High Risk Hope, Author at High Risk Hope

High Risk Hope has a new Executive Director!

October 16, 2017 By High Risk Hope

By Heather Barrow

Serving as both the Executive Director and Board Chair since founding High Risk Hope (HRH) in 2011, it has been my dream to find the perfect person to take over as Executive Director. HRH has grown tremendously during the past six and a half years, from serving only one hospital and a few hundred patients to serving six hospitals (with several new ones in the works) and 2,500 patients every year. We have raised over $1.25 million and helped 6,500 families in crisis thanks to the support of our loyal donors.

One of the families HRH supported in 2014 is the Nicholas Family. Bailey Nicholas was pregnant with twins when she was admitted to St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital and placed on hospital bedrest for preeclampsia, where she received a HRH Bed Rest Basket. After four weeks in the hospital, a spike in blood pressure caused her to have Henry and Nora six weeks early. The babies spent several weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit, where they each received a HRH NICU Napsack. Once their entire family was healthy and home, Bailey began volunteering at HRH, delivering bags to patients and helping with various fundraising initiatives.

I was so impressed with Bailey’s fundraising, nonprofit leadership skills and passion for HRH, that I asked her to join our team in 2015 to oversee fundraising and special events. She was a stay at home mom with her twins at the time, and not in the market for a job. Thankfully, Bailey accepted because it was her dream to work for the organization that helped her family during their crisis.

Bailey has exceeded my expectations ever since. She is hard working, creative, intelligent,
driven, honest, caring and truly has our HRH families’ best interests at heart. She is willing to try anything (Belly Flop For Babies) to elevate HRH’s presence in the community, She sets high but attainable goals for herself, the HRH team, and ensures we exceed them. Bailey has never met a stranger and sees every interaction with another person as a chance to tell them about the wonderful things we are doing at HRH. She has developed strong relationships with HRH hospital partners, with several of them inviting her to serve on hospital committees.

All of these traits combined convinced me that I had finally found the person I could trust with my third baby, HRH. Earlier this year I spoke with Bailey about what I hoped would be her future as the Executive Director of HRH. She didn’t hesitate in accepting the challenge and has worked hard every day during our transition to prove that she is exactly the leader I hoped she would be in this role.

In 2011, never in my wildest dreams did I foresee HRH growing to the organization it is today. Fast-forward to 2017 and I can dream much bigger because I now know what the High Risk Hope family is capable of. Bailey’s leadership of our A-team will enable HRH to reach thousands more families in the future. As Chairman of the HRH Board, I can’t wait to see what they will accomplish now that Bailey will wear my purple shoes.

Ignoring my early signs of preeclampsia could have been deadly

May 31, 2016 By High Risk Hope

By Bailey Nicholas

Remember the horrific seizure Cybil on Downton Abbey experienced during childbirth that took her life? Unfortunately, this was not an over-dramatized scene made for TV audiences, nor was it a historical situation that has been eradicated by modern medicine. It is a scene that occurs far too often around the world to this day. It nearly happened to me.

Cybil’s seizure was the result of eclampsia, a condition preceded by preeclampsia which, when left unidentified and untreated, claims more lives of mothers and infants than any other pregnancy complication. Had I not been aware of the symptoms of preeclampsia and voiced my concern repeatedly to my doctors, my twins and I may not be here today. Ignoring my early signs of preeclampsia could have been deadly for all three of us.

May is Preeclampsia awareness month, and too few pregnant women are aware of how common and frankly, deadly, preeclampsia can be. The condition affects between 5 and 8 percent of pregnancies, claiming the lives of more than 75,000 mothers and 500,000 infants annually. Preeclampsia is not isolated to developing countries or to moms with preexisting conditions. Nearly 30% of moms on hospital bed rest right here in Tampa are hospitalized with preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders. I personally have three close friends diagnosed with preeclampsia who were the epitome of health before and during their pregnancy. Preeclampsia can happen to anyone.

As explained by the Preeclampsia Foundation, preeclampsia is characterized by high blood pressure and protein in the urine. Symptoms include headaches, vision changes, excessive swelling and upper abdominal pain. Moms with early signs of preeclampsia are closely monitored, often in the hospital, because preeclampsia can rapidly progress to life-threatening conditions called eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. These conditions cause widespread organ failure and seizures. The only cure for preeclampsia is delivery, therefore, many babies are delivered prematurely in order to save both mom and baby. Be aware, too, that preeclampsia can occur postpartum.

