Mine started pumping at 1 1/2 years…and now she is 3…it’s the best thing we could have done !!
Her A1C is 7.0 and I got her some cute pump paks so she likes using them…
I understand your feelings like so many of the others here! Our son Rory was diagnosed a month after I had found out I was pregnant with out third (not planned) Her name is Ava too! 
It was a major shock! And I had all the same worries. One of the first questions I asked the doctors when Rory was diagnosed was “what are the chances the new baby would get it?” Then to just add to it all, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. I was able to control it with diet, but had the added worries of how that might affect Ava also. But I was able to keep my blood sugars under control and at times wishing it was that easy with Rory! It sort of forced me to really make sure I was taking care of myself with the pregnancy when so much of my attention and focus was on Rory and caring for him. I really did enjoy my pregnancy though (well except for the varicose veins! lol)
But being the primary caregiver for Rory once we got started with treatment for him, I felt like “how am I supposed to do all of this” It was and still is a challenge. Ava has proven to be our most intense child out of the three! She is 2 now and Rory is 3 1/2, I also have a 7 year old. I don’t seem to worry as much for our oldest, but for a while I was checking Ava frequently because she has always been an easily irritable child and I couldn’t help but think at times she was acting like Rory did. But her numbers have always been normal and I realized checking all the time doesn’t change anything. Funny thing is she never fussed about it ever. She even asks to be checked after I am done checking Rory. She sees it as normal I guess. She tries to help when I change his pump site and then lies down for her turn!
Meal times have always been a challenge, even if being prepared. I would try to get Rory and Alana all set before I would sit down to nurse Ava. Ava has never been a patient child
I should mention we also moved into a new house and I started a new job all around the time Ava was born and about 8 months after Rory was diagnosed, so my stress level was compounded by it all.
The main thing I would suggest is to be sure you have family, friends, people close to you etc…who are comfortable with handling your Ava’s care. I felt like I was the only one at times and being pulled in so many directions at once. “Rory needs this, Ava needs fed…” So that way you can enjoy moments with the new baby, which is a challenge with just adding another child, but more so when you have an older child with more needs.
Congratulations! It is a blessing! Some days will be better than others but know that you are not alone. I was so thrilled to read this post! Sometimes you can feel so isolated. But it is nice to know you can reach out to others experiencing the same situations in their lives.
Thank you so much for sharing! It’s so funny because truly, when I read the preg test my first thought was oh my Lord how am I gonna do this??? Diabetes care is slightly time consuming and you def have to think about it several times a day. You almost feel like one way or another one child is bound to get jipped…thankfully though I’ve calmed down a lot…probably from reading everyone’s calming posts and I feel much better and am confident and sooo excited about this baby. Plus my kids are excited, especially Ava…and the baby is due a day after her B-day. So this is like a gift for her and all of us…a totally unexpected gift…but aren’t those the best ones?
Thanks again…I will definitely be keeping in touch with you since we are so similar
hi, first of all congratulations on your pregnancy. i understand yo very well. i have a 5 years old boy(diagnosed 16 months ago) and now i am pregnant, 33 weeks. i have felt just as you when i first learned about my pregnancy. Now i feel better and somehow think that i will be able to handle two children, but still have a deep fear. what if the second one also becomes diabetic??? but later i say to myself, if you can look after a one diabetic, you can also take care of the second one as well.
:))
My daughter was diagnosed with diabetes when I was pregnant with our third child. About 8 1/2 months pregnant!
Few weeks later I had a newborn and a newly diagnosed child. I won’t lie, it was stressful, but quickly became a part of our regular daily routine. Change a diaper, check glucose…
Almost six years later now, and we are doing well.
Of course there will be guilt of giving one child a bit more attention than another, but that can happen without the diabetes
Don’t let anything stop you! Live your life as if it’s perfect.
Hi, Kelly~
Our daughter was diagnosed at 15 months and was pumping by 18 months. I feel it’s the best decision we made for her also…she doesn’t mind it at all and it’s really helped her A1C. We have a pump belt, but she now prefers to wear it clipped to her clothes and she loves the electric blue color she just got with the new Revel.
It seems that you are feeling better now.
You can do it. I have 3 children. My daughter who is 3 now, was diagnosed at 22 months, 4 months after my twin boys were born. It was hard and there were days I felt I gave her the attention more to my little girl but I did it with the help of friends (we have no family in the area). In April of this year, as I watch one of my sons (at 18 months) start drinking a lot and wetting a lot, I decided to test him. Once testing him twice (he was in the 400’s), I called a friend (who is a doctor) and had her go to the ER to help with my other two children. He was diagnosed before going into DKA and our stay was only 1 1/2 days in the hospital. I was comfortable with taking care of him because I was already taking care of a diabetic child. I worry that the other twin will also be T1D but I know that I can do whatever is handed to me. It is very time consuming to take care of the two and I try to remember my third little guy needs the attention too. My daughter and son will always have each other and understand the ups and downs they will go through.
