Mom shares joy and sadness of motherhood in viral video
"Choosing joy is good, but so is feeling your feelings."
A Tennessee mom's time-lapse video montage of her dancing with her baby boy has captured the hearts of social media users on Instagram and TikTok.
Thousands have commented on Jessie Caroline Harrington's heartwarming video.
"Oh my goodness! This is one of my favorite songs, and I have a one week old baby and this hit me HARD 😭😭 So SO sweet….well done, mama," wrote one.
"Love the caption," another added. "I can feel you in month 4. But those mushroom hats, garden dancing, Christmas and 1 year, brought so much joy and feels to my heart."
In her video caption, Harrington opened up about what motherhood has meant to her in the last year.
"This song feels a little bit sad to me," she wrote, referring to the cover of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' "Home" by the artist Edith Whiskers. "Bittersweet, I think. And that feels appropriate, because I think that is exactly how I would describe my experience as a mother so far. There are some days that it drives you actual crazy and other times you're like 'what even. this has got to be the most astounding thing I've ever been a part of.'"
"I feel a little sad watching these videos because I know there were a couple that were taken when I was quite sad," she continued. "Choosing joy is good, but so is feeling your feelings. Postpartum is wild. Loss is heavy. And just being a big ole feeling machine. It feels embarrassing. But so very real. So very bittersweet. One year."
Harrington's honesty feels refreshing in a social media world saturated with edited portraits of perfection.
"When we first met Hank and had him here, it was really, really difficult to adjust to that, and I think a lot of people feel that way, where it's really, really hard," the 27-year-old told "Good Morning America." "And honestly, I think it is that way often, where it feels like a struggle."
"There were some videos where I was legitimately sad, and I told myself I wanted to record anyway because that was real life in those moments," she continued. "It's not always pleasant and easy. Sometimes, we are all sad together but we're together and that's important at the very least."
When she was pregnant, Harrington said she knew she wanted to capture the special period in her life and create something to look back on in the future.
"I just wanted to have a keepsake of that time," she said. "I wanted to do something a little more different that felt more personal to me. Why I started dancing? I don't really know, it just sort of happened. And then when Hank was born, it just seemed right to continue that."
She said the 1-year-old loves to listen to music.
"He keeps us on our toes. But he is such a joy to have ... and we really are just so grateful for him," Harrington said. "He's enriched our lives more than we can really put to words."
The first-time mom and homemaker said she never thought her video, which has garnered over 3 million views on TikTok and over 15,000 likes on Instagram, would take off the way it did.
"I had no expectation that it would turn into what it did because I was just posting a video of me and my kid," she said. "It was really more for me and him and for our friends and our family. And it has been just immensely humbling how many people it has touched because it's just our life. I didn't intend for it to receive the recognition that it did."
Her viral video has since led her to join TikTok's Creator Fund, one small way she hopes to contribute to her family.
Related Stories
ABC News Live