I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia while pregnant with my twins. During the last two weeks of my pregnancy, I nervously watched my blood pressure increase twofold, despite being on medication for preterm labor that coincidentally was also blood pressure medication. I gained 13 pounds of water weight in as many days. At my regularly scheduled perinatal appointment, a growth ultrasound showed that my daughter had not grown in two weeks, a result of high blood pressure. The doctor took my blood pressure, which measured 160/98 (my normal blood pressure is 100/60). He looked at me and said, “Whoa! What do you think would happen if we took you off the massive amounts of blood pressure medication you are currently taking?” My eyes welled up as I looked at him with relief that a doctor agreed with what I knew had been happening for two weeks. I had preeclampsia and the babies needed to come immediately.

I had an emergency c-section at 34 weeks 6 days gestation and my babies were rushed to NICU while I was kept on a 24-hour continuous drip of magnesium sulfate to prevent seizures. During this 24 hours, I was not allowed to get out of my hospital bed and therefore unable to visit my babies in NICU. My heroic husband stayed by the twins’ bedside those first harrowing hours as my son struggled to breathe with his underdeveloped lungs and my daughter’s 4-pound body worked hard to lower bilirubin levels under a phototherapy light. And we are the lucky ones. My preeclampsia did not cause seizures and my twins’ made it longer in utero than many babies of moms with preeclampsia. Today, everyone is healthy.

If you take away just two things from my story, let it be this: Educate and Advocate. Educate yourself about the symptoms of preeclampsia and advocate for yourself if you suspect you have early signs of the condition. Many of the symptoms of preeclampsia are common pregnancy symptoms, but I urge anyone experiencing these to check their blood pressure. Most pharmacies have a free public blood pressure cuff. You will not regret making an extra trip to CVS but you will regret ignoring early signs of preeclampsia.

What would your kids do with $25?

May 2, 2016 By High Risk Hope

By Heather Barrow

I saw an article on Today.com this weekend. It asks parents, ‘If you handed your child a $20 bill with the opportunity to buy anything, or donate the money instead, what do you think he or she would do?’

Our family eats, sleeps and breathes philanthropy through our work at High Risk Hope. My children also live a blessed life and have difficulties differentiating wants versus needs.

The article had me wondering what my kids would do with the money. The timing for this challenge is perfect, as Give Day Tampa Bay is Tuesday, May 3rd, and the minimum donation is $25.
I put the $25 offer on the table and waited. My 9-year-old daughter Claire (who is currently still in the red for a riding helmet debt caused by her adopted puppy Tucker) immediately said she would donate the money. The only problem was she couldn’t decide between High Risk Hope and The Humane Society of Tampa Bay. Both are worthy causes but it’s ‘really hard’ to pick between babies and animals. I feel her pain. There is a good chance she will pick the puppies, which is OK with me (at least publicly).

My son Hill, who just celebrated his 7th birthday, declared he would give the $25 plus all of his birthday money to High Risk Hope. My heart be still. I knew it! I am raising an angel. Until he asked how many leaves he could pick off The Giving Tree for giving his $25 donation plus $200 in birthday money.

You see, The HRH Giving Tree is a way we are trying to teach our philanthropists, both young and old, about giving. Every one of the leaves on The Giving Tree correlates to a fantastic prize. Toys, $10- $50 Columbia gift cards, Kendra Scott Jewelry, a Pottery Barn Kids rocking horse and gift certificates from various Hyde Park Village stores. Claire and Hill have seen me loading these prizes for weeks. If someone donates $25 to HRH on Give Day Tampa Bay, they can pick a leaf off of the HRH Giving Tree by the fountain in Hyde Park. The idea, just like in the book The Giving Tree, is to give away all of our leaves throughout the day, and end up with only a stump. Every grown-up donor will receive a shopping pass full of discounts to Hyde Park Village stores and restaurants. We are going to roll out the purple carpet for every one of our HRH donors on Give Day, no matter how much they give.

