SuperMom

SUPER MOM

Kayla Mowdy

BY LIESEL SCHMIDT

After childbirth, there’s no one who understands the struggles of pelvic floor muscle dysfunction more than a mother. For physical therapist Kayla Mowdy, the struggles faced everyday by individuals with these very personal issues was the inspiration for creating her private practice clinic, Future Physical Therapy, in 2020. “I wanted to provide access to pelvic health physical therapy services to an area of Baldwin County that has never had a PT clinic like ours,” she says. “We exclusively treat patients with dysfunction of the pelvic floor muscles and create a comfortable environment where our patients/clients can discuss their bowel, bladder, pelvic pain, and pregnancy pain issues and get relief. We help patients realize they are not alone with some pretty intimate struggles that many people don’t talk about, even with their doctor.”

"I absolutely love my work. It is a calling, not just a profession."

As much of her time and attention as the clinic requires, there’s something that is even more important to Mowdy: her family. The mother of a three-and-a-half-year-old son and a new baby girl, Mowdy and her husband have been married eight years. Even with two small children at home, however, Mowdy considers her work to be important—and life changing, for both herself and her patients. “I absolutely love my work. It is a calling, not just a profession,” she says. “I help moms struggling with the impacts that pregnancy and childbirth have on our bodies. It was my patients that actually inspired me to become a mom, and it has been so rewarding.”

Mowdy also sees the value in what her children get from the time away from her. “We have been blessed with several amazing daycares,” she notes. “Our children currently attend Central Christian School and their daycare Central Kids, and we love the impact their teachers have on teaching them academics, Biblical principles, and shaping them into amazing tiny humans.” There are also some other added benefits to the equation that Mowdy knows will leave a lasting impact on her children. “I love that, because I help people through exercise, my son is learning how important it is to stay active and healthy,” she says. “My children will also grow up knowing that their dad has just as much responsibility and capability with the household chores as their mom does, so they see an active partnership.”

As a mom and a business owner, Mowdy has a great deal to be proud of. “Starting a small business in a pandemic is not for the faint of heart,” she notes. “I’m a planner, and there were so many things about COVID that just could not be planned or did not go according to plan. I have gotten so much better at going with the flow—and thank goodness for that, because this two-kid thing comes with a lot more events that cannot be ‘planned.’ So we’re just ‘rolling with it’ at work and at home.”

“Rolling with it” seems to be working for her, but there are definitely things that Mowdy wanted her kids to remember about their childhood. “I want them to remember Saturday breakfasts at Waffle House and going to the zoo—Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo is our favorite Saturday adventure—and the Foley Model Train Exhibit, and to many of the water adventures here in Baldwin County that we like to experience as a family,” she says. “I also want them to remember how important it is to help those who may not have access to things like new clothes or nice toys. I spend my ‘free time’ with two very important organizations, Junior League of Mobile, where I served as the fund development manager, coordinating our 37th Annual Christmas Jubilee last year, and Pleasure Island Junior Women’s Club where our mission is to ‘clothe the children’ identified as in need in Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, and Foley schools. I am so grateful for the influence of the women in these organizations and how each of them has made me a stronger mom and businesswoman.”

Books are also an important part of Mowdy’s time with her children. “We love reading books at night,” she says. “My son loves books. There are so many things in life and experiences that our children may not encounter on a regular basis, but they can be exposed to them in books.”

At 33 years old, Mowdy knows she still has learning ahead, but she’s learned a great deal from her children. “The love and vulnerability of having a child has been a great lesson,” she says. “I relate a great deal to a quote by Elizabeth Stone these days: ‘Making the decision to have a child—it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.’”

EASTERN SHORE’S TOP CHEFSComing in August