Forget the chicken nuggets..You can't play on the playground until you eat all your fries!

I expected more from you Glucagon...

2011-07-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

June 29th I was awoken at 2:30am by Alivia climbing into my bed. I didn't think much of it, she ends up in our bed about once a week. Next thing I knew I heard something that sounded like someone pouring something, still half asleep I wondered if she spilled a cup of water...then I noticed my back felt wet a warm, I rolled to see her throwing up again and again and again. I woke up my husband and he changed the bedding and started the laundry while Liv and I took a quick shower. I set her up on the couch and did a quick sugar and ketone check, 96 and trace ketones. Hubby make a quick trip for some 7up and she was able to keep it all down, I thought for sure it was something she ate.

A few hours later she requested breakfast, still a little worried about her tummy but knowing she needed insulin for the ketones I gave her some toast and a banana and only after she kept it down for a while and her blood sugar started rising I bolused her for it. She said she felt good and was up playing and acting normal. Lunch time rolled around and she wanted to eat what everyone else was eating and she did, bolused her for all of it after she was done eating and she was off and running.

An hour and a half later she climbed into my bed and fell asleep...this was very odd for her, she stopped taking naps years ago. Quick sugar check showed her at 57 with over 2 units active insulin still working to bring her sugar down even more, 4oz of 7up sipped slowly, tummy ache and she wanted to lay on the couch and watch iCarly. On her way down the hallway she started throwing up again, I ran to the kitchen to get her "bucket" and she continued to walk down the hallway and into the living room all while still throwing up, leaving a trail behind her. PANIC was starting to set in, I called my husband who just left for work asking for him to return home. I was alone with 6 kids, puke all over my floors which Addy kept trying to get! And a child whose sugar was dropping QUICKLY!!! I hung up with him (he came, cleaned up the mess and left again) and called our endo clinic, I LOVE our team but I HATE the way they take their calls. You call the main number and before you hear any options you have to listen to this message that takes forever! (Or so it feels while you're panicking!!!) "Blah blah blah, we follow the Portland schools, if they are closed so are we, if they have 2 hour late start we will open at 10am, blah blah blah, our fax number is blah blah blah, for scheduling press one, diabetes management press two", I press 2," if your child is newly dx or sick press one", I press 1, "you have reached the priority line please leave your name, number, childs date of birth and 1-3 days of blood sugar number" I try my best to hold back the tears as I leave the details requested and letting them know it is urgent! While on the phone I was collecting the little red box and a few insulin syringes.

A few minutes pass since I left the message, I mix up the Glucagon, I draw up 5 units, my phone rings and she tells me to do exactly what I had just done and to remove her pump, I gave the shot while she's still on the phone. She tells he that it takes a little longer to take effect and to recheck in 20 minutes, if she's not above 80 repeat, if she's still not above 80 come straight to the emergency room.

20 minutes pass and I recheck...59! Crap!!! Why aren't you working Glucagon!!! Another 5 units given, timer set for another 20 minutes.

Recheck after only 15 minutes showed 115, thank you Glucagon! Glad you could make it!!

Timer went off 5 minutes later, recheck showed she'd dropped to 81. By this time she had no IOB and no reason to drop any more. I thought for sure Glucagon was still working and she'd start heading up soon!

Called the clinic again to give them an update and to request a new Rx for zofran, the pharmacy we use is 30 minutes away and does not have a drive through, I wanted it sent to our local pharmacy just down the street that does have a drive though but does not accept our insurance. $75 is a small price to pay to get it now and not have to drag all 6 kids (1 very sick and weak) through Target. The Rx is sent and she advises me to call before I load everyone up.

I call and am told they do not have it in stock but can order it, ummm I need it NOW! She tells me she will call around to the other Walgreen's and see who has it in stock. She calls back letting me know that the closest place is in the same town as the pharmacy we normally use 30 minutes away! Ugh, if i have to drive all the way out there i might as well save my $75 and run into Target, I tell them to never mind. I call Target and ask them to fill the Rx already on hand, I ask if they keep it in stock and told YES! Do they double check? NO! They tell me to give them 45 minutes and it will be ready.

I'm supposed to have the extra kids overnight so I swing by their house to grab their bag on the way to Target. Alivia has been in and out of it on the short ride to their house so I check her...55! Seriously Glucagon you could of stayed a bit longer!!! I grabbed a 20oz Sprite out of their fridge and passed it to her and placed the "bucket" on her lap, hopeful that even if she did throw up some of the sugar would be absorbed. I called the extra kids Mom on the way to the hospital and had her to meet me along my path to get her kids from me.

The closest hospital is 20 minutes from us but they know NOTHING about children with diabetes, we went there at Dx and they had her transferred to a children's hospital. I chose to skip the middle man and go straight for the children's hospital 45 minutes away, our endo team was there and I felt she would be best cared for there. The drive was stressful, she kept falling asleep and I was worried she might not wake up when we got there and yet I didn't want to pull over... I just wanted to get there. As we pull up to the ER parking I notice that Alivia didn't have shoes!!! How was i supposed to carry Addison and my 60 pound 4 year old?!?! One of the lot attendants came to my rescue and carried Addison for me so I could carry Liv :) We checked in just as the hubby showed up from work and they put us in a room right away. Blood sugar was up to 180 (thank you 20oz soda!) but she still had ketones. Our endo wanted her pump back on but no correction. They loaded her up on the Zofran I hadn't been able to get my hands on all day. The nurse brought her a drink and some jello, if she kept it down she could avoid the IV, if not they'd start one. The snack stayed down and a few hours later she reached the 300's! Tiny correction ordered and they sent us on our way with actual Zofran, not just a slip of paper that said we could have it if anyone ever chose to keep it in stock!! On our way home we stopped by the Target pharmacy to pick up the original Rx that had been waiting for us only to find out they couldn't find the Rx and they didn't have it in stock anyways!!!!!!

They next few days were vomit free but she still had ketones for days and was completely unable to get any insulin other than her basal with out going low for almost a week! But all is back to normal, thank goodness!!!

I'm thankful that we made it this long with out this happening but at the same time I think I had the wrong idea about Glucagon this entire time, I always thought the mini dose was as magical as the half dose she would get in a emergency. But as I learned I shouldn't rely on it in cases like this, I shouldn't expect for it to work quickly and keep her stable... and zofran will always remain in my diabetes cabinet not as a Rx sitting at the pharmacy waiting for me to need it!

Look whoo turned ONE!!!

2011-06-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

(Opening gifts at her 1st birthday party)

Can you believe it's been a whole year since baby Addison joined our family?!?!

It feels like just yesterday when we were all sitting around tossing around possible names for Baby "A"

Well it's been an awesome year, she fits perfectly into our family! She is very laid back and doesn't mind waiting a few minutes for her meal while we measure out Alivia's food or treat a low.

She is incredibly fascinated by that little black bag that holds the meter, poker and bottle of test strips. That bag must be kept zipped at all times! She loves to pull the cap off the poker, slobber on the meter and hide bottles of test strips under the stove.

She also LOVES LOVES LOVES wrapping her little fingers around Sissys tubing and giving it a good YANK!

She's also been a great sleeper (unless she's teething!) The girls share a room and she's totally unaware of us sneaking into their room at night, she doesn't even budge when the meter beeps or the pump alarms.

She's also learning at a young age that it's completely "normal" for her Momma to occasionally check her blood sugar, sometimes she scoots over to me while I'm checking Sissy and gives me her hand :)

We're still not in the clear yet with her kidney issues, we just went in for her follow up ultrasound and Dr visit and the kidney is still swollen. It did not go away on it's own like we had hoped for but at this time it's not causing her any problems and it may never cause a problem. Surgery however will be required if it starts acting up.

She's still not walking or crawling yet. I know she knows how to crawl but chooses not to and has very little interest in walking. BUT she does do this super cute butt scoot!

In a way I'm sad that my last and final baby is growing so quickly, I'll never again be the mother of an infant and yet at the same time I'm a little excited for the next stage of motherhood, raising my children. I'm super excited to be able to just hop in the car with out having to leave my bum hanging out of the backseat in the pouring rain to buckle carseats :)

Everythings changing...

2011-06-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

And by everything I mean E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G!!!

When we were discharged from the hospital 2 years ago Alivia was on a set insulin dose due to the NPH but when we switched over she was at a 1:15 ratio, for you non-d peeps that means for every 15 carbs she eats i would have to inject her with 1 unit of insulin. They warned us that as she grew her insulin needs would greatly increase...but they never did! Up until a few weeks ago she was still on a 1:15 ratio even though she's grown quite a few inches and gained about 25+ pounds! Of course her "Honeymoon Period" was a huge exception but that didn't last long at all! And sure there were times when we'd start to see a pattern of higher numbers and we'd bump it up a tad only to be greeted with constant lows, and so we changed it back to her "normal" ratio. Same thing with the Lantus and now her basal rates, we started her on an insulin pump over a year ago we spent only a few days tweaking her basal rate and what do you know it was the same rate of .250, 24 hours a day 7 days a week and has stayed that way every day since!

