August 19, 2014 was a day we will never forget. For about three weeks prior I was concerned that something was going on with my beautiful, energetic, 19 month old girl. Although it was a hot summer and we spent a lot of time playing outside, she was drinking a phenomenal amount of water (when I started measuring it was around to 2L a day), her diapers were needing changed in the middle of the night because they were soaked through, and she was regularly eating the same amount of food as me! My initial thought was that she was going through a growth spurt and perhaps we were feeding her too much salt (HA!). After a miserable weekend away at my Grandma’s funeral, where I thought we are definitely in the midst of the “terrible twos”, my husband and I decided it was time to take her into our family doctor to see what was going on. I was completely in denial that it was anything more than a virus, while my husband, who worked with a woman whose child had been diagnosed with T1D 6 weeks prior, was fairly confident that we were looking at a similar diagnosis. That fateful Tuesday morning we went to see our family doctor, who given very few symptoms to go on, asked to do a urine sample to test for sugars in office. For this I could not be more grateful! Instead of sending us away, like so many families are, we were able to catch her long before DKA set in. Even after the urine sample came back positive for sugar and we were asked to immediately get bloodwork done I was still in complete denial. Thankfully my husband was not and he came home from work. He knew our next stop would be the Children’s Hospital and he wanted to make sure he was with us. For me things did not sink in when we were told there was a bed waiting for us at the Children’s Hospital, nor through the next few days of diabetes training. Which, in retrospect, probably allowed me to absorb more than I otherwise would have. I think it finally hit me when I had to give her first injection outside of the hospital and I’m not sure that I really finished working through the grieving process until years later. I was 4 months pregnant with my second beautiful little girl when Brooklyn was diagnosed and I think that added a level of chaos that allowed me to compartmentalize and keep moving forward without having to process what was really going on.
Before B’s diagnosis we knew very little about Type 1 Diabetes, something I try (but am not always great at) when dealing with others who aren’t “in the know”. The Children’s Hospital was, and continues to be, a wonderful support and resource. And in the months following diagnosis, we found amazing support from the T1D community, but we were surprised at how difficult it was to find some information. Thus, the idea for this website was born. It has been my Mothers brainchild for the last three years, as she has tirelessly carb counted and recounted nearly every recipe she had and has come across since. The online landscape has changed a bit over the years and there are more blogs and websites now than when we were diagnosed, but it is our hope that the recipes, information, and stories on this site can help and inspire you with your journey with T1D.
