Dentist Appointment & Endo Appointment

Elsie had her 6 month cleaning for her teeth Wednesday and no cavities - we have a couple spots to keep an eye on! She always does so well with these appointments and on the way to the dentist - she kept saying "we're going to the dentist to get my teeth okay?" and when we replied yes to her she said "yay! we're going to the dentist!" We always want to make her feel comfortable at all her appointments - we hate to think of her being afraid of her doctors etc... anxiety is never a good thing for little ones ;-)

Today, Thursday, was a great day! Sarah's mom came down from Grand Rapids to watch Veda while we took Elsie to her Endocrinologist appointment. We took the day to spend quality time with Elsie. We haven't been able to get alone time with Elsie without Veda around since Veda was born and we realized it was definitely time for that to happen. We made sure that Elsie got spoiled time... Sarah's mom helped tremendously with that! BUT we hadn't realized that it was necessary for US to take her. These Endocrinologist appointments are special to Elsie - they do require our full attention when we discuss basal rates and correction factors etc. We are happy that they have things in the room to occupy Elsie while we do this - and its important we are both their as we discuss her A1c and treatment plans - we talk about ANY and ALL concerns we have regarding her pump, Dexcom and her diabetes in every detail and for as long as we need to. The doctors are so patient with us and her doctor was very personal with her today - this is a new doctor for us (fairly new) and so we are building trust and rapport with her! She's awesome and we are definitely happy with her.

So... the number we've all been waiting for, her a1c was 7.7% Which is right where we want it to be. The doctor told us that goal A1c is 7.5% for someone her age - a number to shoot for - and she did mention that it takes a lot of hard work to get an A1c that low for a child her age - so even if it went up from our last appointment our hard work is noted, and is something to be proud of!!

We took Elsie to the UP Mall before the appointment and we took her to Build A Bear, she loved it!! She picked out Toothless from the How To Train Your Dragon movies. She loves the movies and she loves him too!! She is so funny!! We love our little lady she sure has a mind of her own!!

We will say that going to the hospital today brought back some crazy emotions. We will never forget the moment hearing "she has diabetes" come out of that nurses mouth. Sarah rode in the ambulance to the hospital with a very sick little Elsie. McKenzie and Sarah's mom met at our apartment and drove together to the hospital - it was a hectic night but we will be posting on that day in another blog. Her anniversary and birthday are coming up and so are all the memories both good and bad -

Thank you for those who will read this - we are very happy to share our journey and our adventures with Elsie and diabetes - it is a lifelong disease and Elsie is a fighter and rolls with the punches. We are SO proud of our little girl and we cannot wait for what is yet to come for our now family of 4!!

Take Care,
McKenzie, Sarah, Elsie & Veda too!!

Late Updates will end here hopefully... Quick post...

Sorry for the late updates on this lately - things got busy for us and we lost track of some things. We will be doing better from here on out - just a formal apology - We have a dentist appointment tomorrow Wednesday and an endo appointment Thursday so I will hopefully be able to update early next week for all of that - with this being fathers day weekend we may be a little busy this weekend so we are hoping next week to update this with her results of these appointments!! All is well for now though and we are actually excited to see what her A1c is!!

Sarah's mother will be watching Veda for us so Mommies can take Elsie by themselves and spend some quality time with her. We haven't been able to do that since Veda has been here and Elsie needs to know that she can still spend time with her mommies without Veda and visa versa. She has been an amazing big sister however. She LOVES Veda so much and seeing Veda look at Elsie anytime she talks and smile away is absolutely heartwarming!! No better feeling for a mother than to see the love their children have for each other!!

Take Care
McKenzie, Sarah, Elsie, & Veda too!!

Endocrinologist appointment - new family member - March/April update**

We had our endocrinologist appointment March 13th - went well A1c was 7.5% which is awesome!! Right where we want her to be!! We ALL have been working hard!! She was 36 inches tall and 32 lbs - we think this may have been the first time that her height surpassed her weight EVER!! She's growing so fast!!

