Behind the Capes Podcast

Autism 101: From Awareness to Acceptance

In this episode of Autism 101: From Awareness to Acceptance, we’re going deeper than awareness—we’re talking about what it truly means to understand autism.
From the history of autism and the misconceptions that once shaped it, to the way diagnosis has evolved into what we now know as a spectrum with different levels of support, this episode walks through the foundations of Autism 101 in a real and honest way. We’ll also explore current statistics and the truths that often get overlooked.
But this isn’t just about information—it’s about lived experience.
As a mom of autistic children, I’m sharing what this journey has looked like for me. The learning, the unlearning, the hard moments, and the beauty that exists alongside it all.
Because awareness is simply knowing autism exists…but acceptance is choosing to see, understand, and show up with compassion.

Trauma Awareness Month: When Medical Parenting Leaves Lasting Scars

 
In this episode, we open up about the parts of medical parenting that often go unseen—the trauma that lingers long after the appointments, hospital stays, and emergencies pass. In honor of Trauma Awareness Month, we’re having an honest conversation about how living in constant survival mode can leave lasting emotional and neurological impacts, including CPTSD.
We share our personal journeys through medical motherhood—how the fear, uncertainty, and chronic stress shaped us in ways we didn’t fully understand at the time. From always being on high alert to struggling to feel safe even in calm moments, we explore what trauma really looks like for medical parents.
This episode is about naming it, validating it, and reminding you that you are not alone. We’ll also talk about what healing can look like, how to begin seeking support, and how we can start moving from survival mode toward something softer.
If you’ve ever felt like the weight of it all didn’t just go away—you’re right. And this conversation is for you.

A Different Kind of Extra: The Trisomy Awareness Conversation

In this episode, A Different Kind of Extra: The Trisomy Awareness Conversation, we open our hearts and dive into what Trisomy Awareness Month truly means to families like ours. We go beyond the basics to talk about the different types of trisomy—including Trisomy 21, 18, and 13—and how each diagnosis carries its own challenges, uncertainties, and deeply personal stories.
Through the lens of medical motherhood, we share what it really looks like to love, advocate, and show up for our children in a world that doesn’t always understand their “extra.” We talk about the misconceptions, the hard moments, and the beauty that exists alongside it all.
This conversation is about more than awareness—it’s about honoring every child, every journey, and every version of “extra” that deserves to be seen, valued, and celebrated.
Whether you’re a medical parent, a supporter, or just here to learn, we’re so glad you’re part of this conversation. 💛

The Weight We Carry: Trauma and Medical Motherhood

In this powerful and deeply honest conversation, we sit down with a fellow mom who shares her motherhood journey raising medical kids and the path that eventually led her to realize she was living with CPTSD. As she navigated the constant stress, fear, and responsibility that can come with caring for medically complex children, she began to recognize how past trauma was also shaping her experiences, reactions, and emotional world.
Together, we talk about the invisible weight many mothers carry — the memories, triggers, and emotional layers that often live quietly beneath the surface while we continue showing up for our children every day.
Through vulnerability and courage, she shares what it looks like to parent while navigating trauma, how medical motherhood can intersect with past experiences, and the ways she is learning to heal while still holding space for her family. This conversation is a reminder that strength doesn’t mean having it all together — sometimes it means acknowledging the weight we carry and choosing to keep going anyway.
We hope this episode helps other moms feel seen, understood, and less alone. If you are walking a similar path, please know your story matters, your healing matters, and there is room for both the hard and the hopeful in this journey.

A Love That Beats Stronger

In this deeply personal episode, we open our hearts about raising children with congenital heart disease. From the moment of diagnosis to hospital stays, surgeries, waiting rooms, and the quiet strength it takes to walk this road every day — becoming a heart mom changes you forever.
We talk about the fear that sits beside you, the courage you didn’t know you had, and the fierce love that grows stronger with every heartbeat. We share what it’s like to hand your child over for surgery, to memorize monitor numbers, and to live in the space between gratitude and anxiety.
We also reflect on what it means to have a digital community — a space where heart moms from across the country (and the world) find each other in the middle of the night, celebrate good echo results, ask questions no one else understands, and hold each other through setbacks. This community becomes more than followers or listeners… it becomes family.
In this episode, we honor and mourn the loss of one precious child from our digital community. We speak their name with love, hold their family close, and acknowledge the unique grief that comes when a loss touches a space that has carried so much shared hope. In medical motherhood, joy and sorrow often live side by side — and when one heart stops beating, we all feel it.
This episode is for the heart moms who carry both hope and heaviness. For the ones who celebrate scars as symbols of survival. And for anyone who has learned that when your child’s heart fights, your love fights even harder.
Because this journey may test us — but it also reveals a love that truly beats stronger. 🤍

