I'm not better than you.

  I hear this a lot as a special needs parent and if you have a child with extra needs, you know what I'm talking about.
    "I don't know how you do it, I don't think I could." "You're so strong" "God chose you to be his/her mama."
 Always said by well meaning people with good intentions but, it always has the opposite effect on me.
  I'm not by nature a patient person and three years ago, I wouldn't have considered myself a strong person. Not to say I couldn't handle a difficult situation should the occasion arise, but I wouldn't classify myself as strong or brave. It took a lot of learning and a lot of breakdowns to become who I am since we received the Encephalocele diagnosis. I've told doctors where to shove it, fired nurses without guilt and automatically switch to mama bear bitch mode when that first foot crosses the hospital threshold. I'm not superwoman or special, strong or brave. I'm a mom. Plain and simple. I get frustrated and have to step outside and take a deep breath, just like you do. We all want what's best for our kids and if you were put in my situation, I don't think you would give it a second thought to do the things I do.
  When Ben and I decided to carry Naysa to term, no matter what the outcome, we had no idea what life would be like should she survive and honestly we didn't care. We didn't think about all of the extra care, IEPs, hospital stays, etc...we just wanted our baby. I had no idea I wouldn't be able to vacuum unless my almost three year old is swaddled or someone else is home to make sure she doesn't get upset and hit herself, but that's how it is. We've adapted. We've learned what pisses her off and what makes her happy, though she is very temperamental at times and sometimes things backfire. It's just parenthood, intensified. It's our normal. I guess on the outside looking in I can see how different our lives are compared to those with typical children (aside from surgeries, 5 different specialists and extended hospitals stays) but I'm not better than you. Don't compare yourself or our lives and think it's not something you could do, that you wouldn't be mom enough to handle it, I assure you..you would be. It would take practice and learning but you could, you WOULD because your kids depend on you, no matter what their ability. Speaking of Naysa....she's up from a nap and Ry is pulling my hair. Time to get back to the reality of the Page zoo ;)