Parent Support

Three and a half years ago, when Aiden was born - literally just a few days after , I was introduced to a woman, Joni Bruce. She is the executive director of the Oklahoma Family Network. That is a statewide group of families who share their stories and listen to moms of newly diagnosed children with special needs.

Joni had a son named Ian. And Ian passed away at 45 days old. She told me her story and listened to concerns I had regarding a premature delivery, being a single mom at the time and brought Aiden some real "preemie" clothes. Honestly, when you have a 2 pounder, the clothes at Babies R Us and Walmart are huge enough for the child to swim in. I couldn't find anything that would fit Aiden. I really couldn't. Through the Network though, other families who had smaller than average preemies (which according to the store is 5 - 10 lbs) and they offered up some outfits.

Joni had called another single mother of a child who had Down syndrome, Wendy. Wendy came up to the hospital and we talked. And I met Wendy's daughter, Hannah. Hannah was about 6 years old then. And Hannah was amazing! When Aiden underwent his first open heart surgery, Wendy came up to the hospital and sat with me during a lot of trying hours. She was there during the final attempt to take Aiden off of ECMO and prayed with me that everything would be fine and that we would not be making that trip to St. Louis for a heart transplant.

Several weeks ago, Joni sent me an email asking if I would be interested in becoming a parent mentor with the OFN. OF COURSE!!! Wendy and I still keep into contact and it has been nearly 3 years since we last saw each other. We are Facebook friends and follow each other's children's progress. Hannah has grown into an absolutely gorgeous young lady. (Of course, having a mother with Wendy's looks doesn't hurt matters either! Seriously, she's 10 years older than me and looks 10 years younger than I do. Yes, I'm jealous!)

Today was the day that I went in for my parent supporter training. I had to drive 2 cities south to find the facility. I so do not know the area other than driving though to get to the town to where my brother lives. Fortunately, I have a friend who lives there and called him. He talked me through the 10,000 stoplights and got me down the side street in which the library is located. (Why is it that libraries are located in the most obscure neighbourhoods?)

So, now I'm officially a parent mentor. Whoo Hooo!

There are also several other programs that I am going to look into. One is a Partners in Policies. Not really sure about what the entails, haven't read all of the information. And the regional director asked if I would be interested in sitting on the Families of the Hospital group. What that is... is talking to the local Children's hospital (you know, our other home) and discussing how to make the in-patient stays not so menacing. Good Lord knows I've been there enough to know what needs to be changed up there.