Meet the Blogger: Jessica Watson

We can't wait for you to meet our latest blogger, Jessica from Four Plus an Angel. A mom to five kids- four in her arms, one in her heart- she has traveled quite the journey. Read on for her unique journey. We have some great content, advice, and guest posts coming your way this fall, so stay tuned! Hi, I am Jessica Watson and thrilled to be one of the bloggers here. I have five children, four in my arms and one in my heart. My living children range in age from 2-16 and I also have a daughter who passed away as an infant four years ago.

My oldest daughter, the teenager (still a scary word to type), has autism and we have been through everything from struggling for those first words to nail-biting IEPs to driver’s training decisions.  She is currently a sophomore in high school and, although every day isn’t sunshine and roses, is doing amazingly well despite what we were told many years ago when she was diagnosed. When she was 12 (yes I waited THAT long) I became pregnant again but with triplets, a boy and two girls. After an extremely difficult pregnancy, I delivered at 28 weeks. My triplets spent nearly three months in the NICU where, to our devastation, one of our daughters passed away.  Despite their severe prematurity, my surviving triplets are doing very well but we have struggled with many of the common “preemie struggles” such as feeding issues, respiratory problems and weak immune systems. One of my survivors continues to puzzle us with a variety of symptoms that do not quite fit into a diagnosis yet but have landed us back in the world of speech, occupational and physical therapy and never-ending doctor appointments. Barely a year after having the triplets we were happily surprised to find out we were having one more. Yet another complicated pregnancy led me to delivering at 34 weeks. So far so good with this little guy though. He is two and half and not a diagnosis in sight (yes I’m knocking on wood). So all of this to say I have been there. I have sent my daughter to school and worried she was alone at a lunch table, I have driven to a doctor’s appointment with a pit in my stomach and cried the ugly cry in the parking lot afterwards. I have looked up way more than I should about different diagnoses online and checked on my children five extra times that night. I have learned that my gut instinct is just as important as a professional’s opinion and having someone to talk to who has walked in your shoes can be more valuable than a therapist who gives you her home phone number. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to begin walking this road with you. Each week I look forward to discussing topics that we have faced as a family and want nothing more than for you to know that you are not alone when you read my posts. In the upcoming weeks I will be discussing everything from sibling issues to how/when to talk to your child’s peers about his or her special needs. If there is a topic you would like to see discussed here please let me know. I promise to always be open, honest and nonjudgmental.  There isn’t a topic that can scare me… I’ve potty trained far too many children for that ☺. Jessica Watson can also be found at her personal blog Four Plus an Angel, on twitter (@jessbwatson) and on Pinterest.