Me time?

[Crawling]

Anyone else struggeling with all the hospital appointments? I barely manage to clean Ive always been very active but ive gained weight owing to the fact I have no time to exercise. Is anyone else struggeling with the relentless amount of care a special needs child requires?

Yep! We had 87 appointments last year (I counted them for the DLA renewal) and that's not including the 2 weeks she spent in the HDU!

The house is a mess, I haven't had my hair cut in 5 mths & my clothes are from before DD was born.

I keep telling myself it will get easier, but I have no idea when or how...

Proudmum thats my mantro too sigh.

snap - haven't had me time in years now. my life is a big rush: nursey runs, school runs, going to work, appointments, trying to stay on top of the household. i have zero time for myself. i have no family to help to give me a break either and no respite. and i am constantly exhausted. on the plus side, i lost 2 stones over the last 2 years due to stress.

i just hope that things will get easier at some point...

crawling How old is your DC? It is particularly difficult when they are pre-school age and also when they are young and/or just been diagnosed - the appointments are relentless. I was drowning before DD started at nursery. Not only did I have hospital appts ( local hospital 38 mile round trip) but I had endless health/education professionals coming to the house. Wasn't much I could do about the hospital, but I eventually told all the community people that I was only available on a Thursday morning and booked them all in for 1 hour slots. It was a good way of introducing them to each other too - as many of them didn't know the others even existed!!! The Health Visitor was defintely educated by it!
Once DD started assessment nursery, all the health/education people visited her there and for a while I felt quite isolated because I had lost all that contact. By that time though I had DS too, so it gave me some time to spend with him.
It was when DS started nursery that I started to get some 'Me Time'. I enrolled at a gym that I could easily get to after dropping DS at nursery and did a workout and had a swim before going back to pick DS up.
School holidays were the worst after that , as I didn't have any respite until DD was 7.
Now they are both teenagers, it is much easier,but I do have to plan well ahead, as DD requires 1:1 care all the time. Things like getting hair cut is something I always forget about. I used to book every 6 weeks on a Saturday when DH was here, but it got too expensive, so I stopped going. Now I forget to book or struggle to find a free slot to go as I am so busy. I still go to the gym, and also do voluntary work because it is all flexible enough to fit in around the meetings/appointments.
You also learn which hospital appointments are beneficial and which are just tick box exercises for the doctors. We have 'accidentally' dropped off a couple of clinic lists, as they were a waste of our time, and I knew we could get back in via other professionals if necessary and with others we have an agreement with the Consultant that he won't send repeat appointments, but if we have any problems, we can ring his secretary and get an appointment sent.
It does get easier once they are in school and once you have the confidence to organise the professionals instead of them imposing themselves on you.

Thanks dd is 3:6 but not in preschool as they say they cant meet her needs so in statutory assessment process. I also have a older one in school and a 1 yo some days it seems like my life is just running from one place to the next.

Dd attends a hospital 30miles away its not our local but the have a better system for children with dd needs so we were referred there. Thanks its good to know it gets better I actually feel guilty for feeling this way as a friend is struggelling to get any help and I have it coming out of my ears. Also feel like I should be grateful she is getting all this help and I am I just feel like I have no life other than dds special needs anymore and like I cant give dc3 enough attention.

me time is when I sleep!