Raising Dakota Podcast

In this episode I share how we communicate with school and my expectations with communication. I like to talk and be aware of what is going on in Dakota's life and having effective communication with staff that cares for Dakota is a huge piece of advocating. I always like to have communication establish and provide an example for Dakota so that one day he can advocate for himself.

After a long 2 months of recovery I finally had time to start recording episodes again. This episode I just bring you all up to spend on Dakota's surgery and everything we have been doing the last 2 months.

In this episode I share more of the mental toll this surgery has had on me. While it is obvious that there physical things that needs to be done to prepare for surgery it can a toll on you mentally, physically, and emotionally. Physically preparing for Surgery and making sure everything is in place helps me be able mentally be prepared for any procedure and recovery. Knowing possible outcomes, wait to expect and fully dealing with these emotions up front helps me be 100 percent during the surgery and recovery process. 

Since we are so close to Dakota's hip surgery I thought this is the perfect time to share how I prepare for surgery, and recovery. There are a lot of things that have to happen to make sure a surgery moves smoothly and I tried to share all the things that work best for our family in this episode. Communication is your biggest friend before, during, and after surgery. 

Being a special needs parent we don't get too many breaks from working on goals but a few breaks here and there is always good. Trying to find a balance between work and play can be hard but is very important for both you and your special needs child. In this weeks episode I share with you how we make summer time work for Dakota. What we do to make activities easier and how we reengage him during summer time. We try our best to make sure Dakota enjoys all the summer activities comfortably and still continues to make strides towards all goals.

Equipment is one thing that makes our life easier but also consumes a lot of our life. We are thankful for the medical equipment and technology that we have access to but it can be overwhelming and a lot. In this weeks episode I share with you the equipment that Dakota has, how we store it and the routines that work best for us with School and Daycare.

In this weeks episode I was hesitant to share this episode because I am being vulnerable and sharing 2 things I struggle with as being a special needs mom. I want to share them because they have been on my mind a lot lately and I know that I am not the only person who probably struggles with them.

In this episode I wanted to share with you all what the past year has looked like with our family. It definitely had its ups and downs but I am thankful for all the one on one time I got to spend with Dakota. 2020 was a curvy ball but Dakota is the king of curvy balls and it was his best development year yet.

In this weeks episode I share about our support system and share information on how to build a support system.

In this episode I share the routine that works for Curtis and I during hospital stays. Hospital stays are hard and it is hard to make sure you are taking care of yourself and your needs so having a routine that works for your family for a hospital stay can make the stay a little less stressful.

This episode I am going to share things that I learned and discovered to make managing Dakota's care easier and a smoother process. This episode will be covering mental health and how important schedules are to our family. We are still selling shirts for Free Throws For Kids. Link is on my website and links are in my LinkTree in my Instagram bio as well.

In this episode I wanted to share with you a fundraising event that we attend every year and due to COVID we are unfortunately not able to. Free Throws for Kids in a non-profit 100% volunteer organization that's mission is to provide hope and show Gods love to patients and families at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Ronald McDonald House. We are still raising money for Free Throws For Kids this year by selling shirts and taking Donations.  Links to the shirts can be found on my website.

In this episode I share the types of therapy that Dakota has received. I also share the importance of therapy and how we use therapy everyday to help Dakota make such great progress.

In this episode I share information on the Daycare Dakota went to and how we communicated. Daycare was a great experience for Dakota and Thankful that we had access to www.thekidzclub.com to provide care for Dakota. I also included information about my website and the resources I have available. Check it out at raisingdakota.wixsite.com/raisingdakota

I know providing for a special needs child is stressful. Being able to afford, and mange care is a lot so in this episode I share information on the resources and organization's that we setup after we left the NICU to be able to provide care for Dakota. I share information on our Medical Care Waiver and how we can afford everything for Dakota. Thanks to the support of the social workers at our local children's they provided us with all the necessary information to care for Dakota and I wanted to share that information with you all. Enjoy.

This episode I shared the rest of our NICU journey with you guys. I share some of the things I did to make our NICU pod more homey and how I occupied my time during the 2 month stay. I also share one of the most meaningful conversations that I have had since Dakota was born and how it has helped me for other hospital stays.

Today Sunday February 28th, 2021 is rare disease awareness and I wanted to take this opportunity to share some information on Dakota's 2 rare diagnosis of Dandy Walker Malformation and Baraitser-Winter Syndrome.

This episode I shared my own personal mental health struggles during the first few weeks of Dakota's NICU. It has taken me a lot for me to talk about my own struggles. I have never liked sharing areas of my life that are a struggles because I personally look at them as weaknesses rather than struggles. Through this podcast I have realized talking about my emotions, hard times, and good times has helped me deal with my own mental health.

In this episode I am going to share Dakota's birth and the biggest lesson it taught me. I will jump a little to his feeding tube procedure to share how his birth and emergency surgery prepared me for future hospital stays and procedures. Next week I will got back to our NICU journey.

This episodes covers what our pregnancy was like after we discovered Dakota's complications. I will also share how we prepared for appointments, Dakota's birth, and our NICU stay.

In this episode I will be talking about Dakota's diagnosis as well as sharing our journey with Dakota over the last 6 years starting with my pregnancy.

Welcome to the 1st episode on my Raising Dakota Podcast. This episode will short and sweet by just providing a brief introduction to the host, background and what to expect from the podcast. I hoping to release new episodes every Monday.

Raising Dakota Podcast is intended to inspire, motivate, and help other special needs families. Our first episode will release 2/1/21. Stay tuned