Even her ISF (insulin sensitivity factor) has stayed the EXACT same since day one! 1:200, once again for you non-d peeps :) 1 unit of insulin lowers her blood sugar 200 points, for example blood sugar of 400 would require 1.5 units of insulin to bring her blood sugar back into her target range.

It was pretty smooth sailing, hardly any lows under 60 and only highs due to Mommy mess-ups and bad sites, and she hasn't had ketones since dx. Life went on and diabetes sorta faded into the background.

Fast forward 2 years to present day and then go back 3-4 weeks and we've got highs after highs after highs! Corrections are only working half ass and as soon as she eats she sky rockets AGAIN! Frustrated beyond belief I changed her site 10 times in 5 days, I opened 2 new bottles of insulin, it HAD to be one of those 2 things we've never had it any other way! After 5 very long and frustrating days had passed I finally gave in and started making changes, changes and more changes. Just 3 days later we were finally seeing numbers starting with a 1!!! We finally landed with an insulin to carb ratio of 1:10, basal rates of .500u/hour and an ISF of 1:150. All was right with the world and her numbers were "in range" every single time. Whew, that was rough but we all made it through alive and well (except for that A1c which will be sky high I'm sure!) End of story or so I thought...

Only a week after the return of the "in-range" numbers she was crashing hard and fast all the time. Lows only an hour after meals, corrections during the night bringing her into the 40's and 50's, and lows for no good reason! I very quickly pulled back hard on everything thinking she was just going through a growth spurt and now it's over. Everything was promptly returned back to "normal" and so did her numbers...for 4 days!

The last 2 weeks have been a nightmare! Everything only works for a few days before needing to be increased, a few days later decreased again, then increased, then...well you get the picture! I never know what number will pop up when I poke her little finger. She over reacts to every little thing and I never know if it's because she's high, low or just 4 going on 16!

In a way I feel like we're back at the starting line only the beginning of the last race was all down hill and this time it's up hill! I know so many of you have been going though this from the beginning but for us this is all new and very frustrating!

I do not like change! Or diabetes!

Two years ago...

2011-05-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

Two years ago today I woke up next to my baby who'd been sick all week.

Two years ago today I noticed today was different.

Two years ago today I told my husband "somethings really wrong, she's breathing funny".

Two years ago today I called the nurse and demanded my daughter be seen, NOW!

Two years ago I buckled my baby into her carseat and handed her a cup of 7up and a puke bucket.

Two years ago today I fought back the tears as I drove, I was scared she was going to die.

Two years ago today I placed my baby on the scale and notice she's lost a LOT of weight.

Two years ago today the Dr. suggested we spend a few hours at the hospital pushing a few bags of fluid.

Two years ago today I watched as my baby lay in the hospital bed unresponsive as they started an IV and took blood.

Two years ago today the nurse came in gave me a hug and said "I'm sorry but she has type1 diabetes".

Two years ago today I waited until she left the before I cried.

Two years ago today the nurse returned, "your daughter is very sick, we can not care for her here. We'll move you down to the emergency room where they can watch her better until the transport team transports you to a children's hospital".

Two years ago today I walked next to the gurney as they pushed her to the emergency room, everyone we passed had a look of sympathy on their face as if somehow they knew how close to death my baby was.

Two years ago today a nurse came in and started my baby's first ever insulin drip.

Two years ago today the pediatrician came in and told me my baby was in DKA and how life threatening that really was.

Two years ago today I called my husband and told him to get here as soon as possible.

Two years ago today a critical care transport team showed up to get my baby.

Two years ago today I watched them load my baby into the back of pastel blue ambulance with angels on the side.

Two years ago today we arrived at the children's hospital and went straight up to the Pediatric ICU.

Two years ago today I stood and watched in disbelief as they placed an IV in my baby's neck.

Two years ago today I held my baby tight and thanked God for her life.

Two years ago today my baby's life was saved!

Winner!!!

2011-02-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

We have a winner...

First I'd like to thank my pal Dana over at Custom 3D Bands for this weeks awesome prize! If you're not this weeks winner please hop over and order some bands!

47 Comments...

And the winner is lucky number 39!!!

Julie L... you have 48 hours to contact me a AjsMommy82@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Now pop on over to the Candy Hearts Blog for this weeks Sugar Bolus!

Sugar Bolus!!!

2011-02-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hello All! You guys probably thought I fell off the face of the Earth but good news I didn't!!! Just been super busy!!! Ready for more good news???...

I'm hosting Sugar Bolus this week!!!

Up for grabs is THREE ( not one, not two but THREE)...

Custom 3D bands

I'm sure some of you have seen them online but for those of you who haven't they are awesome custom three dimensional silicone bands!

They come in tons of cool colors and are so durable, what kid (or adult) wouldn't want to actually wear it!

What I totally love is that these nifty bands were created by families that actually have children with diabetes!

You can read their story HERE!

My pal Dana is offering 3 customs bands to the lucky winner, if that's not you this week you can still get your hands on some! Check out their FACEBOOK PAGE for special offers!

Here are the rules...

Leave me a comment before midnight on Thursday, 2-17-11. Please include your first name. Comments left without a name will be eliminated.
● To earn extra entries (post a separate comment for each):
     ● Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter. Then, leave me an additional comment.
     ● Share a link to this contest on Facebook. Then, leave me an additional
          comment to let me know.
     ● Blog about this contest. Then, leave me an additional comment containing
          a link to your blog.
● No duplicate comments are allowed. Duplicate comments will be eliminated.
● Winners will be selected via random draw at http://www.random.org/.
● Winners' names will be posted here on this blog on Friday, 2-18-11.
● After winners' names are posted, winners will have 48 hours to send a message to me at AjsMommy82@gmail.com. If I do not hear from a winner within 48 hours, I will select a new winner.

Addison update part 2!

2010-08-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

First of all thanks everyone for all your thoughts and prayers for Addison! It was a very stressful day for me but all the comments and txt kept my mind from wondering to all the bad things that could go wrong with my baby bug.

We got to the hospital around 10:30am for check in.

At this point she hadn't nursed since 7:30am, she nurses about every 3 hours during the day so she was just hitting that 3 hour mark. I had it all planned out in my head, keep her awake until 10am so she's sleep at least until 11am, when I thought they'd put her out for the ultrasound and scan. Well thanks to a nice little boy in the waiting room that threw a HUGE screaming fit in the waiting room as soon as we got there that didn't happen!!! She woke up and of course was ready to eat, Tony walked her around and around the waiting room trying to distract her, I kept checking my phone waiting for her to be called back. When we were called back the man introduced him self and said he'd be doing the ultrasound, humm thought they were putting her out for that??? Nope! Lucky guy got to do the ultrasound on a very hungry and fussy baby!

After about a half hour of that he got what he needed and led us to another waiting room to wait for her next procedure.

Her nurse and anesthesiologist were super nice, they went over everything with us. I really felt at peace handing my baby over to them. By this time it had been 4 1/2 hours since her last feeding and she'd finally given up and had fallen fast asleep in my arms. We were sent to the cafeteria for lunch and told to come back in about an hour and they took my baby girl away and through the door...

The hubby and I went down to get some lunch even though neither of us were very hungry. Finally an hour had passed an we went up to the waiting area. After a few minutes I heard my baby girls cries.

The nurse saw me standing at the end of the hall way and let me come in and get her, boy was she MAD!!!

After a good feeding and some Tylenol my happy girl was back!!!

Ready to go home!!!

Monday was her follow up visit with the specialist and her results were GREAT! Both kidneys are functioning perfectly and both are doing their fair share of the work. We'll just continue follow up ultrasounds about every 6 months

Addison Update!

2010-08-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Well folks almost 4 months have already flown by since Baby Addison joined our family! I feel like time goes by faster with each baby! Makes me so very very sad!!!

She's sleeping through the night and growing like a weed

Likes

Mommy

Boobies!!!

Her swaddle blanket!

Her swing

Her binky (most of the time)

Dis-Likes

The car!!! She HATES the car! Screams the entire time!

Anyone who's not Mommy

Bath time

Bouncy chair

Tummy time or any other floor activity that requires her to be out of Mommy's arms

At her last appt with the kidney specialist he reviewed her prior labs and ultrasounds and ordered another blood draw, renal scan and a nuclear medicine scan. I was all fine and dandy with this until the nurse called to set up the appointment and informed me that she needed to fast before getting PUT UNDER!!! SAY WHAT??? No one told me she needed to be knocked out for the procedure and how do you expect a breastfed baby to fast!!! The nurse said she had to be completely still for the procedure so that's why they choose to put the kids under. And she also said that because she is breastfed she can nurse up until 8am (4 hours before the procedure). Well tomorrow is the day and Im FREAKING OUT! I just want to cancel the whole thing!...But I can't!