So we had been having some Dexcom issues there is a small grey piece called a transmitter that attaches to her arm via the sensor (the piece we change out every 7 days) well this transmitter uses a battery that usually needs to be replaced every 6 months (that is how long Dexcom will warranty it for) but we realized she's had her Dexcom for over a year now so we contacted the insurance company to get a new one sent to us IN CASE anything should happen or the battery died that way we wouldn't have to be without the Dexcom as we have really relied on it to voice highs and lows for Elsie since she cannot do that herself for us yet...

I kid you not 3 days after talking to the insurance company her Dexcom beeps "low transmitter battery" at us. I call Dexcom because I have no idea when the thing will stop and we still had about 10 days before this appointment and we needed the A1c from the appointment. They tell me it could last days, weeks, hours, it depends on how much it is used etc... so we were stressing about going into labor without having a Dexcom. All was well and we got our new Dexcom about a week before we went into labor.

So as we just mentioned we had our newest family member join us ON HER DUEDATE. Miss Veda Diane Hunt was born 3-29-15 weighing 7lbs 5oz and 19.75inches long. She is absolutely beautiful and the first thing Elsie said to her was "Nice to meet you" She was amazing while Sarah labored at home and was concerned but would sway with mommy it was precious to see. She is getting used to the fact that mommy cannot pick her up right now but she is coping well.

We will be keeping an eye on her blood sugar levels as any stress can effect them in various ways. She will be going to stay with Mimi & Papa (Sarah's parents) for the first weekend so Mommies can adjust and get some sleep!! We are overjoyed to have our family of 4 all together and we are absolutely in love!!

We will make sure to update when more fun things happen in the life of Elsie Stelle - OH BTW the binkies are gone - we told her that babies needed them and she wasn't a baby anymore - no questions asked and she hasn't wanted one once since we stopped - again amazing us with her ability to adapt so quickly...

Take care,
McKenzie, Sarah, Elsie & Veda too!!

Miss Independent Big Sister - February update**

Elsie has now been checking her own sugar from time to time. She will wipe her finger with an alcohol pad - poke her finger with the lancet herself and put the meter on the blood until its time to read it. We have to only help her  by squeezing her toe/finger and guiding the meter to the right angle to get the blood. She has never seized to amaze us!!

Her independence has been amazing - love to see her want to put her shoes/shirt/pants just about everything herself!!

We started potty training on January 5th this year - She did amazing with potty training. She really showed no signs of interest BUT Mommies knew she was ready!! She took to it like a champ!! She only had a few accidents and that was it for her to want to be a big girl and go to the bathroom on the big girl potty!! So proud of her. She has shown us that she can accomplish anything. Moms freak out and stress over the little things thinking they'll end up being big things but we are almost always wrong... NOW time for the binky!! haha!!

Elsie has been warming up to being a big sister - the time of being an only child is coming to and end and she has her days where she wants to be a big sister and then MOST of the time she wants nothing to do with it. We'll see how she gets as the time comes and I am sure she'll be just as in love with Veda as we are going to be!! She'll surprise us once again!!

We have an endocrinologist appointment next month - lets hope that the appointment comes before baby does - the appointment is only 2 weeks before Veda's due date so keeping fingers crossed everyone stays PUT!!

We'll keep you updated as usual

Love always
McKenzie, Sarah & Elsie too!!

Sick Little Munchkin!!

Well Sunday we came home from Grand Rapids - AWESOME time and got to see all the grand parents up there and have a fish fry dinner and spend some good quality time with family!! Elsie's Grandma & Grandpa Hunt travel to Arizona for the winter (too bad for them right?!?) and we wanted to see them before they leave November 20th! It was such a great time.