It may not be Hill’s only reason for donating $25, but it is his only reason for forking over 100% of his birthday money. The same is probably true for many adults who may donate $25 to HRH on May 3rd, only to receive the discount shopping pass. The truth is, it doesn’t matter why someone makes their first donation to HRH or any charity, especially children. What matters is that they are introduced to philanthropy at a young age by their parents. The reward will come as they grow older and remember the day their parents empowered them with the ability to make a difference in the life of another. Even if it was because they wanted a prize from HRH’s Giving Tree. Try the challenge in your home. You can’t afford not to invest $25 in your child’s, and this community’s, future. What would your kids do with $25?

It takes a village to help raise a preemie with an overprotective mom

March 9, 2016 By High Risk Hope

By Heather Barrow
My son Hill is in Kindergarten and was born two months prematurely after I spent two months on complete hospital bed rest. Today is the day Hill has been counting down to, and the day I have been dreading. It is the day he was going to board a bus with no seat belts for a three-hour round trip drive to Sea World with a bus driver I have never met.

When the field trip was announced, I said it was a wonderful idea, as long as there would be shoulder seat belts and plenty of chaperons. I offered up my husband Bennett’s services so one of us could be within striking distance of my baby. A couple of weeks ago we heard from his teacher they did not need chaperons, all of the buses with seat belts were unavailable and we could not drive Hill separately. Like many times before with Hill, I went into panic mode. I imagined the worst case scenario and how I could prevent it. What if the bus driver drove recklessly? Does he even have a valid driver’s license? What if it rained? God forbid, but what if they were involved in a bad accident?

My daughter Claire, usually quick to support anything involving Hill being restricted from fun, instead asked why I had never asked her teachers about seat belts for field trips. The only explanation I could come up with is that I approach risks more cautiously with Hill.

Bennett, as he usually does, went in to damage control/crisis prevention mode and started emailing articles on how safe buses are, and why they don’t need seat belts.

I don’t care which bus safety expert wrote the article. If a bus flips over and the children are not restrained, some if not all will be injured. I voiced my concerns to his teachers, and they did everything they could to reserve a bus with seat belts. They even tried to think of a way to bring something to buckle Hill in to the seat somehow (he was mortified.) Unfortunately, the bus company said it wasn’t possible. I reluctantly let him go today after a lot of begging from him and praying from me.

Then I received this photo from his teachers with a note saying that he was buckled in safe and sound. Their repeated requests with the bus company had paid off and they got a bus with seat belts!

I recognize I am overprotective of him and probably the only parent in Kindergarten emailing about seat belts. It takes a village to help raise a preemie with an overprotective mom. I am extremely thankful for how his school village, specifically his teachers Mrs. Paggio and Mrs. Perez, know every detail of Hill’s history, support us without judgment and agree my preemie is precious cargo;) Thank you Mrs. Paggio and Mrs. Perez. Congratulations, you have now been elected to be Hill’s teachers until he turns 18!

Turn tragedy into success by conquering these five what if’s

February 16, 2016 By High Risk Hope

By Heather Barrow

February 16th is a day of both celebration and pain for my family. It is the day my water broke in 2009 when I was 24 weeks pregnant with my son Hill. It is also the day our family founded High Risk Hope in 2011. It is no coincidence these pivotal events share the same date. This was a calculated effort on my part to turn the worst day of my life into the best day of each year. The heartbreak and devastation my family felt on this day in 2009 has evolved into great joy for every one of the 3,500+ families touched by High Risk Hope. As I reflect on our accomplishments over the past five years, I can’t help but wonder: what if I had chosen a different path? You face the same question on the choices you have in your life on this day. Whether it is the loss of a job, relationship change or illness in your family, you can turn tragedy into success by conquering these five what if’s:

1. What if I let this negative event consume my life? You may be surprised to hear this, but I believe negative consumption precedes positive outcomes. It took me two full years to get to the point when I was ready to explore the thought of turning our family’s three-month hospitalization into something that could potentially help others. Like more than 60% of families with premature infants, I experienced post traumatic stress disorder as a result our crisis. I could not even drive by the hospital that saved my son’s life, much less walk through the doors to help others. This negativity consumed my life for two years. Only when I made the choice to attempt to turn it around did I begin the healing process. Now I can walk into the hospital with my family and deliver doughnuts to our favorite HROB nurses or HRH bags to patients without breaking into a sweat.