3 month Endo appt...

2010-06-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well the time has come for yet another check up for Alivia with the Pediatric Endo. Leading up to the appt I was looking through her log book and although most of her numbers were in range they were pretty much on the higher end, it wasn't until a few weeks before the appt that her numbers were coming down into the range I preferred. Current 14 day average on the meter...139, 90 day average...214! I figured were were looking at an A1c of 8.1 and was really surprised when it came back at 7.5! I thought for sure all the time it took us to get adjusted to the pump and getting the basals set would of done a number on her A1c but I guess when you check and correct every 2 hours around the clock it doesn't do much damage.

The Dr. looked over her numbers and decided not to change much except the target range and to up her basal just a tad. He said we have great control but if we wanted to could even get it a little better. I'm all up for better!

We changed her target from 150 to 130 during the day and from 150-200 to 130-150 during the night. Already her numbers have been great! We chatted a little bit about her weight again, she's now up to 50 pounds and is following the growth curve but just above it. He's not too concerned about it yet. After our appt we took the advanced pumpers class and learned about cool features of the pump like combo bolus!!! We tried it out on our Saturday morning Starbucks hot chocolate and it worked great! Such a cool feature!

-Enjoying a S'more with no high blood sugar spike!-

On our appt/class days Tony takes the day off and we try to make the day special for Alivia, all our attention is on her and we let her pick where we have lunch, This time she picked the hospital cafeteria of all places! Silly kid!

After lunch we met up with a fellow D-mom Amy and her kids at Cafe Sip-n-Play (best invention ever!). We got to sit and chat while the kiddos played, it was so amazing to talk with another D-mom face to face. I long for the day when I can chat with all you guys face to face too!!!

-Holding baby Addison-

-Giving baby sister a bottle-

Diabetes Blog Week-Day 7

2010-05-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

Life After A Cure...

Since I'm not able to write this one because I'm not the one with diabetes I'll let Alivia answer...

Me: Liv what will you do when your diabetes goes away?

Alivia: I will share my food with Bro (Anthony) because it wouldn't have to be measured!

Me: Good thinking Liv, I'll be excited not to have to measure out your food too!

Diabetes Blog Week-Day 6...Snapshots

2010-05-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Day 6 - Diabetes snapshots. Inspired by the Diabetes 365 project, let’s snap a few d-related pictures to share today. Post as many or as few as you’d like. Be creative! Feel free to blog your thoughts on or explanations of your pictures. Or leave out the written words and let the pictures speak for themselves

Day 5- Let's get moving

2010-05-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

Exercise . . . love it or hate it? Do you have a regular exercise routine? Or do you have trouble finding your exercise motivation? How do you manage your insulin and food to avoid bottoming out during your workout? Today is the day to tell us all about your exercise habits, or lack thereof.

Alivia is a active child, not wild and crazy but she LOVES to dance and do Yoga! Any time there's music on she's moving! And so far it does absolutely NOTHING to her blood sugar! Same with the Yoga that she does daily, NOTHING! She could dance and do Yoga for hours and blood sugar holds steady. But put her on a bike for 5 minutes and she drops all day and into the night!!! It usually takes 20-40 grams to cover 15-20 minutes of riding her bike. We usually give her a 20gm peanut butter granola bar before she rides and maybe one afterwards if she needs it. Then we still have a 50/50 chance of it catching up with her during the night and her dropping low, if that’s the case we usually treat the low with regular milk or if she's really low chocolate milk.

So I guess in the end I love exercise...as long as it's not Bike Riding!!!

Day 4 of Diabetes Blog Week! To Carb or Not To Carb....

2010-05-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

When Alivia was first dx almost a year ago she was put on NovoLog, Lantus and NPH and we met with a intuitionalist in the hospital to make a meal plan for her... Breakfast-30carbs, Lunch-45carbs, Snack-15carbs, Dinner-30carbs, no more no less! If she was still hungry after a meal or wanted a snack it had to be "free" aka less than 15carbs, some of her favorites were tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, lunch meat and eggs.

After a while we ditched NPH and were given a ratio to use with the NovoLog at every meal and snack. This meant more shots but more freedom to eat different amounts of carbs at different times during the day. The only catch was that the shots could only be given every 3 hours so once again we had to rely on "free" foods if she wasn't able to get a shot.

Then a month ago we got her started on the pump. It has been WONDERFUL!!! We can give her insulin for any amount of carbs at any time with just the push of a button! Yes we still rely on "free" foods if she's on the high side or has just been having too many carbs lately but if she insists on having carbs like only a 3 year old can I'm more than happy to push a button to give her the insulin she needs!

Welcome baby "A"

2010-05-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

C-section was scheduled for Wednesday, April 21st at 8am. The day before I still had SO much on my "to do" list but didn't sweat it because I figured I wouldn't be able to sleep that night so I'd have tons of time to work on it, boy was I WRONG!!! That morning I called my son's Dr., he has asthma and despite the steroids and albuteral he was still coughing non-stop. She had him come in at 3:30, but they were running behind so I waited for over an hour in that little room with 2 kiddos, thinking about what I could cut from my "list". She finally came in and was pretty sure it was just his asthma acting up but gave him a 5 day course of antibiotics for baby "A"'s sake. Next it was on to Target to get the Rx filled and of course something wasn't right and we had to wait for the Dr. to call back and confirm the Rx...another hour and half down the drain (we live a 1/2 hour away from the pharmacy so going home to work on the "list" was not an option)! So by now it's pushing 7pm, kids still need dinner, baths and to be put to bed, oh yeah and Alivia needed a site change...I was almost in tears thinking about my "list", why do I always procrastinate??? It was probably close to 9pm by the time the kids were sleeping, poor kids 6am is gonna come really quick for them! I hurried up and took my last pregnant shower, not even taking much time to enjoy it, too stressed about the stupid "list". Then I made a huge mistake...I sat down!!! Wow I was exhausted!!! What to do??? Take a quick nap then work on the "list"??? Push through the "list" then enjoy a few hours of sleep??? Humm maybe a compromise, at least finish packing the bags and do the dishes then sleep, setting the alarm for 2 hours before we needed to leave to finish up the more important things on the "list" I now despised! Trouble was that I pushed snooze 100 times and didn't get up until 15 minutes before we needed to leave!!! So much for the stupid "list"! I now have a bedroom full of boxes and piles of crap that needed to be dealt with! Err why do I procrastinate!!! Well of course we were a little late getting out the door, we were supposed to leave our house by 5am to get to the hospital by 6am, I don't think we even left until 5:20! After about 20 minutes of Hubbys super SLOW driving I made him pull over and let me drive so we at least had some hope of making it to the hospital kinda "on time". We arrived at check in at 6:15am :) Then it was up to my room to get some blood work done and to get my IV started... that did not go well!!! I have tiny veins! They blew 5 veins before they finally gave in and used a smaller needle and a vein on my forearm...OUCH!!!

I was really hoping to see my kids before they took me back but no luck, I instantly felt sick knowing I rushed them the night before and didn't wake them this morning to say goodbye and now someone was going to cut me open. I kissed hubby goodbye and they walked me back to the OR. Oh how I hated this part! Being all alone for the spinal and the "other" stuff they do to you before a C-Section. Spinal did not go well either, 1st attempt hurt SO bad! Instant unbearable lower back pain, she had to take it out and go higher...oh the Joy!!!

(My back after the spinal)

It felt like forever laying there strapped to the table all alone...oh I don't feel so good...oops blood pressures dropping...a little something to fix that...FINALLY the Hubbys here and everything got started...oh I don't feel good again...humm blood pressures fine...oops there goes the nasty pre surgery drink...do you know how hard it is to throw up laying flat on your back worried about the messing up the Drs holding the scalpel??? So not fun, after a few more rounds I finally felt better, just in time to hear her 1st cries!!!

Baby "A" was born at 8:23am.

(Checking out the cord)

Daddy cut the cord and the nurse immediately noticed that she had a SUA (Single Umbilical Artery), she said no big deal, she just needed to do an ultrasound later that day to check for abnormalities.

Baby "A" weighed in at 8 pounds 1oz, pretty big for only 38 weeks, nurse thought so too and because she was over 8 pounds needed to check her blood sugar...33! I got to see her for a few minutes but then they had to take her to the room for a bath and some formula to get her sugar up. By 9am I was all put together and back in my room in hopes of some times bonding with baby...no such luck, because of the formula she had no interest in nursing and it was hard to enjoy her with the nurse constantly pressing on my tummy, then the bleeding started, I'll save you from all the details but lets just say I lost a total of 5 units of blood during the entire C-section and 4 units in just the hour after the C-section...needless to say I got a nice shot right in my thigh!

