Tuesday, November 27, 2012

All in a diabetic’s day: Second babies, Breastfeeding, and flu shots


Second Babies
I must say, when my son was born 3 years ago, I was very overwhelmed! Being a mama was a huge adjustment compared to the sleep filled / cocktail hour and coffee break existence I`d known up until then.   Presently, I’ve also gotten used to too little sleep and public temper tantrums.  But with my daughter, I’ve already been broken in so I can just enjoy.  I sometimes feel like I`m playing dolly!  Man are babies cute!  My challenge is to ensure I have the ‘me’ time I need to do  my pump set changes.  Also, not to get distracted on my way to fixing a low. (which has happened a few times...)

Breastfeeding and Diabetes
It’s so hard to maintain smooth decent blood sugars when you breastfeed!  Basically, I cannot anticipate how often a newborn needs to nurse.  Nor the impact each particular feed has on my levels.
If the baby has a growth spurt and needs to feed often, I find myself facing many lows in the vicinity of low 3’s high 2’s mmol/L
If I don’t feed regularly, I find myself with 14mmol/L
Quite the challenge.
I feel like I’m back on the rollercoaster ride of feeding lows like with multiple daily injections since you cannot program a pump for a trend you cannot foresee.
So now what do I do? Test often and correct as needed.


Flu shot and diabetes
So I went and got my flu shot.  People with diabetes are considered vulnerable.  But honestly, I did it for my baby girl, so that she would get the antibodies while I breastfeed.  The consequence on my blood sugars was ugly!  I ad to increase my insulin by 125%!
Creating antibodies manifests as sugar in the blood stream.
But it only lasted 2 weeks.  I also felt like I had gotten socked in the arm.  But that was everyone not just diabetic me.