2. What if I do nothing? If you do not make an effort to shift the trajectory of your life then your tomorrows will look a lot like yesterday. Make the choice to do something, knowing that the first step will be the hardest but also the most rewarding. The most difficult thing I have ever done in regards to HRH is having that first conversation with my husband in 2011 telling him the idea. Before I made the jump I wondered, what if he thinks I can’t do it? What if he won’t support me? He not only supported me, he was all in. The person you confide in with your future plans will have the same reaction. You just need to take the first step and tell them.

3. What if I fail? If I let every setback get me down at HRH, we would not have been around for more than a few months. Failures are just one way not to do something. They get you one step closer to success and should be recognized as what they really are, an opportunity for growth. When a donor or corporate sponsor tells me no after I ask for a donation I hear not right now. Many donors who told us no in 2011 are now contacting us asking to join the HRH family. We not only welcome them to the family, we roll out the purple carpet!

4. What if I don’t fail? It sounds counter-intuitive, but the fear of success is often more overwhelming than the fear of failure. HRH’s motto is the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf quote, ‘If your dreams do not scare you they are not big enough.’ If I wake up in the middle of the night at least once a week because of something big we have in the works for HRH, I know we are on the right path. That feeling in the pit of your stomach that you get before something big (a public speech, a promotion, a wedding or a major life change) is the same feeling for every person. It is how you label it that will separate you from being a success or failure. I label that feeling as excitement about an opportunity rather than nervousness and anxiety about a potential failure.

5. What if this is not my life’s purpose? What if it is? The truth is you will never know until you try. Mark Twain said it best, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” For me, February 16th is the day I found out why I was born. If you don’t have the same feeling about a special day, you certainly aren’t here to continue on the path you are currently on. Make today your most important day by taking one step closer to figuring out why you have been put on this Earth.

Happy 5th birthday to my third baby High Risk Hope. Here’s to many more years and families served in our community and state.

Bailey Nicholas is HRH’s new Fund Development and Special Events Manager

January 14, 2016 By High Risk Hope

Bailey Nicholas
Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Bailey attended Wake Forest University where she met her husband and Tampa-native, Richard. Bailey has worked and volunteered in the non-profit sector in the Tampa Bay Area since 2006, most recently as the Membership and Marketing Coordinator at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. She has also worked for the Tampa General Hospital Foundation and the Dali Museum, as well as volunteered with The Straz Center for the Performing Arts and The Junior League of Tampa. She holds her BA in Religion from Wake Forest University and her MA in Arts Administration from Columbia University.

Bailey was introduced to High Risk Hope when on bed rest at St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital while pregnant with her twins. After doctors successfully halted her pre-term labor at 28 weeks, she remained at SJWH for four weeks on hospital bed rest. Her twins were born just shy of 35 weeks, delivered due to severe preeclampsia. Following a two week stay in the NICU, twins Henry and Nora came home healthy. Bailey notes that, “High Risk Hope supported me throughout my pregnancy and NICU stay, inspiring me to become a volunteer delivering Bed Rest Baskets and NICU Napsacks. During my time volunteering with High Risk Hope, I was continually impressed by the organization’s unique support of women on hospital bed rest and its passionate volunteers and donors.”

Bailey is thrilled about the opportunity to join this inspiring organization and even more excited to take an integral role in helping High Risk Hope expand its event and fundraising efforts in order to reach more families in crisis.

Five ways to keep your sanity through your child’s medical test results

August 30, 2015 By High Risk Hope

By Heather Barrow

Last week the flood of emotions that surround the time before and after medical test results for my child came rushing back to me. My daughter Claire has been having severe headaches most of the summer, often in the middle of the night, and our pediatrician ordered an MRI and neurologist consult. This is the same pediatrician that has been with us through the ups and downs of my hospital bed rest and Hill’s premature birth and childhood development. She is the best of the best and not one to unnecessarily sound alarm bells. So the fact that she said MRI, neurologist and Claire in one sentence sent me into sheer panic mode. As I reflect over what I did right and wrong over the past seven days with Claire, and every time Hill has had a serious test, I wanted to share five ways to keep your sanity through your child’s medical test results:

1. Research the test not the outcomes. Do. Not. Google. Symptoms. Trust me on this one and if you want to learn from my mistake, Google “MRI early morning headaches”. When I saw what popped up I could not breathe much less focus on preparing Claire for the MRI. After my husband Bennett calmed me down, I went back to Google and found some very helpful age appropriate videos geared towards children and their first MRI. I was able to research the risks of MRIs in children, which vary by age and whether or not the child has to be sedated. In addition to having Claire watch the videos, we talked to her about the test and what it might show that could help manage her headaches.