Elsie seemed a little irritable and quiet Sunday night at home - not her usual. So we checked her temperature. She was 101.3 when we checked her! No symptoms just the fever. So we gave her ibuprofen. At this point she's on the Dexcom system and for SOME reason Acetaminophen interacts with the sensor for some reason and it can give false high blood glucose readings (meaning her sugars are in fact not nearly as high as the Dexcom says they are) so we have opted for no Tylenol just to be on the safe side and the only real cause for pain as of late was her teeth and ibuprofen worked better for that anyway. So we gave it to her and she seemed OK - VERY lazy and cuddly on Monday. Fever staying around 102.5ish even with ibuprofen. So her fever kept creeping and it was bedtime and she wasn't due for medicine for 3 more hours and her temperature was 102.7 We opted to buy Tylenol and give it to her - I think that false high readings were an understatement!! The Dexcom said she was off the chart high (over 400) which I assure you she was NOT - it was crazy never seen anything like it!!

Last night reminded us why we stopped alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen every three hours for Elsie - something about it makes her miserable!! I think it makes her feel like that medicine head feeling... She was up whining about every 2 hours sometimes more than that!! It was awful!! I felt horrible for her we both did!! So off to the doctor today - and of course, NOTHING to report!! Ears look good a little fluid (to be expected) not a whole lot of drainage (some to be expected) lymph nodes not too swollen - JUST this pretty substantial fever with no major symptoms. Apparently this is NOT the first case to walk through our doctors doors either - so he wasn't freaked out (moms on the other hand are super confused and freaked) We are coming up on 24 hours of this fever that won't break and a daughter that is really showing no signs of anything wrong - she's just a little lazy which is out of character.

So tonight she finally (we think) broke this damn thing! She had very little ibuprofen today. She basically refused it and we are thinking it was her way of saying - let me fight this off myself... So we allowed it to happen kept monitoring the fever every few hours or so and she went to bed FEVER FREE - first time in two days!!! Tomorrow I am going to be lysoling the house again - to get rid of any crazy resilient little virus cells!! We are going to be a healthy household again!! Elsie's friend Rowland can come back and play!! Life will get back our crazy form of normalcy.

As with any sickness she will come across her blood sugars will be a sure sign something is going on. She ran with high sugars that didn't seem to make sense before the fever started (I even thought about needing to change her basal insulin rate), then was running a little lower than her normal once it came on, then stayed a little high the whole time. With her appetite not being great higher sugars are actually good it means that we can give her insulin which is a growth hormone and helps her fight off infections naturally in her body. We are very proud we made it through this little bout of sickness without needing to call our diabetic educator. We handled it like pros!! I think Noreen would be proud!!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for Elsie to get better and/or sent well wishes to her!! They were needed and they have helped!! Hoping to have our sweet little lady back tomorrow!!

P.S. Elsie kissed my belly (kissed the baby) today for the first time - I think she's starting to grow on the idea of the baby!! The girls at the doctors office asked her if it was a boy or girl (she said boy - we don't know yet FYI) and they asked what "his" name is and she said "Go Home" haha!! She's hilarious!!

Take care!
McKenzie, Sarah, Elsie & Baby too!!

Fall Season & Loving it!!

We had an appointment in August and we discovered that her A1c was 8.3 which is slightly up from the July reading BUT all in all its still amazing for her age!! Kids her age are usually running an A1c of at least 9-10%. So we're doing amazing and she's developing amazing and she's growing like a weed!! She grew 2 inches in 4 months!! That's crazy!!

Insulin is also growth hormone normally made within your body and without her body producing it for her. Which is why it is important for us to NOT cut carbs out of her diet, and be sure to give her carbs so that we have to give her insulin so that her body is getting the nutrients it needs to grow!! She is such a lively and spontaneous little girl!!

This past weekend was the Fall Harvest Festival at our local apple orchard, and Elsie LOVED picking apples (and eating them too!!) She pushed the wagon, carried the basket of apples and even took a rest in the wagon... we went on a hayride and saw the pumpkin patch and all the apple trees! She had so much fun!! Love making new memories with her and family!!