In His Shoes: A Medical Dad’s Story

In this special episode, we step in his shoes.
For the first time, two medical moms sit down with a medical dad to hear the journey from his perspective — the fears he carries quietly, the strength he shows differently, and the love that fuels him through hospital stays, surgeries, and the unknowns.
We talk about what it’s like to support a medically complex child as a father, how dads process grief and hope, how partnership shifts under pressure, and the ways they show up when everything feels heavy. This conversation is honest, tender, and eye-opening — because while the roles may look different, the love runs just as deep.
He also shares uplifting words directly to other medical dads — encouragement for the ones who feel unseen, strength for the ones carrying it silently, and a reminder that their presence matters more than they know.
Whether you're a medical mom, a medical dad, or someone who loves a medically complex family, this episode reminds us that every parent walks this road in their own shoes… but none of us walk it alone. 💛

A Love That Runs Deeper

Loving a medical child is a love unlike any other—deeper, heavier, fiercer, and more tender than we ever imagined. In this episode, we talk honestly about what it means to love our children through diagnoses, uncertainty, and the everyday realities of medical motherhood.
We share how our love shows up even when we are scared—loving through long nights, whispered prayers, and the weight of waiting rooms. We talk about loving during surgeries, when our hearts are outside our bodies and all we can do is trust, hope, and hold on.
This is a conversation about the depth of connection that grows when care, protection, and unconditional love become woven into every part of parenting. It’s about advocating, enduring, and choosing love again and again, even in the hardest seasons.
If you are a medical mom—or love one—this episode is a reminder that even in fear and uncertainty, love is what carries us, grounds us, and keeps us moving forward.

We Made It: Reflecting on This Year and Welcoming 2026 with Open Arms

This year asked more of us than we ever imagined—and somehow, we made it. In this episode, we pause to reflect on the highs, the heartbreaks, the moments of pure survival, and the quiet strength it took to keep going as medical parents.
We talk openly about what this year taught us, what we’re choosing to release, and how we’re stepping into 2026 with intention, hope, and open arms. Not with unrealistic resolutions or pressure to “do more,” but with a desire for peace, presence, and space to breathe.
If this year felt heavy, relentless, or simply exhausting, this conversation is for you. You’re not alone—and making it here matters. As we welcome a new year, we do so carrying resilience, honesty, and the reminder that survival itself is something worth honoring.
We will be forever grateful for this podcast and for each of you who listens, follows, and walks alongside us on this journey. Your presence has helped make one of our dreams come true, and we don’t take that lightly as we step into the year ahead.

Traditions, Tweaked: Holiday Prep in Medical Motherhood

The holidays don’t look the same when you’re a medical mom — and that’s okay. In this episode, we talk about what it really means to prepare for Christmas and the holidays while juggling the needs of our kids, the safe foods they can eat, shifting expectations, and the emotional weight that comes with caring for a medically complex child.
We share how traditions are adjusted, expectations are lowered (sometimes lovingly, sometimes painfully), and how flexibility becomes the most important holiday skill. From planning around health needs and energy limits to finding meaningful moments that don’t require perfection, this conversation is about honoring what is instead of mourning what was.
And in the midst of caring for everyone else, we remind ourselves — and you — to look for your own sparkle too. To notice the small joys, protect moments of light, and remember that your joy matters just as much during this season.

A Holiday Pause: Checking In with Eachother and Ourselves

The holidays are approaching, and before the rush fully takes over, we’re pressing pause to check in—honestly and openly—on how we’re really doing. In this episode, we talk about the big transitions and heavy moments happening behind the scenes: starting special preschool, preparing for upcoming holidays while juggling medical needs, navigating the emotions around a child’s surgery, and the intense process of training a service dog.
We also step into one of the hardest conversations medical moms face—planning for our children’s futures and what happens when we’re no longer here, and the deep worry of not wanting our children or their care to ever feel like a burden to others. It’s a tender, real discussion filled with love, worry, strength, and the deep devotion that comes with raising medical kids.
This episode isn’t about having it all figured out. It’s about being present, holding space for each other, and reminding medical moms everywhere that they’re not alone this season.