2. Call in favors if you can. When our pediatrician told us the MRI scheduler would contact us ‘soon’ to schedule the test, I imagined soon really meant we would be waiting a while to actually have the MRI. I know myself well enough to recognize my shelf life of not knowing if my child has a potentially serious condition is around 48 hours. After that I cannot promise I will not completely lose it. Luckily Bennett was able to speed up the process by reaching out to a friend who arranged for Claire to fill a cancelled appointment the next day. We rarely do this but desperate parents call for desperate measures.

3. Consult with your village. Everyone has a handful of people in their lives they call for advice on medical issues. For unknown reasons, I am that person for some of my friends (maybe not after this blog). For me, I reached out to several people including a friend who was once a nurse practitioner for a pediatric neurologist. She also happens to be a fellow preemie mom who has always helped with Hill’s medical issues. She didn’t sugar coat what was going on but calmed me down and gave me a step-by-step plan on how to move forward as opposed to remaining frozen with fear.

4. Keep your child’s teacher in the loop. At the suggestion of Claire’s pediatrician, we told her teacher and school nurse what was going on. If she takes ibuprofen and lies down for a few minutes at the first hint of a headache, it is much less severe. At first I hesitated to cause this type of inconvenience for the school but realized that it was best for Claire. If we picked the right school for our children, they would support us. One week and half-dozen headaches later, they are happily working with us until we can figure this out.

5. Visualize the best. When your child is ill and you don’t know why, it is extremely difficult to not let your mind go to the dark place of thinking it is caused by a serious illness. I took my own advice this week that I have said to friends countless times: you will be the first to know when something is seriously wrong. Stressing and obsessing over the ‘what ifs’ is pointless and could have a negative impact on your own health. Visualizing that your child will be fine won’t change the outcome but it will bridge the gap between today and the day of the test results.

By the time the MRI scheduler called to make Claire’s appointment we already had the test results. Thankfully, her scan was completely clear of any scary health issues that could have caused her headaches. We can now shift our focus to figuring out what is causing them and finding a long-term solution.

Enough is enough with Tampa flooding

August 4, 2015 By High Risk Hope

By Heather Barrow

Last night I ended my umpteenth flood day watching NBC Nightly news where I was surprised to hear Lester Holt talk about Tampa. The report focused Tampa Bay, and the surrounding communities, facing a record weekend of rain and flooding ending with Mayor Buckhorn saying “Can we fix it, no? All the money in the world would not fix this problem.”
Not exactly the vote of confidence I was hoping to hear about future flooding and Tampa’s 100+ year-old storm water drainage system. What the report did not show was that flooding is nothing new to our waterlogged residents. If you live in Tampa, you know it doesn’t take record rainfall to flood our streets. In fact, just one month ago, we faced heavy flooding after a couple hours of rain. With no warning, most of us tried to get home from work, realizing quickly there was not one safe route, including our go-to streets that don’t normally flood. While this list could go on for days, here are my top three reasons why enough is enough with Tampa flooding.

1. Access to hospitals – While this generation certainly was not involved in the decision to build one of Tampa’s top hospitals on a low-lying man-made island with access only by one bridge prone to flooding, we have to deal with the repercussions. It is no secret that access to Tampa General Hospital can be limited or cut off completely when Bayshore Blvd or Davis Islands flood. While there are other hospitals in the area, patients and ambulances that are redirected still have to navigate flooded roads, fresh submerged potholes and abandoned cars. When someone is facing a medical emergency, whether it is cardiac arrest or premature labor, every minute counts. For our families with premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit, not having an open road to their baby during flooding can be terrifying. We cannot continue to put our community at risk, and undue hardship on Tampa General Hospital and ambulance drivers attempting to manage patient transport during recurrent flooding.

