m-o-t-h-e-r-h-o-o-d spells Stress

Will someone please tell me how moms are supposed to “reduce” their stress? I hear it all the time, people telling me I need to find a way to have less stress. I’ve heard it from my husband, my doctors for years, and just this week my trainer told me to “eat right, drink plenty of water, get 6-8 hours of sleep a night and to reduce my stress”. I know they all mean well and I appreciate that they are worried about my well being, I just don’t know how to do it. Sophia is sick today, she was up all last night, as was I making sure she was ok. I generally worry about her less, just because she tends to have less for me to worry about.
Ethan, now he’s the one I tend worry more about. When he was born I was struck with this intense urge to have him blessed, it was as if someone was pushing me, telling me the sooner the better, and I’m glad I listened and had him blessed. I dread thinking about what may have happened had we not blessed him, but he still has had his issues. It started with the diagnosis of reflux at two weeks old, several bouts of this and that, three surgeries, what I believe is a false diagnosis of ADHD and this was all before he turned 8. Earlier this week on our journey to find the real cause of his symptoms (which are similar to the symptoms of ADHD), I received some test results from his pulmonologist. We’ve found that Ethan has some extremely severe allergies, something we already knew, but not to this extent. We believe these allergies are the cause of his sleep apnea, which in turn is the cause of his hyperactivity. I know he has so much potential and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to help him succeed, and because of that, since speaking with his doctor, I’ve spent my days looking at HEPA filters, vent filters, Petri dishes, de-humidifiers, hypoallergenic mattresses, hypoallergenic carpet and soap, etc. I know one of these days all this worrying and research about this and that will finally pay off and I may actually have a few stress free moments to myself. But for now, I know at the end of each and every day, I’ve done my best to help him be happy and healthy.
I’ll always want better for both my kids and I’ll continue to strive for it. I love my kids and I love being a mom, so if stress is part of motherhood…I say Bring It On!