After the hour of recovery in flowed the visitors, it was nice to see everyone ooo and ohhh over her but I still hadn't gotten to see my baby. Another blood sugar check was done...43 (and we even cheated on that one, I had just finished nursing her!) The nurse said she needed 3 blood sugars in a row above 50 BEFORE a feeding. I was crushed, this was my 1st time away from Alivia, I shouldn't have to be worrying about blood sugar numbers, especially in my newborn! But I didn't have a choice, she would continue to have her blood tested every 2-3 hours until they got the 3 in a row (which she finally did…50...51...51). When the dust had settled and all the visitors had gone in came the nurse to take baby "A" for her ultrasound, the Hubby went with her and I got took a little nap. Shortly after the nurse and Hubby returned with baby "A" her Dr. came in... oh this can't be good, I've never gotten results from a procedure so quickly! The Dr. informed us that one of her kidneys was swollen and it was most likely 1 of 2 things... 1-vesicoureteral reflux which is when urine that dwells in the bladder flows back into the ureters and often back into the kidneys (she would need surgery to correct it) OR 2- Some sort of blockage that may need to be surgically removed if it does not break up on its own. She would need more testing in the next few days and she was referred to a specialist for even more additional testing over the next few weeks. Hubby and I both had a mini pitty party for ourselves and tried not to think about it. I finally had my baby to myself, she was finally wide awake and as soon as I looked into her eyes I knew her name...

Addison Jean

Diabetes Blog Week...A day in the life

2010-05-10T23:50:00.000-07:00

I promise Addison’s birth story is coming soon! It's been a draft for almost 3 weeks and just keeps getting longer and longer! It will come to an end soon...I hope!

Diabetes Blog Week Day 1 (just made it! 11:50pm!!!)

Ok now on to a day in my life...

12am: Hubby gets home from work and checks Alivia, he wakes me just enough to tell me she was high and needed a correction.

1:30am: Time to nurse baby Addison, I "TRY" to stay awake long enough to put her back in her bassinet (doesn't always happen!)

2:00am: Alivia’s beeping...check blood sugar, coming down but needs another correction, "Check BG-2hrs?"...Confirm

4:00am: Alivia’s beeping...check blood sugar, coming down more but needs another correction, "Check BG-2hrs?"...Confirm

5:30: Time to nurse baby Addison again. Fingers crossed the screaming didn't wake the other kids, if so I scoot over to the edge of the bed to make room for the little ones.

6:00am: Alivia’s beeping...check blood sugar, much better...no correction needed

7am: Kids are up, snuggle the kiddos for a few minutes trying to catch just a few more minutes of rest, check Alivia, change Addison’s diaper, drag myself out of bed, help the kids get dressed.

7:30: Measure breakfast, bolus for breakfast, serve breakfast beg Alivia to finish eating breakfast all while nursing baby Addison.

7:45: Make lunch, finish getting Anthony ready for school, feed Alivia the last few bites of her breakfast while still nursing baby Addison.

8am: Diaper change and see Anthony off to school

8:15am: Diaper change woke up Addison, still hungry! Snuggle Alivia on the couch while nursing baby Addison.

8:30am: Another diaper change, Alivia helps me get Addison dressed and plays with her for a few minutes, nap time for baby Addison.

9am: Quick shower for me and if it's a good day I actually have time to get dressed AND dry my hair before Alivia comes in telling me that baby Addison needs me.

9:30am Another feeding for Addison, Alivia’s beeping...check blood sugar.

10:00am: Diaper change and back to feeding baby Addison, play dollhouse with Alivia

10:30am: Another diaper change and naptime for Addison, Alivia and I empty the dishwasher.

11:30am: Alivia’s beeping...check blood sugar, measure out lunch, baby starts screaming, bolus for lunch, serve lunch, beg Alivia to finish lunch, try to eat a few bites of my lunch, baby screams louder, nurse baby Addison

12:00pm: Diaper change and finish nursing Addison

12:30pm: Another diaper change and another nap for Addison, try to finish my lunch, try to figure out the carbs in the bites Alivia keeps taking from my plate, bolus Alivia for the half of my lunch she ate.

1:30pm: Time to nurse Addison again

2:00pm: Leave message for CDE about Alivia’s highs during the night, Say goodbye to the hubby as he leaves for work, diaper change and back to nursing.

2:30pm: Alivia’s beeping, "Liv please bring Mommy your meter", diaper change for Addison, Alivia’s still beeping, "Liv PLEASE bring Mommy your meter!", put Addison down for a nap, Alivia’s STILL beeping, get the meter myself, check blood sugar...a little on the high side, give correction.

3:00pm: Measure snack, bolus snack for Alivia, serve snack, get myself a snack since I only got half my lunch, eat half my snack when Alivia decides she wants what I'm having, measure, bolus, serve, Alivia decides she doesn't like what I'm having, pour Alivia some milk to make up for the snack she didn't eat.

3:30pm: Stand in the driveway waiting for the bus, CDE calls back, read off ALL Alivia’s numbers from the last 5 days while catching Anthony’s coat and backpack he rips off before even crossing the street, be greeted at the door by Alivia, "baby sister needs you!!!" ask the CDE to hold on, I can no longer hear her, Addison is screaming too loud, get Addison latched on and jot down the basal and insulin to carbs ratio changes.

4:00pm: Help with homework, diaper change, back to nursing

4:30pm: Diaper change, try to burp Addison with no luck, put Addison down for a nap, get dinner started

5:00pm: Alivia’s beeping...check blood sugar, "WARNING HIGH BLOOD GLOUCOSE ABOVE 600", wash hands and repeat, "WARNING HIGH BLOOD GLOUCOSE ABOVE 600", Addison needs to be burped...the screaming starts!!! Me: “Choose now, correction shot? or new site with no magic cream?" Liv: “Umm no shot, new site with magic cream!" Screaming baby gets louder Me: “We don't have time for magic cream! you're going to feel a poke either way just pick!" Liv: “MAGIC CREAM!" Screaming baby gets much MUCH louder!!! Anthony: "I can't hear the TV!!!" Me: “PICK NOW BEFORE YOU SLIP INTO A COMA!!!" Liv: “fine a new site with no magic cream", new site on the belly but still need to fill the cartridge and change it out, that can wait a few minutes, hook her back up to the old cartridge and give a big correction. Pick up Addison instantly a huge burp followed by LOTS of projectile spit up all over my shirt!

5:30pm: Quick shirt change. Try to salvage dinner. Measure, bolus and serve dinner. Fight with Anthony to try a bite of dinner. Addison starts fussing in the swing, hungry again since she threw up her last feeding. Take a few quick bites of my dinner.

6:00pm Un-hook Alivia from her pump and gather everything needed to change the cartridge . Get Addison latched on and get to work setting basals and ratios, change out cartridge and get Liv hooked back up.

6:30pm Bath time

7:00pm Bed time...YAY!!!

7:30pm Alivia’s beeping...check blood sugar, coming down nicely, hope the new basal works tonight. Finish my dinner.

8:00pm Give Addison a bath and ready for bed

8:30pm Nurse Addison

9:00pm Cuddle with Addison who is wide awake

9:30pm Put Addison to bed. Clean up dinner mess. Clear a path through the living room so Hubby doesn't break his neck when he comes home.

10:00pm Head upstairs, check Alivia’s blood sugar...73! Was it the correction? Was it the new ratio? Was it the new basal? Did she not eat all her dinner? Back downstairs for a juice box (glad I cleared a path!) Get myself ready for bed. Re-check blood sugar...113. Back down stairs for 7grams of milk.

10:30pm Check on Addison. Climb into bed, find something good on TV to fall asleep to.

11:00pm Fall asleep...Addison starts fussing...wanting to be fed.

12am: Hubby gets home from work and checks Alivia...167 Perfect!

Pregnancy Photo Shoot...

2010-04-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

I tried posting these on Facebook but not all of them would up load, so I guess I'll post them here for the whole world to see...

Baby A????

2010-04-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or is the name "Baby A" starting to sound really good!?

As soon as we found out I was pregnant I knew we needed an "A" name, all 3 of our other children start with "A". Very quickly we both decided on Austin Jacob or Ava Jean and at 17 weeks when we found it was a girl we instantly started calling her Ava. Months passed, we even got things with her name on them...

Then out of the blue Hubby tells me he doesn't really think Ava is the right name!!! Back to square one! I threw out a ton of suggestion but he's shot them all down. When I asked him for suggestions he said "Harley"...what!!! that's not even an "A" name!!! No Way!!!

So since I'm not getting any help from him I need help from all you. You only get 1 vote and you HAVE to use it! No "any name is fine", you know you have an opinion! The middle name has to be Jean (after my Grandmother).

Your choices are...

Ava
Addison
Adelyn
Avery
Alexis
Ashlyn
Amily

Here are a few belly shots...

25 Weeks

28 Weeks

29 Weeks

30 Weeks

34 Weeks

37 Weeks

Pump Start!!!

