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A new mom has spoken to Newsweek about the special moment her husband’s ex-wife visited her and her baby in hospital, and now the two best friends are singing the praises of a blended family.
A video posted to Instagram by Tiffany Paskas and Megan Stortz (@momsoftampa) has melted hearts online by revealing the moment Stortz met Paskas’ newborn.
Stortz is Paskas’ husband’s ex-wife, and Paskas, 30, said the moment reflected the beauty of their expansive family structure.
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“My husband’s ex-wife and the boys meeting the baby for the first time because in our blended family, she’s family too,” Paskas captioned the video.
She told Newsweek that she and Stortz bonded when Stortz was “struggling” to healthily co-parent with her ex-husband. It was then that the two realized they had a lot in common, although things didn’t progress much until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“We were only able to hang out with each other as we all share custody of her oldest son and ended up becoming really good friends,” Paskas said. “That caused us to slowly blend our families together as we spent many times bringing our families out together to do fun things for the boys.”
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As their friendship developed, Stortz began to notice Paskas struggle with fertility issues, and came up with a generous solution.
“She made me an honorary bonus mom to her youngest son as well, and shared her title as ‘mom’ with me,” Paskas said. “This has caused a healthier co-parenting relationship for her and her ex, as well as the opportunity for her oldest to have many memories with both sides of his family.”
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She said her unconventional blended set up has been rich and beautiful, with the only downside being other people’s criticism and judgments.
The moment Stortz met Paskas’ newborn child was poignant not just because of the nature of their close friendship, but also because Stortz had seen Paskas through several fertility issues.
“Megan was heavily a part of my pregnancy the entire time, so she was just as excited about the new addition,” Paskas said. “She was excited for me to finally have my rainbow baby after years and years of heartbreak, and we were so happy to have her be a bonus mom to our daughter after sharing her title of mom with me all these years.”
Not only did Stortz get a new title that day, but so did her youngest son, who became a big brother to Paskas’ child.
“Although he isn’t related to the baby by blood, because we have blended the family you couldn’t tell him any different that this isn’t his baby sister,” Paskas said.
“Creating that bond has showed us that what we are doing is working in the best way possible.”