Raising Rosie: The Rest of the Story

This wasn’t the Christmas I planned—but it ended up being exactly what someone else needed. In this final episode of the year, I’m sharing how a quiet day meant just for me and Rosie turned into something so much more when I realized my grieving niece had nowhere to go for the holidays. She’s pregnant. She’s heartbroken. And she’s trying to be a mom through it all. So I answered the call I’ve know...

The holidays rarely go as planned—especially when you’re navigating grief, caregiving, and change. In this episode, I take you through the “Ghosts of Christmas Past” in our life—diaper blowouts with COVID, hospital discharges on Christmas Eve, pizza and Chinese takeout as tradition—and what it’s taught me about redefining joy. This isn’t about picture-perfect holidays. It’s about boundaries, brave...

What happens when inclusion is treated like a luxury instead of a basic right? In this episode, I peel back the layers of performative inclusion and bring us into the real, raw experience of fighting for access, dignity, and belonging as the caregiver of a medically complex child. From historical moments like the Capitol Crawl to personal stories about my local library and changing Rosie on public...

This one’s for every caregiver who has felt surrounded—but still alone. In this episode, I’m peeling back the layers of invisible labor that come with doing it all: parenting, caregiving, managing systems, surviving systems, and holding everything together with hands that never get a break. I talk about the illusion of help, the weight of performative support, and the breaking point that led me to...

Before we ever held our babies in our arms, many of us already carried dreams in our hearts. First birthdays and first days of school. Dance recitals and soccer games. College move-ins. Careers. Weddings. A life imagined. A future assumed. But when a diagnosis comes—when you’re told your child has epilepsy, or Down syndrome, or a congenital heart defect, or cerebral palsy—or a rare disease so unco...

This bonus episode is a soft place to land—whether you’re cooking a full spread, ordering takeout, or hiding out in the car for five quiet minutes. This year, for the first time since 2018, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner. Not because I had to. But because something in me wanted to. And maybe that’s what healing looks like—doing things you once thought you’d never feel like doing again. In this refle...

This one’s for every caregiver who’s ever been handed a superhero cape—when what you really needed was a break, a cry, or just someone to do the dishes. In this episode of Raising Rosie: The Rest of the Story, I’m talking about toxic positivity—how it hides behind well-meaning platitudes, how it shows up in the disability community, and how it makes space feel smaller when we need it to feel safe....

In this episode, I’m talking about something most of us feel—but rarely say out loud. I’ve had moments where I’m scrolling social media or sitting in a waiting room, and I see another family doing something simple: a spontaneous zoo trip, a beach day without a medical bag, a child running through a splash pad with no worries. And I feel it. That ache. That grief that lives under the surface. It’s...

In this first episode, I tell the story behind how I became a mother—twice. Not in the way most people do. This is a story that spans five generations, starting with my grandparents who were foster parents, to me becoming a mother to Faith, a medically fragile baby girl who would one day call me Mama. And then, years later, her baby—Rosie—who would call me Mama too. I talk about what it means to l...

I’m Melanie, a full-time caregiver, medical mama, and accidental advocate raising my daughter Rosie, who lives with Dravet syndrome and a whole lot of spirit. You might know us from social media where I share our day-to-day life. But this podcast? This is where I get to tell the parts of the story I can’t always fit into a reel. This space is for the real talk. The emotional truth beneath the surf...