Busy Mom of 5

I have one of the sweetest little boys out there. I know every mom feels that way about her children but I really feel blessed that God choose me to raise my sweet baby boy. I’ll start from the beginning. In 1999 I was on birth control pills. I already had 4 wonderful children, 2 boys and 2 girls the youngest was 10 months old. Pretty balanced family I thought. Well in November 1999, I woke up feeling sick to my stomach and I knew immediately that I was pregnant. Two weeks later it was confirmed I was indeed pregnant. At first I was like OMG how are we going to do it, we already have 4 kids. I was so depressed for several days. Then I was like well you know God gave me this baby and he is entrusting me and my husband with this special baby. So from that day forward I had a new outlook on it. My concerns then went to the birth control pills I had taken, will that affect him in any way. I started those worrying thought from that moment on. During my pregnancy I was so sick I was on many medications. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. I had preterm labor on four different occasions. I had strep A and B and that was a call for many medicines while I was in the hospital. I had to be on bed rest for the last month. I swelled up so horribly bad with him. I kept thinking for his to be my 5^th pregnancy I was experiencing a totally different one with him. Finally the day came and I had him 7LBS 10 OZS 22 inches long. I was scared he would be affected by all the medicines that had been passed through his little body. All looked good at first and they sent us home all happy and smiles. By the time he was 3 weeks old he had started being croupy and I took him to the doctor and he said it’s nothing don’t worry about it. Well I wasn’t happy about all that but what else do you do. He did get better just to get sick again. His tear ducts were stopped up, ear infections came and went, and his croup kept returning. By the time he was ten months old he had already had 24 ear infections and the croup 8 times. I went to another doctor to find out he needed tubes in his ears tear duct unstopped and had asthma. I was devastated to hear all the news the doctor told us but we took one step at a time and had surgeries and got his asthma under control. I was scared about his learning abilities at his point. He was on so much medicine by the time he was 2. The doctors continued to tell me he was fine and he would grow up with no issues. I could tell as he was getting older that he was delayed in learning, speaking, and he was having a hard time walking. The doctors still kept saying he is fine some kids just develop later than others. Well he started school and it was obvious that he was not keeping up and something was wrong with him. I changed doctors and battled with the school system for 4 years to get Tanner the help he needed. He was sent to a psychiatrist and they diagnosed him with a learning disability and adolescent anxiety, he also has O.S.D., and A.D.D. He is on 9 different medicines. I feel so guilty; I feel that Tanner’s problems stem back from all the medicines I was on. I do not know this for sure but I still think about it in the back of my mind. To look at Tanner you would never even know anything was wrong with him. But as a parent I knew from the beginning that something just wasn’t right with him. God has blessed me by giving Tanner to me. He is so close to me and still loves to sleep with me and cuddles with me. I love all of that. He is now in the fourth grade and after fighting the school system all these years I finally have Tanner’s curriculum set with Tanner’s ability. He made B honor role last nine weeks for the first time ever. He still struggles but we make learning as fun as possible for him. He has had 2 really great teachers the last two years and they have helped me push for a curriculum so Tanner can achieve good grades. It has been a long process but we finally reached it. Tanner is such a blessing he has a hug for everyone he comes in contact with he always has something nice to say to everyone. He tries to help anyone he can. He loves to help others as much as he can. He still struggles with some things. He is not a leader he always wants to follow behind, but that’s okay with me as long as he is participating I am happy and so is he. He stars therapy in April for his O.C.D. (he feels that certain things will hurt him he is scared of a lot of things such as, thunder storms, airplanes, hitting his head on the floor ect.) and his anxiety. He thinks that he will die all the time over the silliest little things. I can’t even begin to think where he comes up with the things he does but somehow he thinks of the craziest things. He is now on medicine and it has helped him so much but I want him to learn how to deal with these issues. I don’t want him to have to be on medicines his whole life. He is so smart on computers. That is his strong point. He can figure out just about any kind of puzzle or code to many many games. I tell him all the time how proud I am of him and he just beams me that sweet smile he has and my heart melts. I know God has a purpose here on this Earth for Tanner, I am not sure what but I know it is something and he will be great at whatever it is. I know he has been a blessing to so many already just in his little life. I know there are other families out there that have their special little ones, and you know exactly where I am coming from. I thank God for bringing those few people who have helped and supported me with Tanner’s educational needs. Thank you so much, you know who you are. If any of you reading has their special needs child and would like to share with me please do so , I’d love to hear your story. You can comment or e-mail me at busymomof_5@yahoo.com. Thank you for reading and God bless each of you.

My sweet Tanner