The D in Emily

When you're a mom you are called many things, mommy, mama, mom, mother. When your child is diagnosed with type one diabetes you are called a D mom. It makes it easy to refer to others as "D mom" too. I used to think that was weird at first, but now I wear it with pride. No mom wants to be a "D mom", but here we are. A new world of type one and new and foreign words are now a part of your daily vocabulary. What does it mean to be a D mom exactly? To be a D mom you need to be strong, determined, and packed with enough empathy to run over a mack truck. You must remain unfazed when you inject your screaming or wiggly child with a needle over and over....and over again. You cannot freak out over the site of blood and you must posses a poker face to things like your child asking why they have to be different and not like everyone else. You wear your heart on your sleeve but if you fall apart so will your child. To be a D mom you must be able to function as if you ...

I have never been that person that misses the thunderstorm or didn't hear that noise. I have a curse it's called light sleeping. Since before cupcake was conceived I was always the one that woke up for alarms or noises. It was a very natural thing once cupcake was born that I be the one that responds and reacts to hearing her. Soft crying or noises in her sleep  I am awake like a bugle just went off next to me. So when she was diagnosed it was natural for me to be the one to get up for night time checks. I sleep with the Dexcom next to me and an iPod and alarms are set for one to two hours throughout the entire night even on weekends. There are times I have slept past the alarms and the guilt that takes over me lasts for days. When she came home from the hospital I'll admit that I was so naive to diabetes I did't set my alarms and checks at night. I trusted in the overnight insulin to do its job. Then a few months in we got her a Dexcom. Sleeping without constant worry ...