Her arrest shocked the Capital Region and the Mohawk Valley, and now Jessica Valik is speaking about what she says really happened between her and her 4-year-old son. Katie Eastman reports.

Jessica Valik wants her story to be told. 

"For the past six months, I had no say," she said.

To tell her story, we have to start with Jackson Baldwin's story. He's Jessica's 4-year-old son.

"Baby Jax," as he came to be known, was born with a rare disease called Epidermolysis bullosa. His skin blisters at the slightest touch, which is why his entire body gets wrapped in gauze every day. 

"I don't wear rings or anything like that, because I don't want to scratch him," Jessica said.

Jackson is in and out of the hospital every week, and last year, he and his mother spent a lot of time at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Jessica Valik wants to tell her story starting there -- on a day in September 2015, when she says Jackson was so itchy, he started scratching off his own skin while lying in the hospital bed. 

"So I gave him a dose of his prescribed Benadryl," Jessica said. "Notified the nurse after I gave it to him."

Jessica put the Benadryl in his feeding tube -- a practice she's used to at home, because that's how Jackson takes in all of his food and medication. She says she knew that would be against the hospital policy, but she never expected what happened next. 

"The elevator doors opened; there were cops waiting for me, and I was arrested right then and there," Jessica said.

Police charged Valik with felony assault and endangering children charges. The hospital accused her of trying to harm Jackson by adding the Benadryl to his feeding tube. Valik was immediately taken to jail in Hamilton County, Ohio.

"Everything was just stripped from me," she said. "Accused of one of the worst crimes possible, and something that I take so much pride in. That means everything to me, being a mom."

While Valik sat in jail, the attorney prosecuting her case said he believed she had Munchausen by proxy syndrome -- a disorder where a caregiver exaggerates or causes physical harm to someone for attention.

"I wouldn't wish EB on anybody," Jessica said. "It's one of the most heartbreaking, terrifying, painful conditions possible."

For six months, Valik sat in a cell, wishing she could defend herself.

"I would have pled to anything, really, just to get out and see my son," she said.

In early March, she took a plea deal -- two of the felony charges were dismissed and the third was reduced to a misdemeanor. Ohio Child Protective Services recommended she stay away from her son. But a New York court awarded her custody on Tuesday.

"Whether or not what I did was right, I served time, and Jackson and I are both looking forward to moving forward with our lives," Jessica said.

Jessica Valik wants this part of her story to end here -- and she hopes the next part includes a better life for Jackson.

"He'll be 5," she said. "I can't believe it."