woman. And guess what? I’m going to need more Mommy Power soon, because we’re expecting our second baby girl this summer….here we go again!
