00:00This is Jimmy, he fell in love with, Alyssa.
00:04I'm attracted to Alyssa because of just her positive attitude, like all the time.
00:09She's always in a good mood, she keeps me positive.
00:12And now the couple are getting ready for the arrival of their first child.
00:16I'm just excited to see who he takes after the most.
00:20But due to Alyssa's disability, people have been critical of their decision to start a family.
00:25There was one recently that said,
00:28pretty irresponsible to have a baby when you're crippled.
00:33There's another one that said,
00:35so how is your husband going to take care of you and the baby?
00:38Yeah, it's going to be a different challenge for us,
00:40but it's not any different than an able-bodied husband doing stuff for his wife and the baby.
00:51Jim, can you come help me?
00:53Sure.
00:55Open this, and then we can put them in.
01:01Jimmy helps me a lot, mentally, physically, anything.
01:04Just as a normal husband would help a wife.
01:07The great thing about Alyssa is she's very independent,
01:09she's able to use the restroom on her own.
01:11I work full time, so she's home on her own when I'm at work.
01:16I just have to help her in the morning with getting ready, getting out of bed,
01:19help her get dressed really fast.
01:21Especially right now.
01:26We met online first in the summer of 2013.
01:29Almost eight years now.
01:31So then about a week or so later, I asked her out to go on a date.
01:34I was just happy to go on my first date ever.
01:37It was my first date ever.
01:39But seeing him was nice to know.
01:41It was not a creeper.
01:43It was just comforting to know that someone wanted to actually get to know me.
01:47My disability is a C1-C2 spinal cord injury, incomplete.
01:51So that means the very top of the spine that kind of connects to the neck.
01:55Incomplete means that I gained some movement back.
01:58Feeling some of my diaphragm back.
02:01My right side is a lot stronger than my left side.
02:05But I'm able to just do as much as I can.
02:08It occurred because of a doctor that used forceps when he was delivering me.
02:13That's what broke my spine.
02:15Yep, unfortunately.
02:20My Instagram has helped me meet other people that have similar disabilities.
02:26Other disabilities. Just anyone.
02:29Also, moms now follow me because they want to see my journey of what's going to happen, how the baby is.
02:40Some of the comments that I have, I read them and I find them nasty.
02:44There was one recently that said,
02:47Pretty irresponsible to have a baby when you're crippled.
02:51First, I don't even like the word crippled.
02:53Second of all, it's not even irresponsible.
02:56It's just me being a parent soon.
02:58And I mean, it's irresponsible to have a baby when you're doing other things you shouldn't be doing.
03:04That's what gets me just because I'm in a chair.
03:08I just laugh it off and then I block them.
03:10I don't let it affect me.
03:13Just the fact that we'll be two parents, attentive parents, good parents.
03:16You can't judge based off our physical limitations.
03:19No matter what, we're going to love the child, so we're going to do whatever it takes to care for it.
03:23Obviously, if she needs help, we're going to find a way to do it.
03:26You're not just going to be like, oh, she can't get him out of the crib or whatever.
03:30I guess we'll just leave him in the crib and let him keep crying.
03:33What do they think we're going to do? Just ignore the child?
03:36Oh, I forgot the baby needs to be fed?
03:38Yeah.
03:39There's a lot of assumptions that I think I get, not even me, just people in general with disabilities.
03:45They're either not capable of doing anything.
03:48They sit at home and mope and just feel sorry for themselves.
03:53They're not able to fall in love.
03:56They can't find someone.
03:58The stereotype sometimes you get or a question we get would be like,
04:01oh, am I with her because I have some sort of weird fetish for people in wheelchairs or something like that.
04:06When people say hurtful things about Alyssa's disability, for the most part, I don't let it affect me at all
04:12because at least 99% or more of the feedback we get is positive.
04:16We kind of just laugh it off for the most part.
04:18The positive outweighs the negative.
04:22Being 30 years old and being a parent, I feel like a real adult now.
04:26I can't wait to teach a kid right from wrong and help him grow as much as possible.
04:30I'm just excited to see who he takes after the most.
04:34I'm just excited just in general just to have a baby.
04:37What I say to people who are judging are just like, shove it.
04:41I don't take judgment to heart.
04:43I just laugh sometimes because it's like, you're just going to sit there and judge for what?
04:47Why does that make you feel any better?
04:49I'm very grateful for Alyssa.
04:51Just the fact that I met her and got to experience these things I never would have experienced.
04:56She was a amazing girlfriend, now fiance, now wife, and now she's about to be mother.
05:01I just can't wait to keep growing as a family together.
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