WARNING: SUPER LONG POST. Please do not be rude , as this is extremely difficult.

I don’t know where to begin , but I am seeking some advice, since my husband and I have kept this sort of quiet and have dealt with it alone. Since we have been married (3.5 years), my mother has given us HELL. Basically she’s threatened us, conned us into giving her money and paying her bills (she refuses to work) during a time where we both didn’t make much at the previous jobs that we had and we’re struggling to pay our own bills and living paycheck to paycheck. She lied to us saying that she needed help, but she didn’t . She’s called us hateful names and I could go on and on. When I had my baby 3 months ago , she had an attitude at the hospital and started taking pictures of me while I was crying in labor and texting them to people . While I was in bed in labor , she raised her hand at me like she was going to slap me. She is so jealous of my in laws (the sweetest people in the world who have always treated me like their own!) and said that my mother n law was rude to her at the hospital (my mother n law doesn’t have a mean or rude bone in her body). Our son was in NICU for 6 days ..during those 6 days , my mom never asked us if we needed anything or could help in any way..my mother n law helped us. My mom said that we were lying and weren’t still at the hospital with our sick son who we almost lost forever ! She did see him in NICU once and he started crying when he saw her..her response was “omg he hates me.” He was only a few hours old -he doesn’t know what hate is! Anyway..after we got home from the hospital she started blowing up my phone asking when she could come over . I told her the following week (as advised by NICU not to have visitors and we didn’t want any). Well she blew a fuse saying that I’m a horrible person , etc etc . She has purposely started arguments with my wonderful husband (who by the way takes shit from no one and will tell it like it is in a heartbeat ). She told my husband that she was going to get him fired from his job and that she hates him as a human being . He’s never done anything to her! In the past , he has gone over to her house for hours on end and helped her with things on his days off . She criticizes us, calls us names, disrespects us and our home, says that my husband controls me (he does not!) , says that she can’t stand us, threatens us , harasses us and so much more that I could add to that . We’ve asked her countless times to not show up at our house and she continues to do so . We took our son to the dr and when we got home , she’d dropped off all of our Christmas gifts on the front porch. She sent my son a $1 stuffed bunny rabbit , a hat with a broken snap and a used and beat up little car , as his Easter gifts. I threw it all away . She never asks about our son , but she sends him gifts?? When I was younger , she threatened to kill me, pulled my hair and threw me against a door ..all because at that time I was dating someone that she “did not approve of.” She is crazy and sees a psychiatrist , but it doesn’t help. She tells him that she’s the boss and she will do what she wants . We’ve offered to get her additional help but she refuses it. She told my aunt that she can AND will control me. She doesn’t like the fact that my husband “took me away from her” and she can’t control me anymore and has tried to ruin our marriage from the beginning . My husband and I are afraid for our family ..we do not want our son around her and although he is too little to understand right now, he will someday . She tells family members that we are the problem and that we keep our son away from her. They don’t know the extent of things. Yes we do keep him away from her , for his safety ! We now both have her blocked on our phones and have cut contact with her , which is driving her crazy . I told my husband that I don’t want to live in fear . I hardly go anywhere that I know she may be —like Walmart , because she’s ALWAYS in there . She kept texting me to mail her house key back to her ...I bought and paid for that key when I was living at home and I can promise her I don’t want to go to her nasty house! When my dad was on his death bed with cancer , my mom would text me and say that she was sick of hearing him complain , call him a mother f——- and say that he was driving her nuts. She would call my dad a slob and many other names . She was abusive to him as well . She is racist , has a rude and nasty attitude, curses people , calls them names and is completely embarrassing in public. She does have some people fooled, but we will soon expose the truth with proof . When my son was born , my father n law was thanking the Dr (I had a rough delivery) and my mom said that my father n law embarrassed her . He embarrassed her for thanking the Dr for saving his grandson! She is selfish and manipulative and lashes out if something isn’t about her or she doesn’t get her way. She doesn’t deserve to be a grandma and to know my sweet son. My husband suggested a restraining order against her, but I’m not sure about going that route , although it can always be lifted. We’re just concerned for safety reasons . What would you do?