On her birthday, we took her downstairs to the living room, which was filled with balloons-these it seemed were far more exciting than her presents! She had a birthday breakfast of blueberry pancakes (carbs perfectly counted of course!) and the opened her presents, her largest being her brand new swing, complete with helium balloons in the garden! Her reaction to first using this was amazing; she laughed and kicked her little legs continuously! We went to Jo Jingles and then the 3 of us went for a birthday lunch to a restaurant called Bem Brasil, perfect for our little diabetic lady because we could measure and calculate her carbohydrates, she could then eat as much protein and vegetables as she liked! Our evening was spent at Grandma and Grandpa's house with a birthday tea! The entire day was just lovely, a perfect family celebration.
The following day was her party! All of her little friends had been invited to come along at 11am.
We booked Charlotte and Jo Jingles to come and do a little session, made up of her favourite songs, instruments and bubbles. Ivy wore an adorable little navy blue party dress, covered in little flowers, with a pink band around the waist. Her outfit was completed with a pair of luminous yellow pumps, right on trend of course. This girl has an amazing wardrobe! We wanted her to be able to eat the same as her friends, her party food buffet was perfectly baby friendly; fruit cups, carrot sticks, cheerios, jelly cups, baby crisps and perfect little sandwiches cut into tiny little people and flowers. Everything was carb counted and she could eat whatever she liked. We kept a note of it all and because of most of her food choices being low in carbs or carb free, she didn't need an injection of insulin.
Her cake was my favourite thing; I'd spent every evening, in the week before her birthday, making fondant figures of circus animals and a Jo Jingles ringmaster. Ivy's grandma had spent so long perfecting a baby and diabetic friendly cake, sweetened with blueberries. It was amazing! I felt so emotional when everybody sang happy birthday; Ivy just studied the room, completely bemused, not knowing why she was the centre of attention. Not knowing how special the day was, or how special she is. Needless to say, she crashed out afterwards, exhausted by the excitement of the afternoon. I'd like to say she slept for a few hours, but that's not her style...after about 45 minutes she was awake and charging around again!
That was 3 weeks ago now, so much can happen in such a short space of time. She is on the verge of walking now, tottering around barely holding our hand. This is incredible for us to see, her diagnosis was only 8 weeks ago and the on shift consultant had advised us that the intra osseous cannulas in her shin bone would most certainly affect her mobility. They did but not too the extent they thought they would; she had been close to walking before she was diagnosed, but she has soldiered on and the new realisation that being upright can get you places is amazing, she is on her feet all the time.
As far has her diabetes goes, we had a clinic appointment last week; I was dreading it, as hard as we'd tried to manage it, Ivy's blood glucose levels had been running high for 10 days, she had been suffering with extended hyperglycaemia. Our consultant and specialist nurse were so understanding and have decided that an insulin pump should be the next step in helping Ivy. We don't know a great deal about them yet but having one should help Ivy feel so much better. At the moment the smallest amount if insulin we can administer is 0.5u, about 300 micromils, half a drop! It is a tiny amount but she is still so sensitive that this minuscule drop can send her into a hypoglycaemic attack in no time at all. The pump will be able to administer amounts as small as 0.1u and we will be able to treat hyperglycaemia sooner.
I am writing this at 3am; Ivy has had a particularly stressful couple of hours, with her levels slowly creeping up. We hoped that her background, slow release insulin may bring her down as we've been advised not to correct her below 16mmols, unfortunately (or fortunately. .) next time we checked she was almost 18 but we could now give her half a unit. Until it kicked in she was still so anxious, distressed and uncomfortable, it breaks my heart to see. She didn't ask for this and she doesn't understand why she is hurting, it is times like this that I am reminded that she will have moments like this for life now, the only thing I can do for her, is try and manage it as best I can and reduce the discomfort she feels..this is easier said than done and when she is sobbing, holding her head and thrashing around, I feel like a pretty useless mummy. What is easy, is the cuddling, kissing and love I can give her to reassure her that she is not alone. My 1 year old, facing so much and who's body is going through so much more than it should be. She is a trooper. An almost walking, birthday cake scoffing trooper. I love her with all my heart.
Her cake was my favourite thing; I'd spent every evening, in the week before her birthday, making fondant figures of circus animals and a Jo Jingles ringmaster. Ivy's grandma had spent so long perfecting a baby and diabetic friendly cake, sweetened with blueberries. It was amazing! I felt so emotional when everybody sang happy birthday; Ivy just studied the room, completely bemused, not knowing why she was the centre of attention. Not knowing how special the day was, or how special she is. Needless to say, she crashed out afterwards, exhausted by the excitement of the afternoon. I'd like to say she slept for a few hours, but that's not her style...after about 45 minutes she was awake and charging around again!
That was 3 weeks ago now, so much can happen in such a short space of time. She is on the verge of walking now, tottering around barely holding our hand. This is incredible for us to see, her diagnosis was only 8 weeks ago and the on shift consultant had advised us that the intra osseous cannulas in her shin bone would most certainly affect her mobility. They did but not too the extent they thought they would; she had been close to walking before she was diagnosed, but she has soldiered on and the new realisation that being upright can get you places is amazing, she is on her feet all the time.
As far has her diabetes goes, we had a clinic appointment last week; I was dreading it, as hard as we'd tried to manage it, Ivy's blood glucose levels had been running high for 10 days, she had been suffering with extended hyperglycaemia. Our consultant and specialist nurse were so understanding and have decided that an insulin pump should be the next step in helping Ivy. We don't know a great deal about them yet but having one should help Ivy feel so much better. At the moment the smallest amount if insulin we can administer is 0.5u, about 300 micromils, half a drop! It is a tiny amount but she is still so sensitive that this minuscule drop can send her into a hypoglycaemic attack in no time at all. The pump will be able to administer amounts as small as 0.1u and we will be able to treat hyperglycaemia sooner.
I am writing this at 3am; Ivy has had a particularly stressful couple of hours, with her levels slowly creeping up. We hoped that her background, slow release insulin may bring her down as we've been advised not to correct her below 16mmols, unfortunately (or fortunately. .) next time we checked she was almost 18 but we could now give her half a unit. Until it kicked in she was still so anxious, distressed and uncomfortable, it breaks my heart to see. She didn't ask for this and she doesn't understand why she is hurting, it is times like this that I am reminded that she will have moments like this for life now, the only thing I can do for her, is try and manage it as best I can and reduce the discomfort she feels..this is easier said than done and when she is sobbing, holding her head and thrashing around, I feel like a pretty useless mummy. What is easy, is the cuddling, kissing and love I can give her to reassure her that she is not alone. My 1 year old, facing so much and who's body is going through so much more than it should be. She is a trooper. An almost walking, birthday cake scoffing trooper. I love her with all my heart.
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