Last night was a special night, she slept in her BIG GIRL bed for the first time. She has been sleeping all through the night now so we were nervous that a new bed would change that. Well she helped make the bed, helped decide which babies and stuffed animals were on the bed, and she climbed in at bedtime and rolled right over and went to sleep. We didn't hear a peep out of her. She woke up a little bit when we checked her sugar before we went to bed but told us "more sleep" and went back to sleep! I checked on her at about 9:15am and she was laying in her bed with her eyes open and told me "I'm up" and got up and its been a great day so far!! She's going to be a GREAT big sister!!

SO proud and happy she's growing up but she seriously needs to slow down!! Her beauty and personality amazes us every day!! We are so thankful to be called her moms!!

Take care,
McKenzie, Sarah & Elsie too!!

How to act...

We are writing this to first let off a little frustration and also to help people help us. This is not easy to say or ask and we know everyone supports and loves us and will understand where we are coming from... So thank you in advance...

I think that there are a lot of people out there who seem to think that since Elsie is doing so well and is a healthy happy baby girl! People seem to think they can offer Elsie food (of any variety) without asking if its okay to do so first. Yes it may be true that a tiny bite of something isn't going to affect her sugar  - BUT when that tiny bite is a spoonful of chocolate or something that is ALL sugar even the smallest bite will affect her. There are certain things that she eats that take longer to affect sugar but almost EVERYTHING has carbs and we have to account for all the carbs she eats in order to keep her glucose levels as well maintained as we do.

I guess what we are saying is that as I hope you would ANY child you come in contact with, ASK their parents before feeding them. You never know what allergies kids may have or if they have to count carbs too!! I would never give a child food without making sure it was okay with mom/dad first. I hope our friends and family can do the same.

The unfortunate thing with diabetes is that we HAVE to measure everything Elsie eats - we carry measuring cups in our diaper bag for goodness sakes!! For the record there is NOTHING Elsie cannot eat, but we HAVE to know how many carbs are in whatever it is that she eats. This is honestly the most stressful part of diabetes and being a parent of one. We have become fairly good at memorizing the carb count in foods that Elsie frequently eats and so a lot of times if someone asks us if she can have something 9 times out of 10 we'll know how much of that is how many carbs etc...

There are also times as mothers that we generally do NOT want Elsie to eat things. At 8:00pm or later SUGAR of any form is not something we are OK with her eating, its bedtime and its not necessary. I understand that people like to treat Elsie and I want nothing more than for you to do so! BUT ask first is all we are saying.

This is NO way is meant to anyone in particular - this has happened on SO many occasions that we felt it was necessary to say something HOPING all those important to us read this and will take note.

This disease IS serious. I know that many may feel that its NOT life threatening and its MANAGEABLE, which it is. But counting carbs and giving insulin is how we are managing this. its not an easy thing and it takes a lot of trial and error and all those errors can get scary. If we ever miscalculate carbs and cover for too many we can cause Elsie to get a very low sugar. Elsie is TOO young to tell us that her sugar is dropping fast (someday she'll be able to feel that change and notify us herself) now we have to HOPE that this DEXCOM will alert us when she's falling fast and so far we've been able to.

Our job as her parents right now is to avoid lows and avoid ketones. The lows we are avoiding would be a low where Elsie lost consciousness and/or had a seizure... We NEVER want to experience this and hopefully never will!! And ketones are a result of high blood sugar without adequate insulin coverage - this is what caused her to be in Diabetic Ketoacidosis(DKA). This is how she got diagnosed. From any diabetic we've ever talked to DKA is the "worst feeling in the world" and we are thankful that Elsie will NOT remember this feeling and we are hopeful she never will feel it again!!

Thank you for listening and I hope this gives you all a little more insight into this awful disease that we are fighting on a daily basis...

Take care,
McKenzie, Sarah & Elsie