The ears have it

This photo was taken after church a couple of weeks ago.

The big 3rd birthday is approaching!  This year I decided to give each girl a "special day" before the party so they could each have a turn in the spotlight.  Lana and Gwyn have had theirs, and Maddie's is tomorrow.  I'll be posting lots of pictures soon.

The load is getting heavier...

The first day of the rest of my life

Yesterday I found out that I am a Type 1 diabetic.  This was more sad news for me.  It means that the insulin-producing beta cells in my pancreas have been/are being destroyed, and that I will most likely be insulin-dependant for the rest of my life.   Type 1 is sometimes triggered by an autoimmune response to a virus.  There's no way to know for sure, but I suspect that it may have begun in May of 2008 when I had the Coxsackie virus.

So yesterday I also began insulin injections, and reality sunk in some more.  I guess one advantage to having triplets is that since my skin was so stretched, the shots don't hurt that much!  :)

I thought I had a pretty good idea of how I had to eat, but it's been a bit of a rollercoaster today of highs and lows.  It's frustrating!  I'm sure I'll get it figured out soon enough.  I wrote before of how gestational diabetes was easier for me to deal with because of its temporary nature.  Really, I know that any health problem we deal with is temporary--chronic or not.  It's just hard to see with an eternal perspective sometimes.

 

D&C 122:7 ... "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

A little excitement

***If you are squeamish about needles, you probably shouldn't read this.***

In the past few weeks, I've had 9 blood draws.  Normally I do fine--I just don't look at the needle.  For my last glucose tolerance test, they put in an IV line so they wouldn't have to poke me four times that day.  Well, the nurse putting the IV in was in training, so the regular nurse was talking her through it.  She checked my  arm three times and was advised where and how to do it.  Her first try wasn't quite right, so they talked about it some more and moved the needle around for a couple minutes.  I was starting to feel pretty uncomfortable, but thought I was ok.  They decided it wasn't going to work and went to my other arm.  This time the regular nurse did it.  The IV was in, and taped up.  It was time for me to drink the nasty glucose solution, but by this time I was feeling a little nauseous.  I asked for a little bit of water, then it really hit me.  My blood pressure plummeted and I felt horrible.  I have never felt like that before, but I knew I just needed to put my head down for a while.  The nurse wouldn't leave me alone though.  Of course it is her job to make sure I'm ok.  She wanted me to go lay down but I knew that if I stood up or even talked much I would pass out. I was finally able to go lay down, but before I knew it there were about 10 people in the room--an ER nurse, a few doctors, and a few other nurses who gradually trickled in to see what the fuss was about.  I was hooked up to the pulse-ox, blood pressure cuff, and heart monitor.  At first my blood pressure didn't register on the cuff, but it soon started coming up--80, 90, then 100.

I was so embarrassed!  I kept apologizing, and with those ten sets of eyes on me I finally started crying.  I promised that I felt better, and could I please still take my glucose test??  I was thankful when I was left with 3 nurses and the nasty drink.

Now that it's all over, I kind of wish I had a picture of myself.  They said I looked awful, and the trainee said she had never seen lips that color before.  I guess now I know what it's like to almost pass out.

Valentine's Day

I decided to make Valentine's Day special for everyone this year.  The girls got to dress up in their pink dresses like pretty princesses, and Everett put on some Sunday pants to be a handsome prince.

Gwyn, Lana, Maddie, Everett

2 things I love about this photo: the little piggies, and how EVERETT wrote his name

 

Since I knew Cary would be taking me out for dinner, I figured I'd make a carby treat for the kids.  They had pink, heart-shaped pancakes for dinner.  This may be the last time they eat pancakes for a looong time--or at least pancakes made with refined flour.

Cary did some research and made a reservation at Ruby Tuesday for dinner.  It was a great choice, and we had a wonderful time on our date.  Thank you Cary!

 

Another Challenge

When I was expecting the girls, I developed gestational diabetes. I hadn't had proper follow-up since then, so after recent events I decided I had better get myself checked out--just in case. As it turns out, I am now diabetic.

I was really shocked. I thought I was in pretty good health. I could definitely increase my activity level and make small changes to my diet, but I really didn't expect the diagnosis. I have to say that it was a much easier pill to swallow when it was supposedly temporary. But, as I have said before: I am one determined/stubborn woman. I am learning all I can right now and making changes. I have been reading about possible reversal of insulin resistance, and plan on doing all that I can to make it happen. I realize that I may need to depend on insulin or other drugs for the rest of my life, but I will be doing my part to keep myself as healthy as possible. Right now our fridge is very green, and I will definitely be expanding our garden this year.

I'm glad that I know, and will be able to take care of myself. I have no idea how long I have been diabetic. Maybe almost three years! Hopefully my energy level will go up. I've probably been working hard with low-energy for a long time without realizing just how much better I could feel.


By the way, I won't be eating much in the way of dessert, but cheesecake is one of my favorites. If anyone has a tried and true low-carb recipe, please share!

4 Wishes

Maddie wants to fly in an airplane.

Gwyn wants to ride on a horsie.

Lana wants a dinosaur.

Everett wants to be tiny and live in Jello.

Balloons and Sticky Faces

That's what it's all about!

On Friday we took the kids to a Home Expo at the mall. We walked around and here and there the kids got balloons and lolipops. Lana just liked holding her lolipop. She dropped it on the floor at one point and was so upset. I just handed it back to her because I knew she wouldn't put it in her mouth! There was also a party supplier there with a ball pit, bounce room, and bouncy obstacle course and slide. We left with four happy, sticky kids (at least until the balloons started popping).

More Everett Creativity

Everett loves to build things, and has been pretty creative with the Legos lately. I would describe it as a mathematical or organized creativity: he likes to make patterns and symmetrical shapes. He likes to stick with one color or a simple color scheme. I guess some people would say that he's not being very creative, but I think it's just a different kind of creativity.

This week my mom brought over the "Lite Brite" I had as a kid. (I looked online to make sure I was spelling that correctly and saw that they're still around, though the design has changed a good bit since then.) It's strange for me to think that it's been over 20 years since I played with it last. Everett has been enjoying that too.

Ooga Booga Oranges

I'm not sure exactly when this started, but I'm pretty sure it was after we had Everett.

Cary always peels clementines a certain way, and they have become known as "ooga booga oranges" in our family. The kids sometimes pretend they're elephants. For a Christmas gift one year, my mom actually painted eyes on a whole little crate of them for Cary.

Cary and Everett in December of 2004:

The girls in June of 2007:

And here's Cary's "ooga booga snowman":

Winter Fun

All "winter" long, Everett has been eagerly awaiting the appearance of the "snow mountains" at the mall--you know, the ones the plows leave behind in the parking lot. Every time we had a snowfall, we'd go check to see if there were any snow mountains. Well winter finally hit around here.

We took our first opportunity to go visit the snow mountains. We were a little crazy because it was right around 0 degrees that day. But we bundled everyone up really well and headed on over. I spent most of the brief outing in the van. Yes, I'm a wimp. But I took care of the girls as they came back in one by one. Maddie just LOVED it. She could hardly move, but was having riots. Everett had a blast too. Cary always teases people about not growing up in Canada when it gets cold, but the truth is, he hates the cold too.

Everett, Gwyn, Maddie, and Lana - Rulers of the Mountain

Last week we had a 40+ degree day, with a good bit of snow still on the ground. My mom went out with the kids and they made a snowman together. (Mom ended up even taking off her light jacket.)