I have two teenagers from "My Once Upon A Time When I Married Someone Because I Wanted
White Picket Fences and The Leave It To Beaver Life." Well, turns out the hubby wasn't Wally Cleaver, the white picket fences turned into a foreclosure, and my two children have experienced more trauma than most people experience in a lifetime. My daughter has chronic auto-immune disorders including Ulcerative Colitis, liver disease, thyroid disease and hormonal problems. My son was hit by a truck November 2nd, 2007 and just had his most recent (and hopefully last) surgery on October 7th, 2009.
I have two younger children, a 2nd grader and a toddler. My youngest is my good luck charm, born 8/8/08. While I was pregnant with her, my two oldest children had major surgery... on the same day.. at two different hospitals in San Francisco. I made it through that, missed a lot of work trying to get kids to follow-up appointments and physical therapy. My pregnancy was high risk, and I was having to go to the doctor two or 3 times a week for monitoring. During all this, I tried to maintain my job, but eventually al the nights and weekends trying to cram in hours became to much for me. My doctor put me on disability, and I took a break... Finally...
After the baby was born, I thought I would try and go back to work. However, my employer's business had been slowing down over a long period of time, and when I was ready to go back, there wasn't enough work to go around.. (that's ok really... her checks would often not clear the bank, but the unemployment checks always clear). My area is now inundated with out of work graphic artists looking for work, starting sign shops, grubbing for freelance work, so in all reality returning to my prior career probably isn't going to happen. So for the sake of my children, my family, and my sanity, I am diversifying and exploring the possibilities of the WAHM.
