Madeline has always been our very high maintenance child. Just days after she was born the colic kicked in and just never seemed to end. She was never a good sleeper and had us up and down at all times of the night. We were so happy when she turned 2 in April 2011! Even though we dreaded the terrible two's, we thought she was finally at her turning point to start being a "big girl". That was very short lived.
She seemed to become more agitated at the little things, and just never seemed to have fun. She wouldn't play well with her big sister and became very clingy. She lost all energy and seemed to be sleepy all the time. Her bedtime sleep habits changed. She would cry when we would put her to bed, but sleep so sound that I would have to wake her in the morning. Jammies and bed sheets soaked every morning. That's when I really took notice of her thirst. She was so thirsty.
I looked up everything I could on the internet trying to find another reason for all of Madeline's symptoms. They all came back with the same result: Type 1 Diabetes. Deep in my heart, I knew.
Madeline's dad, Rick, has been a Type 1 diabetic for 12 years.
I tried to tell myself that she must have a virus and all of the symptons would go away. They didn't. I forced myself to call the doctor's office to make the appointment. On June 21, 2011 the Dr. called with the news I had hoped to never hear: "you were right, Madeline is diabetic". Her blood test came back at 901. Dangerous. Normal numbers are closer to 100. We needed to get her to Children's Hospital quickly to begin treatment.
Once settled in the Children's ER, Madeline was hooked to an IV to begin fluids and insulin. She was very dehydrated and her blood glucose was still in the 500's. It would be a slow process so her little body could handle all the changes. We stayed in the ER for 8 hours while the nurses and doctor worked on getting her numbers back in range. At 10:00 pm I was told we could finally move to a hospital room so they could moniter Madeline throughout the night. I was exhausted. Rick had gone home 3 hours earlier to take care of our 5 year old daughter, Sophia, so I was on my own. At 11:00 pm we were finally in a private room.
My little Madeline was so tired she didn't even know she was being transferred from her ER bed to the hospital room crib. Once the sides were up on her crib, she was completely incased. I could only put my hand through the slots to stroke her head. She was sound asleep holding her favorite little Lambie tight. I was told I would need to complete the final paperwork before I could lay down myself. At 12:00am Madeline and I were finally alone in our room. I didn't even bother making the couch into a bed. I just laid in the dark and cried into the pillow. I never slept that night. I wanted to be right at Madeline's side if she would wake up and get scared. The nurses came in and out constantly to check blood sugars or to change a diaper. I couldn't wait for the sun to come up.
At 6:30am Madeline opened her eyes and gave me a huge smile and said "hi momma!"
Our new life had begun.
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