photo curtesy of USF

photo credit Bill Green via Facebook

2. Cost of flooding – Although the cost of the recent flooding to our community as a whole has not been estimated, we can assume the number will be eye opening. At High Risk Hope, we were forced to close the Ybor office several days over the past two weeks due to flooding. From an important Board meeting to hospital deliveries to sponsorship opportunities and cancelled events the recent flooding certainly has hurt us. Many other local businesses facing the same decision closed their doors for the safety of their employees and customers. Employees who did brave the roads to get to work most likely faced damage to their cars as they tried to blindly navigate flooded streets and bridges. For the areas where water made it into homes, the damage to personal property was devastating.

3. The pink hurricane, rather elephant, in the city – Once the rainwater clears; it is easy to quickly forget the frustration we all face with recurrent flooding. The pink elephant in the city is what our residents may face during another heavy storm or hurricane with any type of storm surge. Personally, the recent rain and flooding aftermath gives me little confidence of safety and my family will be the first on the road out of town.

Many of us have turned into Monday morning quarterbacks about what should have already been done to prevent this problem, but no one person is to blame. Mayor Buckhorn, City Council and other local leadership did not create this problem but I hope they will be part of the solution. If each of us compared our personal annual cost of flooding to the current proposed $250 Million overhaul of the stormwater drainage system ($149 increase per taxpayer per year), are we all better off financially paying the increased taxes? This week alone we spent $250 on a water pump, to remove water from puddles creeping close to the house.

The Land Rover marketing manager in charge of this ad needs a promotion. I received my ad in the mail yesterday, impeccable timing although not within my budget.

Treat every summer as if you were a tourist

July 27, 2015 By High Risk Hope

By Kerri Kibbey

My family and I have been living in Tampa for almost 6 years and have yet to visit all the wonderful places it offered it’s residents. This summer the kids (Zane 5 and Kennedy 4) and I decided to skip camps and pretend we are tourists. Each week we try and plan something we have never done before. Here are the some of the activities we have let pass us by and why your family should treat every summer as if you were a tourist:.

1. The TECO Line Streetcar. You’ve seen it downtown, passing the aquarium and through Ybor City, but have you ever actually been on it? After an aquarium visit one day we rode it downtown and then to Ybor City. The kids were excited to point out all the places they recognized and we jumped off in Ybor for ice cream at Joffrey’s.

2. Weeki Wachee Springs. If you ever wondered where the mermaids live, this is it. We spent the day floating in the springs, took the short river boat cruise to see alligators, fish and turtles (during the fall you will even see manatees), and watched both mermaid shows. Pack a lunch, take your swimsuit and enjoy a fun day with the mermaids (there was even a merman!)

3. Tampa Bay Storm Game. If you have never experienced arena football, I encourage you to go. It was a BLAST! We happenedto attended the rivalry game: Orlando Predators vs Tampa Bay Storm. We saw the SWAT team propel down from the center of the field, motorcycle cops with their lights on drive around the arena, the lighting bolts went off when the Storm scored, constant action with the players, and go cart races during halftime. The kids are asking to go back to the final home game.

4. Beaches. We could probably find a new beach each week to visit. There are so many beautiful beaches we haven’t even been able to explore yet. Pass-a-grille and Indian Rocks have been two of our favorites so far.

5. eBoating. Have you seen the eBoats cruising down the Hillsborough River? The boats leave from the Tamp Bay Convention Center/Sail Pavilion and seat up to 15 people. You may bring your own food and drinks on board and they rent by the hour. They say it’s just like driving a golf cart and will give you a quick tutorial on how to drive before they send you off down the river. Date night, girls night out, family fun day or even to give out of town guests a tour of the area…. I highly recommend you rent one soon.

6. Tampa Bay Rays Summer Games. The TB Rays offer summer concerts and family events throughout the summer months. Each summer we pick a game to take he kids to and usually these events end with the kids being able to run around on the field. Sporting event and family fun – that’s what the summers are about.

