Monthly Archives: August 2011

One, Froggie

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*Taken from the brilliant mind of Kerri Sparling, I am planning on writing a monthly letter to my little one, who I have nicknamed “Frog” or “Froggie” for lots of reasons, but mostly because of how he likes to sleep. Today, he’s a month old! Whoa! Time really does fly!*

Froggie,

You have been such a joy this past month. You have grown from just a brand new little baby to a baby with his own personality and style.

You love to sleep on your mommy and daddy’s chest, with arms and legs curled underneath you (hence the Froggie nickname), and when you’re not sleeping, you’re still curled up, but holding your head up high, looking around with your big, bright blue eyes.

You’ve gotten mommy and daddy on your schedule, not theirs, sleeping mostly through the night, with the exception of your 1,3, and 5:30am diaper changes and bottles. You even sometimes will let them off the hook for the 3am one, but not very often.

You hate your baths, but you love being dried, dressed, and bundled up to “recover”. (I never knew baths could be such a horrible experience!)

You did great with your first real outing – church. You sat in your seat looking around, listening to the music and people singing, and barely fussed when you wanted your bottle. You went to sleep during service, and afterward got your “First Trip” picture taken with the Preacher. He even coordinated his suit colors to match your outfit for the picture! I can’t tell you how excited he is about you – from learning you were “on the way” to finding out when you were going to be born. You’ll have to give him lots of hugs when you get bigger.

Oh, and you love music. You kick your feet, wave your arms around, look around trying to find the source of it, and grunt and coo a little bit when it’s being played. I knew you loved it when you were in my tummy, but now I get to see your little moves here on the outside. I’ve even started DVR’ing The Fresh Beat Band because you seem to like the music and colors of the show. I even discovered you like to hear me play the piano. You sit up and bounce in your bouncy seat when I play an upbeat song and look at me with bright eyes. And you even like being hummed to when you are going to sleep. I think I may see some sort of music lessons in your future already!

Froggie823-2

This is my favorite outfit! I love the crab on the butt!

You also like “tummy-time”. You’ve even tried to roll yourself over! I mean, seriously kid, are you trying to grow up faster than mommy and daddy can blink?

Speaking of growing up, every day I can’t believe how much bigger you’re getting. It seems like you’ve grown 2 inches and gained 3 pounds overnight. You outgrew the newborn sized clothes almost immediately, and you’re long enough to fill out the 3 month clothes in your drawers and closet. Hopefully we can stay in these a little while. Your Aunt has even asked if I’m slipping you some sort of infant Miracle-Gro or something, to which I assure you, I am not. You’re certainly taking after your dad, growing like a weed.

Froggie823I’m so glad your sweet cheeks and hands and feet are all carb-free sugar since I kiss them all the time. Of course, it would help if they weren’t carb-free for the times when you’re fussy and so is my CGM telling me I’m low. I’ve learned to let you cry in your cradle while I down glucose tabs and juice. Only once have I had to let daddy hold you through your fit while I deal with my own d-fit. Thank you for trying to be patient with me while I try to take care of things like that.

Froggie, you’re perfect.

You’re irresistibly adorable to all of us.

And we love you more than words can ever tell.

 

Love always,

Mommy Smile

The First Week With The Revel

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I’ve now had a week to play around with my new Revel pump and I thought I’d write a post about my likes and dislikes of the system so far.

First of all, the main thing I love is the CGM being integrated. No more need to have two devices hooked to me. Granted, I know that they will not be the only pump company on the market for long (thank you, Animas!) to have this feature, but having had it for the past week, I have to say, it is heaven to have just one device. And yes, I know that even with having a CGM is a blessing, so I am not trying to cut down or say that having a separate CGM device is not worth it – it totally is, but having it integrated is awesome.

Now, one thing that the system does not have that the OmniPod and Animas Ping has is remote bolus from the meter. This is a good feature for parents or ladies who wear dresses or men who hide their pumps in places out of sight and don’t want to take it out to bolus. But for me, I was so used to having the “traditional” pump when I had the Disetronic H-Tron Plus, that I guess old habits die hard. Even with the OmniPod and Ping, I would hold the remote in my hand while it delivered a bolus just to make sure it was delivering. And even with the Ping, at times I would just bolus from the pump because it was what I was used to. So having to bolus from the Revel isn’t that big of a deal to me. But I do see where it could be an issue for some.

