I thought I was done with “3am feedings”.  I remember the first time my son slept through the night when he was an infant.  I woke up in a panic, and rushed in to his room to check on him.  I watched him breathe until I was convinced he was OK.   Nowadays, because my son is 15 years old, I thought I was assured of at least a few more nights of uninterrupted sleep (at least until cars and curfews came around…).

The trouble with diabetes is you can’t tell they’re OK just by watching them breathe. 

My son got an insulin pump last week.  As we adjust to this new way of managing his diabetes, we need to very closely monitor his blood glucose and make changes to the pump settings until we find the levels that work for him.  This means either my husband or I (but usually both of us) get up at midnight and 3am every night to check everything.  That doesn’t mean just watching him; we’ve got to test the blood glucose and check the pump.  We have to make sure we are awake enough to think clearly, process information and make decisions.  No zombie-walking through the process; we’ve got to be alert.  The doctor has warned us that it could take as long as two weeks to get everything zeroed in. 

It’s a lot of work, stress and worry…and the learning curve is steep.  I imagine that the first night the doctor says we can all sleep through the night again, I probably won’t.  I suppose I will wake up anyway, and go in and just watch him breathe.

And I will thank the stars above that this is a problem that is manageable.

Things could always be worse.  Be thankful for what you’ve got—challenges and all. 

And don’t forget to breathe.

—–LisaMarie