2010-04-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Monday Alivia got a delivery from the UPS guy…

it was her Pink Ping pump!

She was so excited to open it up!

She loved looking at it and was very excited to try it out.

It was hard for her to pack it up and wait until the next day when we met with the trainer.

Tuesday the trainer arrived at our house around 1pm and spent a good 2 hours going over the basic setup of the pump and showed us how to put a site on Alivia. Alivia did great! We used the numbing cream and she didn’t feel a thing! We didn’t actually fill the pump with insulin but the trainer wanted her to keep it on as long as possible so she could get a feel for it and she wanted Tony and I to play around with the pump and remote as much as possible.

1st site

I drew the circle to show where I had put the magic cream...Daddy was a little off target.

As you can see she was very excited to start using her Hello Kitty pump pack...

Unfortunately her 1st site only lasted 6 hours. That evening we had gone to Old Navy and while looking at sunglasses she got the tiny amount of tubing that was showing stuck on a hook and didn’t notice so when she walked away the site got ripped out. She handled it very well! I did not have another set with me so I figured we’d just let her be for the night and try again the next morning, which we did. That day was a real test of how she would handle wearing it! We spent a good 6 hours playing and running around at the Children’s Museum and another few hours playing at the park. Every meal and snack I would use the pump and practice giving her insulin the whole time wishing I could use it for real! She did have a lot if trouble being able to lift the pack over her site to be able to pull her pants down to potty without rubbing it against it and by the end of the day a small corner of the adhesive was starting to peel up. Her only complaint all day was that the pack itched her, so that night I sewed a few pouches onto the front of her tank tops.

She loved these! Unfortunately I’m not the best at sewing and the weight of the pump eventually took it’s toll on the stitching. I do think that the tank tops work best for her right now so I plan on taking the rest of the fabric and the other tank tops to a professional to have done right, I’m sure they can make them to last.

Thursday morning we lost the 2nd site, the corner that had started peeling up the day before got stuck to the inside of her tank top and when she went to take off the tank top the site came with it. We chose not to waste another set and let her have one last day with nothing stuck to her body. We did however learn a very important lesson…IV prep is a MUST!!!

Finally Friday arrived and so did the trainer! It was a very quick lesson, actually more like a quiz, she had us do the site all on our own (we used the IV prep this time!) and re-set a few of the targets, my idea of Alivia’s target and her Drs were a bit off, I like her in the 70-150 range during the day and 150-250 at night and he wanted it more like 100-250 during the day and 150-300 at night. We settled on 100-200 during the day because all it really means is that if she was below 100 the pump wouldn’t have me cover much if any of a snack and it wouldn’t have me correct her until she hit 201. And 150-250 at night. She reminded me that they weren't set in stone and I could always change them when we got everything fine tuned.

She answered a few of my questions, wished us luck and was off! Just in time for lunch!

That 1st meal shot free was priceless!!!

We’ve had pretty good numbers the last few days except for a few near disasters the pump caught and we were able to avoid…Thank Goodness for the IOB feature! Going to bed at 90 with almost 3 units on board would have been really really bad! I loved that I could play around with the carb amounts on the meter and know exactly how many carbs she would need to cover the IOB…a whopping 40 grams! I never would of given her that many carbs with out covering before but I trusted the pump and it worked out PERFECTLY 168 ALL NIGHT LONG! I called the Blood Glucose Management Team the next morning to figure out why she had so much IOB in the 1st place and she said it can take the Lantus a few days to completely leave her system. It happened again the next night but not again since! Overall I’m very happy with our choice!!!

Thanks for all your guys help and support!!!

Keep your eye out for my next post… “Help us name Baby “A”

Baby Shower!

2010-03-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday my sister threw me an amazing Baby Shower!!!

(All the Goodies)

(50 carb cupcakes!)

(Delicious Food)

We were so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to help us welcome our Little Girl into the world!

Alivia of course had to come and be a part of the shower although she really thought it was going to be a real SHOWER, on the way there she said "Mommy you need to be careful not to get water in the baby’s eyes at the baby shower"...I couldn't help but laugh as I tried to explain that in was not in fact a SHOWER with water, more like a birthday party for the baby with presents, games and goodies to eat.

Alivia helping to open baby sisters presents...

I wish we would of video taped the shower, her Oooo and Ahhhhs as she opened all the gifts were PRICELESS!

Me and my Mini Me

LOTS of Pink!!!

I'm so excited to try this chair!

Things about me you might not know...

2010-02-16T19:16:00.000-08:00

Well I guess since everyone else admitted to reading Shamaes post I will too...

Things about me you might not know...

I'm a huge pack rat, my husband thinks I need therapy! But I like to hold on to stuff, you never know when you might need it! For example: I held on to every baby thing for 5 years, after 2 years of not getting pregnant again my hubby MADE me get rid of it all! Now I'm 7 months pregnant and have to buy EVERYTHING all over again!

At least I keep it all organized right???

I'm a basket case! Not in the way you might be thinking but I LOVE baskets!!! I have baskets for everything!

Baskets for shoes...

Baskets for measuring cups...

Baskets for crafts...

Baskets for gum...

Many Many Baskets for Toys! One baskets per group of toys (Hot Wheels, Cars, Legos, Army, Dollhouse, Barbie’s, Ponies, Dress-up, I could go on and on!) I have a total of 4 of these shelves, each hold about 8 or 9 baskets...

I buy almost everything in bulk, even if it's a years supply, but only if it's on sale...

Tissues, toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, diapers and wipes (for a baby that's not even born yet)...

Propel aka: "Grape Water"...

Over 300 flossers...

6 shaving creams, 8 deodorants, 8 new razors/refills, all still left from my last shopping trip back in November...

I have a tiny bit of OCD, but only about certain things. A pile of mail can sit on the counter for weeks and I could care less but I like everything else done a certain way...

I like the dishwasher organized by size and color...

I like all the books on the shelf organized by size (very hard to keep done with kids)...

Man I could go on and on...but the kids are in the bath and I hear a TON of splashing so I'd better go mop up the floor!
I may post a part 2 but being that I Procrastinate on everything I wouldn’t hold your breath!

3 month Endo appt and PUMP CLASS!!!

2010-02-11T20:52:00.000-08:00

Endo Appt... I guess I'll start with the Endo appt because it just happened to be first up today...

This was only our 3rd appt and it was the first one that I didn't worry myself sick over the A1c. I knew the last A1c of 6.8 would be history and I was truly ok with that. August- October was so easy...too easy! November-January have been much much harder, I knew I tried my best but the D Monster put up a darn good fight, no matter how much I adjusted she had random highs everyday and random lows once or twice a week, there was never a pattern! I was actually a bit surprised that it was 7.5 (her current 30day average on the meter was 219...yikes!). Her Dr was pretty happy with that, he agrees that she's definitely coming out of her honeymoon period and expected the rise in her A1c because of that. He looked over our log book and couldn't find a pattern for her crazy highs either and didn't want to make any changes. He did offer up a few suggestions for us to try out on our little guinea pig to see if we could fix the problem. Well give them a try, hopefully it won't lead to lows!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile you'd know that we were all getting pretty concerned about her weight, at dx in May she was 27 pounds just 4 months later in September she was 40 pounds and only a month later at our last appt she was up to 45 pounds!!! I was so excited today when he told us she was 46 pounds, she's still off the chart for weigh but at least the gaining is slowing down!

And best of all he went ahead and gave us the green light for the PUMP!!!

PUMP CLASS!!!!!...
Can you tell I'm excited about this part????
As much as I liked meeting the reps during the in home hands on demos, I really felt like they were just trying to sell their product, mostly because they were!!!

It was SO nice to have an impartial person going over each and every pro and con for each of the pumps. In the end we just had to pick, there wasn't "the perfect" pump (someone needs to make it!!!!).

I wanted the good remote,
I wanted the linked CGM,
I wanted the tubeless feature...but which one did I want more???
I wanted the Ping, yes it has tubing, no I can't have a linked CGM, yes it will take a few more steps to deliver insulin, but it is waterproof, it can deliver the smallest amount of insulin which Alivia will need, it has the good remote, I can give insulin directly from the pump if needed, it keeps track of IOB and most importantly it comes in pink! We meet with the rep tomorrow to start the paperwork!!!
Honestly though if Medtronic had the good remote (they currently only have a tiny one with 3 buttons, no screen) I would of gone with them. With an active 3 year old I felt like we needed the remote, at least until she does it on her own.

If everything goes well with the insurance we should be pumping in a month!!!

Picking a Pump...