But in speaking of bolusing, it does have on of the best bolus calculation + delivery systems I have used. I like that when I check my bg with my meter, it is “beamed” over to the pump, and from there you just press “act”, enter your carbs, press “act” again, it does it’s calculations for you to review, and you press “act” to deliver the suggested bolus. What’s different here between the Ping in particular is that with the Ping, it gives you the suggested bolus amount, but you still have to dial in the bolus to match the suggested amount. With the Revel, it’s already there, you just have to confirm it. Then, when it’s being delivered, it shows you as it counts up to the bolus amount. Granted, it delivers slowly, but I found out while I was on the Ping that I did better with a slower delivery. I’m assuming it helps the insulin not pool beneath the skin as much.

revel alarmOne feature that the pump has over the Guardian CGM is that when you are low, instead of just flashing on the screen “Low BG”, it shows you the glucose level. I would have liked to have that feature on the Guardian while I was using it. But, that’s neither here nor there. Either way, you still have to escape out of the screen, otherwise it alarms constantly to let you know until you acknowledge it.

Which brings me to my main gripe about the system – both the Guardian and the Revel. Unlike the Dexcom, when it alarms, it gives you a few minutes to be able to dismiss it. With this system, it seems to alarm every 30 seconds until you dismiss it. Which I’m sure this is a good feature for some, but for me, it seems to always be right as I’m sitting down with BabyK to feed him or rock him to sleep. And it just so happens to be in the pocket that’s inaccessible at the time, so it vibrates and vibrates and vibrates until eventually it does it’s own “baby cry” (you know, the one where when the baby thinks you’re ignoring it’s initial cries so it amps it up a bit and screams bloody murder at you to get your attention? yeah, that one…) and you have to dismiss it. That is the one reason why when I go to church, I will be putting the alarms on silent for those two hours. Can you imagine? Like Kerri’s “disco boob” encounter, I’d be having a “disco boob” or “disco hip” move of my own during prayer or something.

The system setup is pretty well the same. You have the cartridge, tubing and site. And, for the most part, these are no different than any other system, accept they have their own connections verses the standard Luer Lock connection of the Accu-chek Spirit and Animas systems. But one advantage they do have is their cartridge. The trainer told me that with the way theirs is made, if you were to be stranded without supplies and need to give a shot, the cartridge acts sort of like a vial of insulin and it self-sealed at the top. So, if you have a syringe with you, you can actually draw the insulin you need out into the syringe and just give yourself a shot for what you need until you can fix whatever you need to with your pump (whether it’s gone bezerk or if your battery has died, that kind of thing). That’s pretty cool if you ask me!

All in all, I do like the system a lot. I’m not going to say that I’m in love with it completely, but I do admire lots of the functions it has. I will have to say though that even though Medtronic is supposedly coming out with a better, more accurate sensor that lasts longer and all of that jazz, they still may be one step behind the ball game when the Animas Vibe is allowed here in the US. Why? Waterproof capabilities! That will be the biggest clincher that Animas will have over Minimed from what I can tell. So I hope they come up with a pump that’s waterproof along with a better, longer lasting sensor with the next “edition” of the Minimed Paradigm.

Revelling – Getting Started

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First off, let me say that I am very sorry for not getting this post up Monday as promised. I wanted to get it done, but learning to balance a new baby and diabetes is much harder than I ever thought it would be, especially when the baby throws an all-nighter at you. The only thing we can figure is that his diaper rash is back and he was just not comfy, and that’s completely understandable. I certainly wouldn’t be happy with a messy diaper on my raw behind either. And the poor thing just makes you feel terrible when changing him, screaming his cries to the top of his little but powerful lungs and even quivering his bottom lip. I try to hold and cuddle him a little more after his diaper changes, just because you can’t help but do that. I mean, you feel bad enough changing him knowing that it’s painful, but knowing you’re the one causing him pain is just awful. It has to be done, I know, I just wish I could make it more comfortable for him.

BUT (no pun intended)! As to the purpose of this post, I am here to talk about my first few days with the Minimed Revel. The training went very well. As a matter of fact, after speaking with her for a little while, we found out that she worked at the same camp I had attended when I was a teenager! I remembered her being in the infirmary and when she called to do her follow-up check-up on me the next day, she told me she had remembered me because of my organizational skills (I’m sort of OCD about that kind of thing. I organized her pump skins by model so she could find them easier when she handed them to me to look through to find a few I wanted for my pump). I did drop low a couple of times during training, but what was so neat to me was that she could tell before I could just by the look on my face. I need to know how she did that so I can teach Erik!

