Motherhood

Congenital Heart Disease: A Denver mom shares her son’s story

Each time someone laces up their shoes or forms a team to participate in the Denver Heart & Stroke Walk, they are instrumental in making innovative breakthroughs. Every donation helps create new technologies like groundbreaking pediatric heart and stroke research that saves babies’ lives or the kind of research that helped create artificial heart valve, cholesterol drugs, stents, and the mechanical heart pump which helps extend the life of patients. Participants of this year’s American Heart Association’s Denver Heart & Stroke Walk on June 1 at Broncos Stadium will see their dollars at work when they meet cardiovascular disease survivors and their families…families like Lisa and Kaden. ==== I was like any other mom.  I was 17 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child a...

Motherhood: I Am Death’s Opposition

MOTHERHOOD My willingness to carry life is the revenge, the antidote, the great rebuttal of every murder, every abortion, and every genocide. I sustain humanity. Deep inside of me, life grows. I am death’s opposition. I have pushed back the hand of darkness today. I have caused there to be a weakening tremor among the ranks of those set on earth’s destruction. Today a vibration that calls angels to attention echoed throughout time. Our laughter threatened hell today. I dined with the greats of God’s army. I made their meals, and tied their shoes. Today, I walked with greatness, and when they were tired I carried them. I have poured myself out for the cause today. It is finally quiet, but life stirs inside of me. Gaining strength, the pulse of life sends a constant reminder to both good and...

A Hive of Frightened Bees

The last few days have been tough for Colorado. Deep wounds resurfaced yesterday as yet another shooter targeted our beloved state. We are the birthplace of horror. Columbine. Then Aurora. The list keeps growing.  Parents were stunned into silence. Half a million kids did not attend school because of this new threat. This was unlike any joyous snow day with sledding, snowmen and hot chocolate. Instead, fear, shock and the inability to truly process what this new world means for our families when the enemy is not attacking from outside our borders, but from within. Just as we start to heal, we relapse.  What is to blame? Mental illness? Too many guns?  The debate rages on.  And yet still no answers. It is as if we’re in a bad dream when an immed...

Spotlight: This Denver mom shares the story of her daughter’s “borrowed heart”

Mile High Mama Joni Schrantz has a background as a professional photographer and nurse. She is married to a salty, bearded English teacher who is passionate about politics, literacy and luckily cooking, since she’s “pretty terrible at it.”   We sat down with Joni to talk about her strong, sassy and adorable daughter, Juniper and her health struggles.   When did you first learn about Juniper’s heart condition?  When I took her to her first pediatrician’s appointment. The doctor noticed her breathing a little heavy and ordered a chest X-ray. What would follow in the 7 months to come was a complete emotional roller coaster. We lived in a hospital for 6 months awaiting a life-saving heart transplant.    Tell us about Juniper̵...

Mighty Mom Won Ultramarathon While Breastfeeding

Jasmin Paris won Britain’s most brutal running race this week — a 268-mile winter mountain ultramarathon — all while the breastfeeding mom was expressing milk along the route! And, not only did the 35-year old small animal vet beat the entire field, she set a new Montane Spine course record by 12 hours, completing the race in 83 hours and 12 minutes. During the race, which covers 43,000 feet of climbing, Jasmin had to carry all of the supplies she needed, and navigate using a map, compass, and headlamp to follow the route that runs along the rugged Pennine Way from Edale in Derbyshire to the Scottish Borders. Jasmin says that her baby daughter, Rowan, helped inspire her to keep going when times got tough. “I did something crazy and entered a race I had vowed I would...

Hilarious spoof on what moms are like goes viral

Just how “mom” are you? Trey Kennedy, a comedian with a knack for creating hilarious videos, recently did a spoof on what moms are actually like that will make kids, teens and parents chuckle. He shared the clip — which is appropriately titled “Moms”— on his Facebook page, and it instantly went viral. How many of his spoofs apply to you?

My Nightingale Baby: Living with MS as a single mom

Finding out you are going to be a mom in the same month you are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis is one sure way to begin a crazy adventure, to say the least. Emotions for me at that time were so night and day that it was very hard at first. A roller-coaster for sure. I was excited, the thought of being a mama, a baby of my own, wow!  Then I would immediately get emotional, what if I bring a baby into this world and it ends up with my newly declared disease. My pregnancy was honestly one of the roughest things I have ever been through. Most moms would agree, pregnancy is rough in some ways, mine however was rough on me in every way. The first time I went into pre-term labor, I was twenty weeks. I was rushed to Denver to have an emergency cerclage placed so th...

Peace Big and Small

A child asked at bedtime, “Mommy why is there war? Why can’t there be peace in the world?” “Well, to have peace in the world, we need peace in our country. “To have peace in our country, we must have peace in our city. “To have peace in our city, we must have peace in our neighborhood. “To have peace in our neighborhood we must have peace in our home. “To have peace in our homes we must have peace in ourselves.” * So, my Mile High Mama friends, rather than wishing for world peace, I wish you each peace within yourselves. And I wish the same for me. *vignette paraphrased from a story told to me by a very wise woman

Halloween is not the devil’s birthday

Several years ago, a woman at our church told our oldest son, Ryley, that it was bad to celebrate Halloween because it is the devil’s birthday. Quickly: 1. It is not the devil’s birthday. 2. It is not the devil’s birthday. 3. It is not the devil’s birthday. We strongly assured him our family wouldn’t celebrate such a thing, and Halloween was not an evil day. I was furious that an adult would tell a lie like that to a little boy, especially at church. I really don’t care if she doesn’t observe Halloween, but she had no right to stomp all over one of our wholesome family traditions. It is true that in recent years, Halloween has been highjacked by adults as an excuse to dress like prostitutes and party like it’s A.D. 59 in Rome. Images of death...

Appreciate Who You See in the Mirror: Wife of Denver Broncos Player Shares Struggles with Postpartum Depression

A special welcome to Leah Harris, owner of Arie X Avie & Wife of Denver Broncos Cornerback Chris Harris Jr. To me, being a mom is one of the best experiences I’ve in had in my life. I have three kids under the age of four, and guess what – they’re all girls! My life has never been filled with more pink and bows, but I’ve also never struggled so much with postpartum depression and anxiety. Did you know it’s the most common complication of pregnancy? One in 7 mamas suffer from it but too few of us talk about it. I experienced it with my first two pregnancies, but this last pregnancy was really tough. I’ve struggled with anxiety and being overwhelmed, which is a great recipe for a breakdown when you’re also sleep deprived! Sometimes a simple question like what I ate for lunch c...

We’re not perfect but we’re brave

Have you ever been judged for something on this list? Parenting is hard. Good thing we have friends who support our choices and remind us that parenting is a spectator sport.  “Mother Judger” is a new series by Scary Mommy and really hits home.

Free “Zero Weeks” Screening & Paid Family Leave Discussion

During my recent visit home to Canada, my niece coddled her newborn son and casually mentioned she was taking a 35-week maternity leave and would still be earning 55% of her wages. Let’s take that in: 35 WEEKS home with her baby. We all know parental leave is a huge issue in the United States.  The Colorado Children’s Campaign, Prenatal, Infant, Toddler Coalition, the Metro Public Health Early Childhood Partnership and others invite you to join them on October 4th, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Zero to Three Conference at the Governor’s Square Room at the Sheraton Denver Hotel for a screening of Zero Weeks, a documentary on the challenges posed by the absence of a paid family leave policy in our nation. Hear from Colorado advocates who are working to ...