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When Zach would be in a rage, everyone else in the family suffered too, Laurie says. She says almost all of her conflicts with Joe were about Zach. Though she considers herself to be an energetic and positive person, a day spent with Zach would leave her feeling completely wiped out. "At the end of the day, there were times when I would just say, 'I can't do it another minute. You need to take over. I need a break,'" she says. "It was very, very taxing."

And because raising Zach required so much energy and focus, Laurie says there was rarely ever anything left for Julia. "After the incident with the babysitter, we were sitting at the table with Julia. She looked at me and she burst into tears and she said, 'Mama, it's just always all about Zach,'" Laurie says. "And she went running upstairs crying. In that moment Joe and I realized that we have to do something. We're losing everyone."

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