7. Summer Markets, Festivals, Parks and Expos. Tampa offers some of the best activities for families. Each weekend you can find a family friendly activity to experience. We have visited the Hyde Park Market, a PopUp Popsicle Party and SharkCon 2 most recently. There is always something happening around the TB area, check you local paper for family friendly events.

There are still a few items left on our summer list including Egmont Key, Dunedin, Gulf Port and Big Cat Rescue. We have yet to take a stroll along the newly opened Riverwalk. Treating our summer as if we were tourists has opened my eyes to all the wonderful activities Tampa offers it’s lucky residents. It has also taught me to slow down. The kids and I have had the best time since we when aren’t rushing. I’d love to hear what your must seeTampa Bay Area activity is, I still have 5 more weeks until the end of summer.

Everyone has a limit and I’ve hit mine

July 20, 2015 By High Risk Hope

By Heather Barrow

Whether you are in intensive care with your premature baby, staying at home with busy and accident-prone toddlers or juggling your work and home responsibilities, there is an invisible line that you see the minute you’ve crossed it. It is the line that tells you that you’ve gone too far and something needs to give. Everyone has a limit and I’ve hit mine again. Here is how I plan to push the reset button to get back on track with my daily obligations without jeopardizing my sanity.

1. Delegate – There are tasks we all are doing on a daily basis that can be delegated. Whether it is having your six-year-old load the dishwasher (he can do it) or pushing a project to a capable employee or co-worker, you must take advantage of these ‘free’ opportunities. Not only are you helping the helper out by allowing them to learn new skills, you are saving yourself from tasks that can easily be completed by someone other than you. I may be taking this overboard at home as Hill told me in his sassiest voice to “put your stinky slippers back yourself” this morning. Ouch!

2. Outsource – Do not confuse outsourcing with delegating. Outsourcing means you have to pay someone for something you can do for ‘free’. The concept of free is misused often when referring to your time. Most people believe money is your most valuable resource but I disagree. Your time is your most valuable resource and should always be treated that way. If someone else can do something for you for less than it would ‘cost’ you to do yourself, you can’t afford not to hire him or her. An example for me is designing photo books I have been putting off for years. It is important to me to have photo books and scrapbooks for my children. I have never allocated the time to do this until this summer when I hired a wonderful college student to help me out. Two work days in, and she has completed two books and is working in my home office as I type this. This is the best money I have spent in a while.

3. Get three things done per day – In the past, I have made an endless daily to-do list that I feel bad about at night because I never complete it. I have read enough entrepreneurial articles to finally admit I am approaching daily tasks at home and work all wrong. From today on I will make my daily top five list, with the tasks I want to do least at the top, and strive to get three of them done by dinner. Not only will I now feel daily accomplishment (instead of disappointment) the perfectionist in me will probably strive to do all five. Anyone can do three important tasks a day; what will you get done today?

4. Check emails once per day – My husband Bennett has been annoying me for months with this text at the bottom of his emails. I have finally seen the light as constantly checking and replying to emails is an interruption that is eating away at my day by the minute. The first step in this plan is to turn off all email notifications on every device (both sound and the little red circle with a number). Checking emails once per day is more than adequate, and anyone with an ‘urgent’ matter will call. What will be tough is practicing what I preach and not demanding an immediate email response back by others.

5. Ignore the negative chatter – There is a constant chatter in my head that I could be doing almost everything better. Whether it relates to raising my children or running High Risk Hope, I am my worst critic. Sometimes it is spurred by misplaced criticism from someone in my inner circle or a negative comment from strangers on the Internet looking to stir up trouble. The bottom line is I am doing my best with the time and resources I have and that is enough. I want to be the first person to tell you that whatever you are doing is enough too, ignore the haters including yourself.

Whatever your limit, chances are you will hit it too this summer if you haven’t already. I challenge you to learn from my mistakes and implement these easy changes before you cross the line.

High Risk Hope has a new Executive Director!

Ignoring my early signs of preeclampsia could have been deadly

What would your kids do with $25?

It takes a village to help raise a preemie with an overprotective mom

Turn tragedy into success by conquering these five what if’s

Bailey Nicholas is HRH’s new Fund Development and Special Events Manager

Five ways to keep your sanity through your child’s medical test results

Enough is enough with Tampa flooding

Treat every summer as if you were a tourist

Everyone has a limit and I’ve hit mine

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