It's a time of the year that I always dread. It's a time of sweat,tears and lots of training. It's not for any kind of sporting event but the dreaded IEP meeting! For me it starts about March, when we are first notified that we will be notified of a time and date for the meeting. I start feeling that panic as soon as I see the worksheet where we are to list what we think are our child's strengths and weakness are, what we would like to see accomplished next year and any other concerns we have. I start sweating writing it all out this one page report turns into a term paper for me~ note cards, key points, references, rough draft, index and all just to fill out 5 or 6 questions. I'm a mess! Then as we get closer I have to give Ricky a run down of what we (I) want to accomplish with this meeting. I give him quizzes! I'm up at night looking for ideas and programs that might help me feel more prepared. I feel all this pressure to make sure that I do all I can to to ensure that he has an appropriate IEP with good goals that will help him push to learn more but that he can still be successful with.
We are here in the last week now. Regan's meeting is Thursday and I already want to throw up just thinking about it. I never walk out feeling like I did the best I could for him and I'm pretty sure I will have the same feeling this year. But I can say that Regan has made tremendous progress this year. So what if he didn't meet all of his goals he did things that we never imagined he would do and that is what counts.
Good luck with all your IEP's!!
Showing posts with label special needs parents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label special needs parents. Show all posts
Monday, May 9, 2011
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Regan's story
Ricky and I were married in March of 2004. I had foot surgery in April of 04 and while on the antibiotics got pregnant in May. Antibiotics+birth control= increase risk of pregnancy. That's right, two months after getting married I'm pregnant!! The honeymoon stage ended quickly!!
The entire time I was pregnant I kept telling Ricky that something was wrong with our baby. I just felt it. He being the positive person he is told me that I was just pregnant and my hormones were out of control.
February of 2005
I went into labor at 4am on Saturday the 19th. I wouldn't delievery Regan until 3:58pm on SUNDAY! Yep, 35hours and 58minutes after I felt my first contraction. When Regan was born he was blue, but started crying in just a few seconds. I remember while the doctor was finishing up an nurse walking toward the door, the doctor mouthed something to the nurse and the nurse made a sad face and shook her head yes. At the time I had no idea what was said but a few hours later we would find out. While everyone was there and we were counting fingers and toes we noticed that his pinky toe was attached to his "ring" toe. Ricky went and asked the nurse and she said the doctor will be in to talk to you after he does his exam. So they came and got Regan from me and off to the nursery he went. A little while later I got to see the proofs of his first pictures. My dear friend was sitting on the bed beside me and I told her "He looks like a down syndrome baby" but we talked about how it had been 36 hours so maybe his face was flat from that. All of our family went home and that left Ricky and myself with three of our friends. We were all just talking and enjoying the moment when a doctor walked in. He said he was here to talk to us about our son and then just went right into. "Your child has the characteristics of a child with down syndrome" He then went on to say things that no mother would ever want to hear. He told us that he would be retarded (I'll post my feelings about this one day) He told us that Regan would struggle to walk, talk and would have many health problems. I shut him out after that. I don't remember the doctor walking out of the room or anything. I remember crying to give me the phone so I could call my parents. My brother answered the phone and I was sobbing. He screamed for my mom who was already in the bed and I just screamed to her. They made a 30 min drive in about 10. A nurse brought me in a little pill a little while later. I never asked what it was because I knew it was something to calm me down. They finally brought Regan in for us again. All I wanted to do was hold my baby. The day he was born was the happiest day of my life and the saddest day. On one hand I had just had my first child. He had a head full of dark brown hair that stood up all over his head. The greatest love I ever knew. On the other hand we lost a child that day. We didn't have the pro football player or brain surgeon son we dreamed about. He changed us that day. We became parents of a special needs child.
The entire time I was pregnant I kept telling Ricky that something was wrong with our baby. I just felt it. He being the positive person he is told me that I was just pregnant and my hormones were out of control.
February of 2005
I went into labor at 4am on Saturday the 19th. I wouldn't delievery Regan until 3:58pm on SUNDAY! Yep, 35hours and 58minutes after I felt my first contraction. When Regan was born he was blue, but started crying in just a few seconds. I remember while the doctor was finishing up an nurse walking toward the door, the doctor mouthed something to the nurse and the nurse made a sad face and shook her head yes. At the time I had no idea what was said but a few hours later we would find out. While everyone was there and we were counting fingers and toes we noticed that his pinky toe was attached to his "ring" toe. Ricky went and asked the nurse and she said the doctor will be in to talk to you after he does his exam. So they came and got Regan from me and off to the nursery he went. A little while later I got to see the proofs of his first pictures. My dear friend was sitting on the bed beside me and I told her "He looks like a down syndrome baby" but we talked about how it had been 36 hours so maybe his face was flat from that. All of our family went home and that left Ricky and myself with three of our friends. We were all just talking and enjoying the moment when a doctor walked in. He said he was here to talk to us about our son and then just went right into. "Your child has the characteristics of a child with down syndrome" He then went on to say things that no mother would ever want to hear. He told us that he would be retarded (I'll post my feelings about this one day) He told us that Regan would struggle to walk, talk and would have many health problems. I shut him out after that. I don't remember the doctor walking out of the room or anything. I remember crying to give me the phone so I could call my parents. My brother answered the phone and I was sobbing. He screamed for my mom who was already in the bed and I just screamed to her. They made a 30 min drive in about 10. A nurse brought me in a little pill a little while later. I never asked what it was because I knew it was something to calm me down. They finally brought Regan in for us again. All I wanted to do was hold my baby. The day he was born was the happiest day of my life and the saddest day. On one hand I had just had my first child. He had a head full of dark brown hair that stood up all over his head. The greatest love I ever knew. On the other hand we lost a child that day. We didn't have the pro football player or brain surgeon son we dreamed about. He changed us that day. We became parents of a special needs child.
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