CHD Awareness Week Day 5

Day 5 of this special week will focus on special needs.  Erin over at Praying 4 Raygen nominated me for the Liebster Award-Special Needs Edition.  

So the first step when your nominated is to share 11 random facts about yourself so here I go:

1.  I am a lot older than my husband and I love it.
2.  I am a programmer and work from home...giving me plenty of time with my kids.
3.  I procrastinate a lot and I am working on that this year.
4.  We have peacocks, chickens, dogs, cats, fish, a turtle, and a bearded dragon for pets.
5.  I love watching teen movies...especially on ABC Family.
6.  I drink way too much diet soda...something I would love to give up.
7.  Country music is the only thing on my iPod.
8.  I have probably worn makeup 5 times in my whole life.
9.  I have had the same haircut since the 80s.  I am trying to grow out my bangs this year.
10. I love to read...anything and everything.  My Kindle is full of books...I need to find more time to read them.
11. I collect peacock decorations and ornaments.

Then Erin (who nominated me) asked me these 11 questions:

1.) How has having a special needs child changed your daily lifestyle?

Daily medicine, special food for weight gain, and spending time working on Hope's physical needs has definitely changed our daily lifestyle.  Hope doesn't take that much medicine, but it is something that has to be planned and accounted for every day.

2.) Have you ever had a doctor/nurse that you didn't trust to care for your child?

Yes, we had one nurse and I promptly asked that she not take care of Hope again.  It was hard because I didn't want to be seen as a problem parent, but I knew that Hope might suffer because of the lack of care.

3.) How has having a special needs child affected your friendships?

We have lost friends because of being home a lot more.  I have also developed some great new friendships with heart families and families of other special needs children.  

4.) How has having a special needs child changed your travel routine? (Vacations, trips to town, Grandma's house etc.)

Traveling is something we used to do quite a bit.  We don't do it much now, but that is mostly because we have 3 kids...not just one with special needs.  We have driven for hours and that is really hard because we have to get medicine and food available for Hope and we bring a lot of extras to hotels, but we still try to go somewhere every year...just not by plane.

5.) What is the one item your child can not leave the house without?

Her pink blankie.

6.) What is the one item you can not leave the house without?

The diaper bag with everything we need.

7.) How has blogging helped you?

I spent a lot more time blogging when Hope was young and it really helped me get my feelings out and to meet other families.  It also provided a way to document my feelings and everything we went through...now I use it more to document our lives every once in a while.  I need to get back to doing it more often.

8.) How has your child's brothers/sisters dealt with having a special needs sister/brother?

My boys have been incredible with Hope.  They protect her and help her as much as possible.  They aren't as aware of her heart problems, but they do know that she needs extra help.  

9.) Looking back what is the one thing you would tell yourself before your child was born?

Enjoy your pregnancy and accept all the help everyone is willing to provide.

10.) Did you "Google" your child's diagnosis early on in pregnancy?

Absolutely!