The setup of the Revel was very easy. The online pre-training guides you through getting your pump ready for the training class by helping you set the time and date, and letting you become familiar with the buttons and menus. It also has a course on the basics of how shot therapy is different from pump therapy and how to adjust. As an experienced pumper (11 years now), I started to skip this training, but I went through it anyway just as a refresher, and I’m glad I did. There were a few things I didn’t know, so my suggestion is that no matter how much you think you know or how basic it may seem, give your training the benefit of the doubt and just do it. You never know what you’ll be surprised to learn.

When the trainer arrived, I had everything set out. She went through verifying the basal rates, correction factors, IC ratios and BG targets I had moved over from my Ping to the Revel. The setup was fairly quick and easy to go through. The part that got me was getting the cartridge filled and inserted. It is a lot different than the other pumps as it all screws together in a screw+lock system, unlike the luer lock systems of my other pumps. It is something you have to learn the “feel” for if you’re not used to it. The rest of the setup through the pump was very easy as the screens guide you through every step, very much so like the way the OmniPod PDM does, giving you directions with each step, whether you know what you’re doing or not. That, I liked… a lot.

Next, we got the CGM part going by plugging in my transmitter ID and starting my sensor. The coolest thing about this part was I was able to keep the Guardian connected to the transmitter as well, so for a while, I was getting readings on both my pump and the Guardian monitor. They stayed relatively close in number to each other, but just like finger sticks, they were off somewhat, with my pump reading in the lower 80’s and the Guardian reading in the upper 70’s. I kept both systems connected until the sensor time “ran out” on the Guardian, which was only a few hours later.

Over the next few days, the pump CGM stayed in line pretty well with my fingersticks, which is a good thing. And although the system my look to some as outdated and not as pretty or fancy as other systems out there, it is a very solid system. Bolusing was very easy with the bolus wizard, with only needing your input of BG (if it wasn’t automatically “beamed” over from the meter) and carb amount and it does the rest. All you have to do is review the amount and tell it to “act”. You don’t have to dial up the bolus to match what the pump suggests like you do with the Ping system. It is a simple, easy, straightforward pump, and I like that.

I’ll write another post sometime this week (hopefully) and explain a little more about my likes and dislikes of the pump.

REVEL-ling In Disclosure Time Again!

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20100101-DSCN0667Yep, it’s that time again! It’s time to update my disclosure for all of you happy readers of the IGTS Blog, and I am so excited to share this with you.

Last month, I was given the opportunity to be a part of Minimed’s blog, The LOOP Blog. After speaking with the PR department (They are some super nice people!), sharing several emails, and getting some other legal stuff squared away, we now have a formal contract in place that states I will post once a month for them. In exchange for these posts, I have been provided a Minimed Revel insulin pump as well as a box of sensors free of charge, and are mine to keep. (I went with the clear one if anyone is curious! LOL!)

They do not reserve any rights to what I post here on my blog about their product, but they do, however reserve that right to what I send in for their blog (which is only fair). The blog entries I write for them will post on the 15th of each month, and I’ll let you know when they are up by posting them to Twitter and Facebook. My training for the pump is scheduled for today, so I will post here Monday about how it all went.

I am super excited to be a part of their involvement with social media and outreach to the DOC, and hope to represent both Medtronic Minimed and the DOC in a way that will make you guys proud.

After The Birthday (Part 3)

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I was kept on the critical floor for that day and a half because not only was I on a morphine drip, but I was also on a magnesium drip because of my blood platelets. They had dropped yet again. Not to mention, my blood sugars went on a wild ride right after delivery, dropping every hour it seemed. We had to do a lot of basal and bolus adjusting during that time. I had already dropped everything – basals, bolus ratios, correction factors, etc – by half and it was still too much insulin. I knew to expect a big drop, but I didn’t realize it was going to be that much. It really is amazing what goes on in your body, and how the littlest or biggest things can have either a big or little impact on you.

