Mother’s Intuition

Another night of waking up from a sound sleep for no reason and then tossing and turning as I try to fall back to sleep. I finally gave up and decided to check on KC. As I opened her door, I could hear the vibrating alarm of her CGM. “Low prediction 78” was flashing on the screen. I reached for her meter just as the alarm started beeping continually.

What made me get up and check? Is it mother’s intuition? Divine intervention?

When KC’s doctors told us we didn’t have to do middle of the night checks anymore, I came up with my own system for determining if I would need to check her. I was in the habit of checking her when I went to bed and if her numbers were higher or lower than I felt comfortable with I would set my alarm and check her around 3 am.

One night, after a particularly exhausting day, her numbers were borderline for “my” scale. I knew my husband was really tired and I didn’t want to wake him up with the alarm. So I said to myself and God “Wake me up at 3.”

I fell soundly asleep. Suddenly, I was startled awake. It felt like someone grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me…hard. I sat up and looked at the clock — 3:02 am. I jumped out of bed and raced into KC’s room and checked her BG. She was 68. I was freaked out!

Since then, KC has gone on a CGM. I now check the monitor at bedtime and decide what the night’s plan of action will be. She does wake up with the alarm and come alert me, but more often than not, I’ve woken up, tossing and turning, and decided to check her only to walk in as the alarm is sounding.

And this isn’t something that happens every night…maybe once every couple of weeks.

So I wonder..is this mother’s intuition?  I know that other moms of CWD have had the same experience.  Do dads?

“I’ve Been High, I’ve Been Low..Won’t You Save Me San Francisco”

The first time KC heard Train’s “Save Me San Francisco”  she said “Hey this is a diabetes song…cause I’ve been high and I’ve been low.”

Now whenever we hear this song we sing along at the top of our lungs.

And this week, she has been high and she’s been low…

She’s been from 59 to 373 and back again in under 12 hours. Tonight we’ve seen 384 at 7:30 and 59 at 9:30….up to 90 at last check. I’ve cut her basal rate for an hour to see if that helps.

So what’s the culprit causing this roller-coaster? School, volleyball, and just being an 11 year old girl! Trying to pinpoint an exact cause is…..futile. Because just when we think we have it figured out, something new happens.

For two weeks, KC has been running a little high before volleyball practice and then dropping low while playing…until today. This time she just went higher and higher after the game. Could the victory be the cause? Our sweet JV team isn’t used to winning and this was a huge accomplishment…so maybe.

And the wacky numbers have turned her emotions upside down as well. Yesterday, I received a call from her homeroom teacher telling me that KC had a meltdown. My sunny, always smiling, always optimistic sweetie cried all through lunch. She was upset because her classmates chose a “Bring Snacks” reward party over a “Movie” reward party. She was beside herself because she wouldn’t be able to pig out like her classmates. I’ll get to my opinion of food rewards in a minute. Bear with me…

Immediately, I think her blood sugar must have dropped. But then again, she’s 11….11 year old girls cry at the drop of a hat. BG turns out to have been 63…well, that answers that!

And then she wakes up over 300 this morning….

So back to food rewards….I HATE THEM! Having lived with a food allergic child for 13 years, I have had my fill of trying to make sure my child is able to celebrate just like everyone else. (And yet, today, I sent in cookies for #1 son’s first high school club meeting just to make sure there would be something he could eat–will this ever end?)

I discussed with KC the fact that depending on the time of the party, she may be able to have a special snack. I told her she could have a light carb breakfast that day (she loves bacon and eggs!) and have a larger snack. If the party is too close to lunch, but not close enough to bolus to cover both, then she’ll have to fill up on low carb snacks. Her homeroom teacher (not the one hosting the reward party by the way) and I brainstormed special snacks. I made a trip to the store and dropped off a bounty of non-perishable decadent treats that were below 15 g. Her teacher had already made up baggies of nuts and stockpiled more diet soda. The key was finding treats that weren’t part of her normal daily snack selection. And KC was thrilled with the goodies! Sunny girl is back in town!

For now….