I was totally unprepared to become Mother to a child with additional needs. Having looked after myself through a very happy and healthy pregnancy I didn’t expect anything other than a ‘normal’ baby (or pair of them as I had twins!) I didn’t ever imagine I would have a life any different to the lives my friends were living with their babies.
Having a baby with a rare cranio-facial condition and later a diagnosis of global learning delay and autism, shook the very foundation of who I believed I was. I didn’t cope very well at all. * Understatement* I was lost in my own life.
In ‘A Mother Lost & Found’ I share my most intimate thoughts, fears and joys. Its not all doom and gloom, I promise, but I think its really important to be honest. I write for the mother I was right at the beginning in the hope that I can offer some hope, encouragement and support to anyone else in a similar place. I was lost but now I am found. I hope to help other parents find their way too.
“And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears” ~ Mark Antony
11 things that autism has taught me
I am a huge fan of the app ‘Time Hop’ and check it each morning for a reminder of past adventures and dramas! Today I read that eleven years ago to the date, Harry was officially diagnosed with autism. Eleven years. Is that all? It feels like an eternity. I have...
Dear Harry, It’s time to think about respite…and I’m sorry.
My Dearest Harry, When I was carrying you and your Brother, I never imagined the life we live now; a life full of words like 'craniofacial syndrome' or 'autism' or 'respite' that I never expected to use. I have made no secret of my struggle to cope with our new...
Abortion and disability. My answer to the question.
Followers of my social media pages over on Facebook and Instagram will know how important it is to me that I show our lives honestly. That means showing the bad days and the challenges as well as the great days and the successes. Recently Harry has struggled with...
3 reasons why I can forgive but not forget
As well as blogging, I share the day to day antics of my unique family and our altered life on social media. Recently, I posted on our facebook page about how hard it was not to be able to rush to Harry when he was having a meltdown at school because I was at work. I...
Maternal Mental Health ~ Signs, Stigma & Solutions
I recently wrote about my own maternal mental health views as part of Maternal Mental Health awareness week. For this blog, I want to share just a brief summary of other mothers experiences in response to three specific questions that I asked them. 1) What were the...
Maternal mental health – the silent struggle
The Maternal Mental Health Alliance reports that more than 1 in 10 women develop a mental illness during pregnancy or during the first year after having a baby. For this reason, they refer to maternal mental health as perinatal mental health (to include the duration...
To the special needs teachers of my son
I didn't want to send Harry to a special school. I wanted him in mainstream with his twin brother doing all the things that other siblings were doing together. I wanted him to have loads of friends and memories to treasure forever. I wanted him to know that anything...
My boy is growing up – why I’m proud and why I was wrong…
My boy is growing up. Although Harry is almost 14 years old, he has always functioned at a much younger age. In many ways, he still does; He is obsessed with Vtech infant toys and still needs a lot of help with getting dressed and personal care. His communication is...
The emotional conflict of letting my boy grow
This week I was explaining to one of the classes I teach what it means to be in 'emotional conflict'; to feel conflicted. Today, as I packed my sons suitcase for his week-long residential with school, I became the embodiment of that description. When I asked Harry if...
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