Meanwhile, I had not seen my baby since that few seconds right after he was born. I was going crazy. Erik and others kept bringing me pictures that had been taken with their cell phones, and the NICU staff had even taken some pictures and laminated them for me to keep in my room, but it was just not the same as actually seeing him or touching him. So, when they finally let me move from the critical unit floor down to the standard delivery floor, I didn’t waste any time asking if I could go down to the NICU to see him. The nurse wanted me to say and let her check me really quick, but with the pain of the c-section making it hard to get up and down in the wheel chair and the fact that if I had to go one more second without seeing him, I would probably go insane, I all but begged her to let me stay in the chair and let me go see my baby.

untitled shoot-012We scrubbed in and went through the double doors. Erik wheeled me around the other babies to take me to my little one. Finally we rounded the corner where he was. He was laying there, hooked up to all the machinery, sleeping. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t hold my emotions. I cried as I finally got to touch his soft skin again. I could barely talk as I took in the wonder of the miracle that God had given me laying there in front of me. It was then I got to hold him. This was a huge deal. Even though others had come and gone to see him with Erik, no one but Erik had gotten to hold him. Erik made it a point to be sure that no one could except him until I had gotten to hold him. He did this without me knowing, and when he told me, it made that moment all the more special.

It was then that I saw his feet. His poor little heels had been poked so much by this time that they were purple and speckled. My heart broke. I knew they had to monitor his blood sugars, but it was then it hit home. I hurt for him. It was a moment where I started to blame myself for his pain. I know it’s a big risk that babies of diabetic mothers are likely to have blood sugar problems that have to be monitored, but you never really think of what that entails until you see your own child with speckled heels from every check they performed staring you in the face. As I was looking at his feet and rubbing them, the doctor from the NICU came up to speak with me. He had spoken with Erik before, but he wanted to introduce himself and let me know who he was and how BabyK was doing. He told me how his blood sugars were doing and that they were going to start weaning him off of the IV glucose to see if his body would respond and balance out. Then he looked at me and told me something that I will never forget: He said that other than the blood sugar issues at birth, there were absolutely no other signs of him being born to a diabetic mom. It was then that I really lost it. My worst fears of a diabetic pregnancy had been alleviated. My son had not been seriously affected by my disease. Those words ranked right up there with “Congratulations, you’re pregnant!” and “It’s a boy!” and “Here he is!”.

And to think that through my teen years and up until only 6 years ago I was so dead set on never trying to become pregnant because of my diabetes. Oh what I wouldn’t give to go back in time and show my younger self this little miracle and say, “Yes!, You CAN do this!!!!”

Birthday (Part 2)

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So sorry for the delay in this post. We have been on an adventure ride with lack of sleep, dirty diapers, diaper rash, and bottle cleaning all along with managing diabetes and the loop that is thrown right after baby delivery. But, more on that later. Here’s part 2 of the birthday story…

I laid there on the table, waiting for the procedure to begin. They let Erik back, and he sat beside me. You could hear everyone around getting ready for the arrival of BabyK. The doctor made his incision, and started doing his thing. Of course, me being the nosey kind and wanting to know every little thing going on as it’s happening, I was on pins and needles as I was only able to go by what I could “feel” was happening to know where we were in the operation. I was the one being operated on, after all… plus, with a big, blue sheet separating you and the baby bump, so you are sort of “in the dark” as to what is really going on.

But I knew when the time was here. I could feel the doctor moving BabyK around. I looked at Erik and told him, “He’s got him… he’s about to be here!!". Soon, the nurse told looked at me and said, “Okay, he’s about to deliver the baby. You’re going to feel a lot of pressure at the top of your belly, so just breathe through, okay?”. Suddenly, I could feel it. I felt like not only was BabyK being pulled out, but my lungs as well. It was so hard to breathe. But in what seemed like an eternity, a few seconds had passed and he was here.

His cry filled the room. It was the most beautiful sound ever. They held him up for us to see him, which Erik could, but they had the sheet so high up, I couldn’t. But I could hear him. Loud and clear. Within a few minutes, they had him back over to us, wrapped, bundled, and ready to go to the nursery. They let us hold him for a few seconds. He was perfect. I got to touch his face and kiss his cheek. Then, they  let Erik take him out of the room as they finished me up, and he went with BabyK to the nursery and to update the family as to how I was and how everything went.

After this, I was taken to the recovery room, so I missed what happened next… but Erik filled me in later. As I was recovering and then taken to be kept on the critical unit for close observation, my baby was rushed to the NICU. His blood sugar was normal at birth, 46 from what I remember (sidenote: It’s amazing that a 46 can near knock me off of my feet, but that’s “normal” for a baby!) to a mere 18 within 45 minutes. I sort of knew this may happen, but to know that Erik had to go through it without me being there hurt my heart. He had to go see him, in the NICU, with all kinds of cords and IVs hooked up to him, and see them sticking his heel for blood sugar checks for the first day and a half.