2010-02-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

Well 1 week from today is our pump class! They will quiz us on insulin adjustment among other thing and if we pass (I think I'll let the Hubby copy off my paper) we'll get to choose our pump!!! The only problem is that I'm so torn in which one I want. My 3 choices; OmniPod, One Touch Ping and MiniMed Paradigm.
OmniPod got the boot, apparently it doesn't keep track of insulin on board other than correction. in my 1st thoughts I didn't care about that because I couldn't keep track of it with shots anyways so it didn't really matter, but the more I thought about it, it hit me that why even bother switching to the pump if I'm not going to let technology help me gain better control of her numbers (we have enough lows with out over dosing her with insulin)! So I figured for now I'll skip on the awesome tube-less feature to keep my daughter safer, maybe when she can actually tell me she feels low we'll revisit the OmniPod.
So with that I'm only left with the One Touch Ping and MiniMed Paradigm...I can't choose!!! I LOVED the MiniMed one but only because it had the pump, CGM and test meter that were linked together. The only thing I didn't like was that it didn't have a good remote and we'd need to actually have her pump in our hands to do what we needed to do. Most of you guys with young children know getting a 3 year old to stand still while you fiddle around with the pump imputing number and what not is next to impossible!
I haven't actually gotten to see the Ping one yet, the company has yet to call me back after my 3 e-mails about setting up a hands on demo. I've heard tons of good things about it! Those of you that have it, is there anything about it that you don't like or wish you could change? And does it come with good support? The MiniMed one came with a nurse for the first few weeks, you e-mailed over your numbers everyday and they'd help you make changes and once everything was good they'd turn you back over to your endo office, I really liked knowing I wasn't just turned loose with it.

I know there has been a ton of talk about pumps lately but if you're not too burned out on it please, please leave me a comment with any info you think I'll need to make this choice! Thanks!!!

Secret Santa!!!

2009-12-29T19:56:00.000-08:00

Thank You Ronda and Olivia!
First of all Alivia LOVED the fact that not only did she get a present from her friend that "has diabetes like me" but that she got a present from a girl who has the same name!

"Ruby" the bear with diabetes!

I had no idea they even made a girl one, we got the boy one when she was dx and now he has a wife!!! (Alivias words, not mine) The 1st thing Alivia did when she opened her was go get the boy one so they could be together.

We also got an ornament for the Christmas tree...

The Giving Tree book...

This was actually one of the very few books we didn't already own, great pick!

It even came with a picture of Olivia and her big sister Gwen inside and Alivia points to Olivia every night (yes, we've read it every night since we got it!) after we read it and reminds me "this is Olivia, she has diabetes just like me, just incase I have forgotten from the night before!"

A Christmas tree cookie cutter...

Which we put to good use already!

and a super sweet framed poem about families...

Thanks again Ronda and Olivia (& Family) they were such thoughtful gifts that she can keep for the rest of her life! Can't wait for the day when the 2 O/Alivias get to meet each other in person!

Sorry this is so short but my computer and blogger are not getting along very well lately and it's super FRUSTRATING!!!

And what happened to the spell check???

Tag Your It - My Turn

2009-11-28T07:08:00.000-08:00

1. Do you like bleu cheese? NO WAY!!!

2. Have you ever smoked? NO WAY!!!

3. Do you own a gun? Nope…hubby made a bad choice in his young stupid days and now we aren’t allowed to have one in our house…something about breaking a police car window…

4. Favorite type of Food? Real Mexican

5. Favorite type of music? Contemporary Christian

6. What do you think of hot dog? We only buy all beef hot dogs, not sure if they’re better but we like to think so!

7. Favorite Christmas movie? The Santa Clause

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Venti 2 pump black and white peppermint mocha, currently decaf

9. Can you do push ups? Probably not with the current baby bump

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? My necklace my mom gave me for my 1st mothers day, I’d love to pass it onto Alivia on her 1st mothers day!

11. Favorite hobby? Taking Photos, scrapbooking, reading and shopping! (is that a hobby?)

12. Do you have A. D. D.? Nope

13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Nope

14. Middle name? Ann

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: 1) Why did my kids get up so early today? 2) I need my coffee! 3) I need to make Christmas cookies today so we can eat them while we decorate the tree tonight.

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Water, Pepsi and coffee

17. Current worry? My brother!!! He’s leaving for Afghanistan the 2nd week in December :(

18. Current hate right now? That my brother has to leave! And a much smaller hate…I lost my crock pot ???

19. Favorite place to be? Home

20. How did you bring in the new year? Can't remember - probably sleeping!

21. Someplace you’d like to go? I agree with you Laura!!! Anywhere to meet my fellow D moms!!

22. Name three people who will complete this…hummm who hasn’t done it yet??? Wendy, Shannon and Hallie

23. Do you own slippers? Yep…somewhere, I need to find them though the tile in the kitchen is getting pretty cold these days.

24. What color shirt are you wearing? Pink

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Not really, they’re too cold when you first get in.

26. Can you whistle? Yep

27. Where are you now? My room

28. Would you be a pirate? Probably not, unless the pirate ship was like a huge cruise ship!

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don’t sing!

30. Favorite Girl’s Name? Alivia and Ava!

31. Favorite boy’s name? Anthony and Blake

32. What is in your pocket right now? No pockets

33. Last thing that made you laugh? Probably something strange Alivia said

34. What vehicle do you drive? Mazda MPV…but I miss my trailblazer everyday :(

35. Worst injury you've ever had? Broke my wrist in January and got to wear a cast from my fingers to my shoulder for 7 weeks! Had to have it “re-set” twice (took 2 grown men to hold me down!) Even after months and months of therapy I’m still not able to turn it all the way over and it still hurts!

36. Do you love where you live? The town…yes. Our current house…no (it’s closing in on us!)

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? 3

38. How many computers do you have in your house? Just 1

39. If you changed your job, what would it be? If I had to work out side the home I’d like to be a labor and delivery nurse.

40. If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?1) A cure. 2) For Alivia to be able to get pregnant easily and have as many healthy babies as she wants 3) To never have to worry about money again

It's a...

2009-11-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

17 weeks 2 days...

"I'm a Girl"...Ava Jean!!Leg... Foot... We were all very suprised that it was a girl, everyone including me thought it was a boy! Anthony's a little disappointed that he wont be having a brother, but he's got a LOT of work ahead of him to protect all 3 of his sisters!

World Diabetes Day!

2009-11-14T20:56:00.000-08:00

This was our 1st World Diabetes Day, we weren't quite sure what to do for it then the random idea of the hubby and I getting blue ribbon tattoos came to mind! He was totally up for it (as he is for any tattoo) I was pretty scared but thought if my child can be poked with a needle 1500 time in 1 year I can be poked a few thousand (not really sure exactly) for a tattoo honoring her...but then it hit me you're pregnant you can't get a tattoo!!! Well there's always next year for me! Hubby went ahead with it and his sister took my place and got one honoring Alivia too. Here's the hubbys... And here's his sisters, hers is Alivias initials and the dot of the j is the World Diabetes Logo...

Dreams do come true!

2009-11-11T18:37:00.000-08:00

A while back I posted about my meltdown when I finally realized my "dream" of finding a perfect insulin to carb ratio for Alivia and getting on with our life wasn't ever going to happen. She'll grow, get sick, stressed, exercise and so on.

Well... dreams do come true! They don't last forever but I'll take what I can get! About 9 weeks ago Alivia had been running high at EVERY blood sugar check, so being that I just took the "insulin adjustment" class I played around with her ratio all on my own and after many tries figured that instead of the 1:30 ratio she was on it needed to be 1:20. We put that into effect and had 8 weeks of PERFECT numbers! Not just 70-200 but 70-150!!! For the first time since being dx I didn't cringe while I waited for the meter to count down I knew it would be perfect. I can't tell you how much of a blessing it was! Alivia was doing great those 8 weeks but I was horrible, my morning sickness was so bad, I ended up losing 15 pounds from throwing up no matter what I ate. I really don't think I could of handled being that sick and fighting with the diabetes monster at the same time. Someone was definitely helping us out!

At the end of our wonderful 8 weeks we had our 3 month endo appt on 10/30 and her A1c was 6.8%! I at first thought we'd be in trouble because it was low but the Dr looked though her log book and only found 1 low (45) so he was really happy with it and so were we! We talked about the pump and he said based on her A1c she didn't need it right now but if I wanted it I could sign up for the classes and get started right away. I compromised and scheduled my classes for 3 months out. I would really like to have the pump established before the new baby comes that way hopefully some of my family members will feel comfortable enough to watch her while I'm in the hospital.

Well at some point you have to wake up from your dream, and that we did when Alivia woke up at 250 last week and spent 3 days in the 300-550 range even after countless corrections. She never had any ketones, fevers or acted sick so she just must be growing or the end of our honeymoon. Either way back to the drawing board for me not only for the insulin to carb ratio but also for the corrections I guess... oh the joy! The good thing is that I'm finally starting to feel better, although I'd take a few more weeks of being sick if that meant I didn't have to fight the diabetes monster! But like I said I'll take what I can get!

Here is my cute little Kitty on Halloween!

Candy Carb Amounts...

