Diabetes doesn't sleep!

For most parents, night time is the opportunity to recuperate from the day's work and the days stresses. Just yesterday I was talking to other parents about the lack of sleep that parents go through when you have little children. I remember back to the days when my little one was just a newborn. Those days were difficult, definitely an adjustment. However, with every day that passes, I believe that those days were easy compared to these days. I remember having to wake up 2 or 3 times to feed the baby and to make sure she is dry overnight. Now, I still feed the baby at night, its just that I feed her because of a hypoglycemic event. Thinking back to the days when I used to leave bottles of formula prepared in the fridge, so that I only had to warm them up, I realize that there was a way to prepare for that. Nowadays, nights can be quite unpredictable no matter what I do.

I hear fellow moms and dads talk about how tiring it is to care for toddlers and little children overnight. It seems like everyone has their own story! It seems like everyone has the same calculation. " I haven't slept since I got pregnant" or" I haven't slept since s/he was born." This is so frustrating for most parents. But I do assure you, that if you're lacking sleep right now just because of your children's age, start praising the Lord! Because they will eventually grow out of this.

Unfortunately, I cannot report the same for our specific situation. Why? Because diabetes doesn't sleep! Diabetes needs to be managed 24 hours a day 7 days a week, without hesitation. That means long nights pulling a graveyard shift after having to carry out strict and specific schedules during the day. Let alone, the fact that most children are active during the day. And then, there is a little detail that I have never developed the art of sleeping during the day. So right now, As I am dealing with a hypoglycemic event my daughter is having right now I am thinking that I would be so grateful to just be able to wake up to feed a bottle or check a crying baby. Or pull an all nighter studying for a test. But the stress of overnight diabetes management...that is in a league of its own. Only a parent with a diabetic kis knows the anxiety and stress of dealing with this. Because it IS a life or death situation, not a hunger or temporary issue.  You won't be able to let it go and my child will most probably never outgrow this.

I contemplate what the next few hours will be like, I think about the reason why I am up. I think about the fact that if I sleep my daughter could slip into the permanent sleep we call death.  So in my case, I'm not staying awake because my child is sick or because my child is crying because she wants a bottle of milk. I am staying alert so I can watch her sleep and keep her safe. When put into the right perspective, nothing is more important than making sure that she is safe. And the cost, its just sleep. One day, diabetes could sleep. But until then, I am happy to sacrifice my own sleep so that she can continue to live healthily. I wish this was came to our  my minds everytime we complain because our children wake us up due to a sick day or because our children have  nightmares.

Before our diagnosis, I was always awake because my daughter is a sleep talker and sleep walker. I never knew whether she was awake or sleeping. But now, I need to know that she is okay. Not because she might walk around the house and trip and fall, but because right now, today, we might have a silent traitor try to invade our life in her sleep. Now... back to the news, the glucometer and whatever I can find that might help me stay alert. Back to the graveyard shift!