Erik was a trooper though. He did what had to be done, and somehow kept up with the both of us between me being in recovery and BabyK now being in the NICU. He stresses a lot about little things, but when it comes to the big things like our baby’s big birth day and handling everything that was going on, he did what he does best and was my “hero” for lack of better words. He was once again the wonderful husband I knew him to be, and becoming the awesome father I always knew he could be.

Birthday (Part 1)

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I had been called Friday morning at work and was told that I needed to go to the hospital as soon as possible to have more blood work done because my labs from the doctor’s office Thursday indicated that I had a very low platelet count and it needed to be redone. So, off to the hospital I went. While there, we did another non-stress test for the baby while waiting on the results. After two hours, lots of worry, and even starting an IV line in anticipation of being admitted, the doctor on call released me because the platelet level had increased to a safe level, but with orders that I come to the office the following Monday to see him.

So, Monday morning, we called and were worked in the doctor’s schedule. After another blood draw, an ultrasound, an exam (which showed that I had dilated over the weekend from nothing to 2cm), the doctor looked at everything I had going on.. the blood pressure fluctuations, numbness starting in my massively swollen hands and feet, protein now being spilled in my urine, a platelet count that had dropped yet again, and ever-rising blood sugars, he made the decision to admit me that night to start a Foley catheter (a procedure that dilates your cervix even more) and start the induction process early the next morning. I was ordered at this time to remove my pump because of lows during the night. Now, this was not discussed with my endo, and I was not okay with it, but I did as ordered. 

Early the next morning, I was high (260 if I recall correctly), and stayed high despite the “correction” shots they were giving. Thankfully, and I do believe God was looking out for me on d-day and this was part of His plan, my nurse during the delivery was a Type 1 diabetic as well, and wore a MM pump. She spoke on my behalf to the doctor and convinced him that I needed my pump to be reconnected, and that it was probably the only way we would get my numbers back down. So, we reconnected and went from there. By 7am, I had dilated to 5cm and they started the Pitocin drip. Not 2 hours later, it was time for the epidural. Yes, I admit… I was able to make it that long, but my gosh. Women who go the whole process with no pain meds are super-women in my book. I honestly don’t know how they do it! By 11 am, we had an epidural in place, and my water had broken on its own. Everything looked as if we were progressing right on track for a natural, vaginal delivery… which was my hopes all along.

But then the hours came and went with no progress after this. By 2pm, there was only 1cm more dilation and only some effacement. Then, the nurse came, checked on me one last time and went back out and came back in with another nurse. I was sort of out of it with contractions going on that I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but I knew that it was something the doctor had to get involved with. A few moments later, she told me that I hadn’t progressed any more as planned and that under the circumstances, the doctor may want to go ahead and do a cesarean section. This had been my last-resort wish, so I knew something had to be going on. A little while later, the doctor came in and explained that with my not progressing, and with the baby’s heart rate dropping with my contractions, it was best that they go ahead and deliver via c-section. My heart sank, but I knew it was best for him. It was at that moment that I lost all care about what I wanted for a “perfect delivery” in my mind and resolved to the mindset of “do whatever you have to, just get him out and make sure he’s ok”.

So after more drugs for numbing and a short trip down the hall way I was moved over to the operating table to have the last-minute c-section done that would bring my baby boy into the world.

…to be continued

Blessed

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babyk nicuI plan to do a several-parter blog about the birth of BabyK, but today, I wanted to just let you guys in a short post know how things are going currently.

Words can never fully describe the feeling you get when you hear your baby cry for the first time. The whole nine months of worry, stress, and fear simply vanish for that few small seconds as your baby’s cry fills the room, and you look at your over at your husband and through tear-filled eyes say “He’s here!!” In that instant, your entire world changes.

That instant for us was this past Tuesday at 3:37pm. After going from a planned induction to a unplanned c-section, we waited as the doctor performed the delivery of our son and held him up for us to see. He was beautiful. He was cleaned up and wrapped up for us to see, hold for a few seconds, and kiss, then he was taken to the nursery to be evaluated while I was finished up and taken to holding/recovery.

This is where things get a little long and need a few posts to tell the full story, so I’ll save those for later in the week. But for now, after a week in the hospital, we are finally home and are doing fine. I rest while he sleeps, and hold, kiss and snuggle him when he’s awake. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. If asked would I do it again knowing how hard it was, my answer in a skinny second would be “absolutely”. He is so worth every second of the pregnancy. We are truly, 100000% blessed beyond what I could ever dream.