2009-11-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

At our 3 month endo appt our wonderful Dr sent us home with this list of carb amounts in most of the Halloween candy! Just thought I'd pass it on to the rest of you so you're not forced to eat all the candy just because you don't know the carb amount...although most of us will probably eat it anyways!

Sorry they're kinda hard to read, if anyone can't read it I'd be happy to e-mail it directly so you can enlarge it.

How God Selects the Mother of a Diabetic Child

2009-10-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

I copied this from another type 1 mom, most of you probably already read it on facebook but for those of you who haven't here it is...

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit.

Did you ever wonder how mothers of children with diabetes are chosen?

Somehow I visualize God hovering over earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant ledger.

"Armstrong, Beth, son. Patron Saint Matthew."

"Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, Patron Saint Cecilia."

"Rutledge, Carrie, twins. Patron Saint Gerard. He's used to profanity."

Finally, He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a child with diabetes." The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly", smiles God. "Could I give child with diabetes to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."

"But has she the patience?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience, or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother.

You see, the child I am going to give her has his own world. She has to make the child live in her world and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."

God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness." The angel gasps. "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she cannot separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with less than perfect."

"She does not realize it yet, but she is to be envied. I will permit her to see clearly the things I see .... ignorance, cruelty, prejudice ... and allow her to rise above them.

She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as if she is here by my side."

"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in mid air.

God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

by Erma Bombeck

Alivia's 3rd Birthday!

2009-10-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh...I can not believe my baby is 3!!!

Seriously though this year has gone by SO fast!

I swear the older I get the faster my kids grow up!

Well this year Alivia chose a "Princess Party", it was mostly family but she had a few friends there. We had all "free" foods to eat and cake of course! I timed it so we would eat the cake at her afternoon snack time so that she'd actually be able to have some, and that she did! She was actually low when we checked her before the cake so we even let her have a little of the frosting.

(Daddy helping Aunt Christy check her blood sugar)

Alivia opening her presents...

And of course every birthday brings the well child visit. It was actually the 1st time seeing her pediatrician since before being dx. She apologized for the advice nurse not putting together all the symptoms I had mentioned during my many many calls to the clinic in the days leading up to the dx and explained to me how really rare it is to see diabetes in a 2 year old, Alivia was the youngest both the pediatrician and the on-call Dr we saw that day had seen with it.

Alivia was right on target for all her developmental goals, except for staying dry through the night. Alivia has been potty trained both day and night since 15 months old, we had to put her in pull-ups at night a few months before being dx and we haven't been able to get her to stay dry at night since! Is this a normal diabetes thing or just a stubborn child?

Well the bid shocker of the day was that she was 40 pounds!!! She was 27 pounds only 4 months ago! She also grew 2 inches since then. This put her in the 50% for height and over the 95% for weight! The Dr was a tiny bit concerned and wants me to talk with her endo about meeting with the nutritionist again.

The Dr was really impressed with how quickly Alivia has adjusted to the whole thing! And how well she just does what needs to be done without any kind of reward other than a verbal praise. She picks what finger she wants poked, actually pushes the button on the lancet to poke herself and picks where she wants her shot (usually one of her arms unless I tell her is the Lantus then it goes in her tummy). She was also amazed that her A1c went down from 14.1% to 7.7% in just 2 months!

Walk to Cure Diabetes...

2009-10-13T19:53:00.001-07:00

"Diabetic Princess"

Sunday, October 4th was our 1st Walk to Cure Diabetes! We all had a blast! It started with a pancake breakfast (which is Alivia's FAVORITE breakfast)

n n n

Then we went on our 3 mile walk! I had no idea it would be SO long, but I'm so glad I brought the stroller! It was so nice to have our families there to support Alivia. My dad who recently had back surgery and needs both hips replaced was determined walked the 1st mile with us, and he did! My brother even made the 4 hour drive from Ft. Lewis on his only day off to be with us. My Mom, Sister, other brother, his wife, their 1 year old, my mother, sister and brother in law were all also there. Alivia knew everyone was there for her!

( my momma, sister, and sister-in-law)

(my dad and brother)

(Alivia with her Uncle & Auntie Shell)

All our shirts said "We love our Diabetic Princess" and Alivia's of course just said

"Diabetic Princess". She was very proud of her shirt :)

Surprisingly her blood sugar numbers cooperated all day, she was a bit high after breakfast but that's too be expected since she doesn't get a shot until after she eats and those pancakes were loaded with carbs! It was wonderful that they had all the nutrition facts posted at all the food booths! Now if only EVERY restaurant would do the same!

Crossing the finish line!!!

----------------------------

I know I still have a TON of updating to do, the last 7 week have been so rough! This by far has been my worst case of morning sickness aka: ALL DAY EVERY DAY SICKNESS! I'm just getting to the 12 week mark so hopefully things get better soon! Alivia's been such a great helper, she rubs my back when I throw up, covers me with a blanket when I lay on the couch and brings me water all the time. She's going to be a great big sister!

Our Family Is growing by 2 Feet!!

2009-08-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

I promise a update is coming soon!!! But I couldn't wait to announce that...

I'm Pregnant!!!

Our baby is expected to arrive on or around April 30th 2010.

We were actually "trying" before Alivia was dx but then we decided it probably wasn't the best time to be having another baby so it was put on hold, but God had other plans for us!

It was only a dream...

2009-07-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

After sitting and crying while reading everyones blogs this week about scary lows and crazy highs I completely lost it...I must of been in some sort of dream world...I really had it in my mind that if I could just hang in there and get past this crazy honeymoon period things would actually get better, we'd find her perfect insulin to carb ratio and we'd be on our way never looking back to all this craziness! Well the dream is now gone and I'm crushed! ********************************************* In other news I forgot to post that Alivia's celiac disease test came back negative! YAY!!! Her 1st A1c...14.1 ummm...not so good

I want an annulment!...This "Honeymoon" Sucks!!!

2009-07-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

I am so beyond frustrated with this "honeymoon" phase! We were kinda looking forward to it when they told us her pancreas would start working on it's own and she wouldn't need much insulin, and it started out well... she was only getting 1/2 unit of NovoLog for every 45 grams and her numbers were great!!! But of course when I feel like I can handle this it all has to change, now her pancreas works when ever it wants and gives off random amounts, it mostly does it after I correct for a super high blood sugar then it's nice enough to spit out some insulin and make her drop really low! And of course it doesn't do it all the time and there's no way of knowing when it will happen. Just plain frustrating! Did everyone's kids go through this honeymoon phase? How long did it last? Her Dr told me it can last up to a year!

Beach Trip... (mostly pictures)

2009-07-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went with my family to the beach and rented a big beach house. Other than blood sugar numbers in the 550's, it was a ton of fun!

Our beach house

Alivia and Anthony testing out the water...

It was freezing!!!

Playing in the sand...

Anna, Anthony and Alivia

Alivia's 1st and Last smore...I gave her insulin right after she ate it but her 1am check was 554!

Facebook?

2009-06-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

Does anyone have facebook? I'd love to have someone to chat a bit with during the day :)

No more NPH...Yay!!!

2009-06-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

So when leaving the hospital we were given set meal times with a set amount of carbs and a set amount of insulin... 7:30am Breakfast-45 grams-4 1/2 NovoLog & 4 1/2 NPH 9:30am Snack- 15-30 grams 11:30am Lunch-60 grams 3:30pm Snack- 15-30 grams 5:30pm Dinner- 45grams-4 1/2 NovoLog & 5 1/2 Lantus 7:00pm Snack- 15-30grams with correction to be given at lunch, bedtime and 1am if needed Well we thought no big deal, this girl loves to eat and if not she'll drink milk or juice no problem...well we were WRONG! The first few weeks went well, no lows, she was eating what was offered, other than a few daddy mishaps it really wasn't too bad. Then all of the sudden she started out right refusing to eat or drink at lunch which was so not good being that her NPH peeks at lunch time, so for about a week she had Dr.Pepper for lunch, not my idea of a balanced meal! And she also started dropping into the 50's several times a day, refusing to drink a juice box, once again good old Dr. Pepper to the rescue! We had an appt with our educator last Monday and we talked a lot about struggling with the set doses and a 2 year old with a mind of her own and she talked with our Dr. about taking her off the NPH for now and letting us let her eat the amount she wants then us figuring out her dose. It's an extra shot but it's worked out well for the most part and she's back to eating normal (must of just been a control issue) the only real struggle now is that she's entered into her "honeymoon" period and her blood sugars have been dropping rapidly,she's been below 50 at least 14 times since last Monday! We're on the phone daily with the insulin adjustment line and have gone from a 1:10 ratio to a 1:20 in a matter of a week, and her Lantus is down from 5 1/2 to 2units at dinner.

Weight gain!

2009-06-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

When I took Alivia to the Dr to get her fingers and toes checked out they weighed her and she's already gained the 7 pounds she had lost before being diagnosed!

