Midnight to three

This whole checking M's bg throughout the night is not fun. I chose to have kids young so that I wouldn't have to suffer the inconvenience of having my sleep disturbed at this age. We older folks need our sleep, man!

In fact, I am one of those cruel friends who mocks those who are cranking out babies in their forties. "Ha ha! I've got one out of the house already! You're going to be sixty before that happens, and I'll be kid-free, sleeping in on Saturdays, and going out without having to worry about where the kids are! Nanny, nanny, boo-boo!"

My kind-hearted friends never say, "Well, ha ha! Your kid has diabetes, and parenting is a lot more complicated for you than it is for us!"

Then again, maybe they don't say that because they sense it's not true. Parenting is complicated no matter what.

Regardless, my sleep is being disturbed.

But it is essential.

On the day M started "live" on the pump, she was given a basal rate of 1.35 units per hour of Humalog to start. After checking her bg throughout the night, and having it consistently below target range (55 mg/dl and 68), our DNE decided to lower her rate to 1.25 units.

We decided to keep it that rate through the weekend, but I suspect we will lower it again, at least at night. Her bg is in the 50s nearly 100% of the time. Which means that I am feeding her small amounts of fast-acting carbs in the middle of the night. Which is a little weird, but is better than her passing out.

She has never lost consciousness due to her diabetes - a record I intend to keep.

The first night was hard. I couldn't sleep after the midnight check. We didn't prepare well. The meter was downstairs, so after waking M, at 12:00 am, I had to go retrieve it.

Her bg was low, so I had to go back downstairs to the fridge to find some quick carbs. I settled on grapes, since M's mouth still hurt from recent adjustment of her braces. I had to wash them and bring them upstairs.

M didn't really wake up through the whole process. She kept telling me that she didn't need to eat, because she was fine. I sat and watched her eat the grapes, recorded the information on a form, and went back to bed, where I did not sleep.

The alarm then went off at 3:00 am, and I stumbled back upstairs, where the meter was still sitting. Bg was still low this time, so another handful of grapes from the kitchen, and we were all set.

I flopped back into bed, where I fell asleep pretty quickly, only to have the alarm go off at 5:30 am so I could go to work.

Let's be forgiving of the tired teacher by saying that my students "suffered a little" due to my lack of sleep.

Fortunately, each night since has gotten better. We have been laying things out before going to bed. And because it is becoming a routine, I am sleeping solidly between checks.

So, evidently, I am pretty adaptable. Maybe I could have had my kids later in life. But then I couldn't mock my friends.

And after all, what are friends for?