Look whoo turned ONE!!!

(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...

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...

 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!!!

 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!!!

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!

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!

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!