(right before being diagnosed)

(THE CHEEKS ARE BACK!...YAY!)

"oops"

2009-06-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

So while I was at work this morning I received a txt from my hubby..."You gave her her shot this morning right?"...WHAT!? In a panic I called right away... "What do you mean I gave her her shot? When I left for work you were getting her breakfast ready and since we give her the shot after she's done eating there's no way I could of given her the shot I wasn't even home!" ..."Oh crap I forgot. What do I do?" Call the dr! Which he does and gets everything all figured out. I came home early just as she had finished her lunch (apple juice and pancakes) I ask about her blood sugar before lunch..."Crap I forgot to take it!" SERIOUSLY!?...you're messing with my baby's life! "I forgot" is getting old! This is the 4th time he's "oops-ed" We will be having a serious discussion when he gets home tonight!

Peeling fingers and toes???

2009-06-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I noticed what looked like a popped blister on Alivias thumb, she said it didn't so didn't really think about it much and just avoided it for the finger pokes. Then over the next few days I started noticing all her fingers starting looking that way. Then on Saturday morning I notice it was happening on her toes too.

I called her endo cause I thought it might have something to do with the blood sugar pokes (we use her toes at night). She said she'd never heard of that being associated with diabetes at all but knows it can happen with kids who have a bad virus. She said if I was worried about it I could take her to her regular pediatrician... Hello all my daughters skin is peeling off! Of course I'm worried about it. Luckily our clinic is open every weekend for urgent care so she got to see one of our regular Dr's. She said it was probably caused by the amount of stress her body had been through and since it wasn't infected she wasn't too worried about it and thinks it will go away on it's own. However my step-daughters mom said she's heard about it in children with diabetes when they're first diagnosed cause of lack of nutrients or something like that. Has anyone ever heard of this? It creeps me out and we're running out of fingers and toes to poke!

My first day back to work...

2009-05-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

So Thursday was my first day back to work and even though I dreaded going I sucked it up and went...Daddy sat in on all the teaching and soaked up all the knowledge just as I did so no major worries. First of all my kids don't go to daycare, I work from 6:45am-1:45pm and my hubby works from 3-11pm so they're always with one of us! Well I left the house at 6:30am and everyone was still asleep. I got to work and txt my husband at 7:30 just so see what her number was cause when he did the 1am check she was 119 (the lowest she's been since being home from the hospital) but got no response, so I called his cell and the house phone...no answer. I tried again and again left quite a few messages how he needs to keep his phone on him at all times...blah blah. By about 9:25 I started to panic and decided to go home and check in. When I was about 5 minutes away (9:32 to be exact) he finally answered his phone! I told him I'd been trying to call all morning and I wanted to make sure she got her shot at 7:30 this morning...his only response was we've been busy!...ERRRR! So when I walked in the house Alivia was sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal....humm that's too many carbs for snack time I say (which is to be eaten at 9:30). That's cause it's breakfast I'm told! So I check the meter to see what time the check was done...9:34am! After I'd talked to him!!! So I very calmly walk upstairs to my room to calm down a bit...my desk is a wreck! Some one colored all over every thing and pushed all sorts of buttons on my computer...classic signs of a bored 2 year old who's Dad is still sleeping!!! So I ask my 4 year old...yep Daddy just woke up! I was so pissed!!! Yes we all make mistakes but don't hide the truth from me! And why not put your phone next to the bed in case you over sleep! I'm so frustrated!...Why doesn't he take this a seriously as I do? A two hour difference might not make a huge difference in anything other than the fact it threw off the whole days schedule but what if she was really low this morning keeps running through my mind! Am I totally over reacting???

Thank you!

2009-05-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

I just wanna tell all of you that have posted comments on my blog Thank You for taking the time to let me know that you're all here for me! I don't have to tell you cause you all already know but it really does help to know there are other mothers out there that are going through is with their own children!

My First Break Down

2009-05-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

During the time in the hospital we ever given so much information from so many people (some of which came from people who weren't Drs and had no business opening their mouths) that I just felt so completely overwhelmed! Now that we've been home the realness of this is finally setting in. I find myself praying every time I check her blood that they made a mistake and her levels are back to normal and this is over with! I had my first break down in the isle of our grocery store while holding a box of Dora fruit snacks (her favorite snack)...she'll never be able to enjoy them again. She'll never have another day that doesn't include counting carbs, shots and finger pokes. Will she even get to remember what a care free life she enjoyed before this? I used to strongly believe that everything happened for a reason but I really can't think of any reason why this needed to happen to my baby girl!

The Diagnosis...

2009-05-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

From what we can remember Alivia's symptoms really started showing about 2 months ago. She'd been potty trained for over a year and all of the sudden she started wetting the bed and having accidents during the day and whenever we in the car. She also started drinking a TON of water and anything else she could get her hands on, she even started "stealing" other peoples drinks and chugging then down! About 2 weeks ago I called the advise nurse at our clinic and told her about this, she thought maybe she had a bladder infection and the front desk scheduled me for May 29Th to see the Dr. I knew it wasn't a bladder infection and because of a good friend of mine who's son has type 1 I planned on asking her Dr. to check her for diabetes. Sadly she didn't make it to that appt before becoming REALLY sick. On Sunday May 17th we noticed she had lost her appetite and she became really tired. By Tuesday she started throwing up, her heart was racing and she was breathing really hard...so I called the advice nurse back with the new symptoms, she told me to give her sips of sugared soda and call back in a few hours, which I did. This time I told her she kept the soda down but was still really lethargic, she told me to keep up on the soda and let her "sleep it off". She continued throwing up through out the night and first thing in the morning I called the advice nurse back and told her I wanted to see the dr NOW! I put her in the car for the 20 minute drive to the clinic, she slept the whole time and was having a really hard time breathing, I really wanted to pull over and call an ambulance but I knew I could get her there faster. We made it to the clinic and waiting in the waiting room for a good 10-15 minutes...no rush to them, she just has a little stomach bug. The nurse called her back and weighted her...I was so shocked to see 27pounds!...she lost 7 pounds in a month! The dr came back and I went over the symptoms again and brought to his attention the weight loss. He decided she needed an IV and sent us over to the hospital. He said if she perked up we could go home by the afternoon if not we'd need to stay over night. We got up to our room at Southwest and the first thing the nurse asked was if they checked her glucose level, I told her no and told her about wanting to get her tested because of the bed wetting. She assured me the dr would test her today. They got her IV started and she continued sleeping. About an hour later the nurse came back in and told me my suspicions about diabetes was correct and her blood sugar was at 583! She said they would be moving her down to the emergency room and a critical care transport ambulance from Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital would be coming to get her and take her to the ICU there. Down in the ER the dr told me that not only were her glucose levels high but that her Keytones were at 6! And she had Ketoacidosis which is a serious condition that can lead to diabetic coma. They started her on insulin and we waited for the transport team. We spent about 24 hours in ICU before we started seeing her improve. We were moved into a regular room and the learning process began. We met with educators constantly and set up a food plan and shot schedule for her. After 4 days in the hospital we finally felt comfortable enough to take her home with us!

Anthonys First Day of Pre-School

2008-09-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

The 9th was Anthony's 1st day of pre-school! He LOVED it!

I'm sure you're wondering why me an pre-school teacher would sent her son to a different school... well he refused to obey me while he was in my class :( and i didn't feel like i was able to teach him as well as another teacher who wasn't his mom. And i was right his teachers say he is WONDERFUL and has no behavior problems! Another reason was that he was a little ahead of the other kids in my class... most of my 4 year olds are just learning there letters by sight, Anthony however has known them for over a year and know most of the letter sounds. I'm actually getting prepared to start teaching him to read! I just didn't think it was fair to hold him back because the other children weren't "there" yet. So he goes 2 days a week for 3 1/2 hours. And the last reason we chose for him to go with-in the school district is because his Doctor recommended it... he's very smart but we feel his speech is not what it should be and this way he can get any extra help he needs... a speech therapist is coming to sit in his class this week to evaluate him.

Ok...so I'm not a good at this as I hoped!

2008-09-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well I was wanting to update this every week but i got off to a bad start! so I'll try to be good from now on. So much has happened since my last post I'm not sure where to start! Alivias Big Girl Bed i guess for starters i took down Alivias crib, changing table and rocking chair and put up a princess toddler bed. some nights she loves it and goes right to bed other nights she screams and screams!

These pictures were from her first night... it went well and after only a few minutes of rubbing her back she was fast asleep!...if only every night would go that well.

First day of back to school!

2008-09-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

So today was the first day back to school for the Camas & Washougal schools...Yay! It was so wonderful not to have the "big kids" in my pre-k class. The day went great and it was wonderful not having to adjust my curriculum to accommodate the older kids. I hope the rest of this week goes so smoothly! I'm already starting to dread Thanksgiving vacation :(