Hi. I don't have twins with special needs, but I do have two children with special needs. My son is diagnosed with ADHD and has some speech and sensory issues. Since we started him on his ADHD medication though he has gone from being recommended for special ed classes to I'm waiting to hear the results from his gifted and talented testing.
My daughter is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, has an undiagnosed genetic disorder, global developemental delays, etc. She is pretty involved. She is non-verbal, and has a few health issues. Luckily nothing extreme, but it does weight heavily sometimes.
My suggestion for dealing with the stress is to find someone to talk to. Message boards are great, even support groups, but what I found helped the most is finding a friend with similar issues. When I can talk to a friend face to face or cry on a shoulder I deal with things a lot better. I had that in Louisville, a found a mom that had a son with downs syndrome just a couple of months older than my daughter and it really helped. Since moving to Indianapolis, I've struggled to make friends, and it has really affected my stress level. I recently meet the mother of one of my daughter's classmates and we have started talking. I'm already feeling better, calmer, more in control.
Good luck to all the parents, stay strong :-)
MOMOFF3 5/16/07 9:06 A
Hello, I just had twins in March born 7 weeks prematurely. They are boys and both were diagnosed with Down Syndrome. They are doing pretty well as they have no heart problems or any other health issues at this time. Since they are still so young we are only getting PT twice monthly. Kind regards, Anja
SUMMERWINN1977 3/15/07 1:36 P
I have two boys who have special needs as well. Ryan almost 10 is diagnosed as ADHD, Oppositional defiant disorder and bipolar disorder. Aaron age 4 is diagnosed as ADHD, Oppositional defiant disorder, and a high risk for bipolar disorder. My daughter, Emily, is only 3 months old but I am praying that she missed the mental disorders that my sons have. It is dificult to lose weight with an infant and 2 special needs kids because they demand so much of my time. My fiancee is trying, but he never dealt with kids that have so many issues as the boys do. He is really great with them.
STACI5045 2/26/07 4:08 P
I too am a mom of twins. I am a single mom to a 5 year old daughter and a set of identical twin sons. They were all born full term with no problems at birth. All 3 children have recently been diagnosed ADHD and are extremely hyper and very hard to control and deal with at times. I should be a size 5 just from dealing with them. My stress level is extremly high and read somewhere that stress can actually stop weightloss and effect health also. I am trying to do everything possible to control stress...which is very hard being a single mom. I try to find things to encourage energy before going home to settle down. We go to the playground, McDonald's playgrounds, Chuck E Cheese and various other places where they can run and play as much as possile. This tends to lower stress a little at night because they are tired and actually ready for bed. I suggest that you try to find ways to reduce stress and this will also stop the cravings and hunger problems. I am not a stress eater, but I know stress will increase hunger as well.
BIGDRAWZ34 2/19/07 11:35 P
dear doublethefun+1 I don't have twins but I am a single mom of a five year old son with special needs. I had a c-section but my son was 8lbs and 10oz,but they took too long to get him out and i always question that maybe his problems started because i had a long labor.anyway i will give you the short version.i notice that when he was 2 years old he wasn't speaking he was babbling and i was concerned and at the time when i was with his dad and i bought up my concerns to him all he said was"boys develop much slower than girls" i ignored him because as a mother i knew something was wrong. i put him in daycare when he was 2 1/2 yrs old because i needed to get back to work,well his teachers kept complaining all the time and that just left me miserable to the point that all i did was eat because it's a lot to deal with alone. i got him into another school where they evaluate your child. once i had the evaluation done alot of questions were answered. my son was diagnosed with echolalia,speech delayed,fluid in both ears,learning disability, and he was getting counseling. now that he is in kindergarten he is receiving counseling and speech. in april2006 he had surgery to have tubes placed in both ears,well know my son can hear much better but now he is having anxiety attacks because hearing is something new to him, so when he hears a noise that he is not aware of he will say" mommy whats that noise?" so it's a process for me but i take it day by day because i learn so much from him the way he see the world :)i love my son and i wish you all the best and hopefully we will keep in touch. p.s. i was so focus on him i just ate and ate until i lost sight of myself and it wasn't until my doctor told me to get my life back on track or i will not be around for my son.
KELLY_SP 1/25/07 12:45 P
Hi Michelle,
Welcome to SparkPeople! As a mother of two children myself, I honestly can say that my hat is off to you! It sounds like you have had an uphill climb from day one and the hill just keeps on growing. I don't have any smiliar situations personally or any real advice to share but I wanted to take a moment to say "god bless you".
Have you heard of our sister site BabyFit? (www.babyfit.com)
It is designed for expecting mothers, experienced moms, new moms and moms who are TTC. I would venture to guess you may find someone who can relate to your situation there. I will pray for health and sanity for you and your family.
Hang in there and keep us posted on your journey! Kelly
DOUBLETHEFUN+1 1/24/07 4:08 P
Hi everyone, I am new to sparks and just found this board. I am the mom to twin boys who are 11 (12 in April) and a 5 year old son. A little about where I am coming from, and where the weight has come from. I spent almost 3 months in a hospital bed prior to my twins being born. I was told to keep eating for the babies, even when I wasn't hungry (I wasn't gaining enough weight). I wanted so much for them to be healthy when ever they did arrive that I ate alot, mostly high fat,calorie hospital foods. Well, they did arrive at 32 weeks weighing 4lb. 2 oz. and 3lb. 15oz. We got a big surprise. Baby A (Alex) was born with a cleft lip/palate!! Baby B (Ryan) was wisked away because he wasn't breathing on his own. They were both in the hospital for about a month. Alex has had many surgeries. He also suffers from asthma, Transient Tick Disorder, and Obstructive sleep Apnea. Ryan has no physical issues but has a learning disability. Then we have our beautiful miracle Christopher who came to us (that's a long beautiful story for some other time if anyone is interested). At 4 months he was diagnosed with Infantile Glaucoma. At 2 years was diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech. Besides having several eye surgeries (I would travel the 5-6 hours by myself for his care), at a year old he had a sebatious nevous (precancerous growth) removed from his head. OK, I could go on and on but I guess I'm feeling that the stress of having twins and then the medical issues on top of it has lead me to where I am. Is there anyone else dealing with their twins but also multiple needs? Would love to hear how you deal with all of the stress (other than eat!!) If you have gotten this far, thank for reading! Looking forward to being a part of this group. Michelle : )
p.s. i was so focus on him i just ate and ate until i lost sight of myself and it wasn't until my doctor told me to get my life back on track or i will not be around for my son.