You will do fine. At times, I think I want another child and then I start to worry if I will be able to do it too. God will not give you something you can’t handle. Enjoy your pregancy and take care of your kids. Everything will fall into place.
All your kids will have a special place in your heart.
Thanks for that I’m in a better place now…the fear has subsided and I’m excited and ready to deal with whatever may come my way…just wondering when Ill ever sleep…lol…I am so many times at night checking my daughter’s sugar…when the baby comes forget it I’ll really never sleep, lol but it will be worth it!
I can understand that. I don’t think I have had a whole night sleep because I constantly get up when someone cries. It never ends.
Keep us posted.
Have you found out what the sex is of the baby?
My son is 6 and dx when he was 4. He’s our youngest. I wanted another baby for a while, but my hubby feels our plate is full. We have a 9 year old daughter. Had Will been the oldest I think we probably would have still had another. I have a friend who’s oldest was dx at 3 and she another that was like 14mo. She’s now preggo with #5. I personally don’t know how she does it. They pump and so do we. Will uses the omnipod. We chose it for 2 reasons #1 The needle is inside the pod so he never has to see it, and #2 It’s wireless so he or another child can’t push buttons on it and accidently bolus him at school. I know they have a lock out, but kids are smart. I feel like we got some of our freedom back with the pump. Meals weren’t on such a tight schedule and I can bolus him for what he eats rather than a fight to finish everything because he’s had a shot. That part of it might make it easier with a new baby. Congratulations!
Not yet, we find out in November…funny…if it weren’t for Diabetes I’d probaly be hoping for a specific gender since I already have one of each…but instead I just pray this baby is Diabetes free…no what the sex!
no matter what the sex
Hmm I never thought about the omnipod. We do shots. I couldn’t do the pump just yet because I feel like in a sense it’d be a constant reminder to my daughter that she’s a diabetic. It’s also a lot of baggage for a 4 yr old to carry around 24/7…plus im super paranoid that itd have a glitch and deposit way too much insulin in her at night and I wouldn’t know. I like that after she gets a shot, she’s free…at least until the next shot. I decided that would be something I’d wait for when she’s a little older and discuss with her and whatever she wants to do then I’m all for it. But nothing against young pumpers, more power to them! The omnipod seems nice and small, at least much smaller than the pumps.
We tried the omni-pod for our 7yo diabetic daughter, we had the complication that she didn’t have enough body fat to provide enough rotaion spots. there are supposed to be some new smaller “patch” pumps coming out in another year or 2, so we are also waiting.
as to your original post, i am sure that you and every parent on this site would agree that none of us would ever trade or give back our diabetic child. I had just had our 4th child when our middle daughter got her T1 diagnosis. it has been hard, and my little ones don’t always get the immediate attention that they need, but as one other poster said “this is the new norm”. We now have 2 T1’s. My oldest daughter is in the midst of getting an official diagnosis, but there is no doubt. i agree with some of the other muti T1 families that it is heart-breaking, but not the end of the world. In many ways this will make things easier. My girls are only 19 months apart, and they tell everyone that they do everything together, so now they are just doing diabetes together. Neither of my girsl feel very alone anymore. This was a problem before because my 7yo was the first T1 diagnosis in either my or my husbands families. Completely out of the blue! now they have eachother. and again i ask myself if i would ever change who either of my daughters are, and i can honestly say “NO”. Diabetes is a part of our lives, and it will shape who they are. i am sad becasue part of their childhoods have been stolen, but I know that they are going to grow into amazing women beacuse of what they live with everyday.
Hi, again, Kelly! (We exchanged notes when I first started here)
I am type 1 & my son was diagnosed with type 1 dec 2009- and I felt horribly guilty having passed it on. (And I hacked away at that guilt, since I knew it was silly)
We had just started trying for our second a couple of months before he was diagnosed- and after all the pieces of our life fell back together, my husband and I talked about the new diabetes factor~ and we decided, knowing (a) how great my life has been with 27 years of diabetes in varying states of control and even more with much more basic tools way back when and (b) how normal our son’s life has become (all things considered)- that another sweet person in this world with diabetes is still another sweet person in this world. (Like yours I’m sure, our kid rocks
Our little lady is due Nov 12.
Here’s the good news, though- I am one of six kids and the only one who got T1D so far- I was diagnosed in 1983- and none of them have any signs of it. And when talking to my endocrinologist and my son’s, they both told me that if I was not diabetic, this new baby’s chances would be very, very low. Very few siblings have it in common- most are like me, the only lonely one (who got apples in her Christmas stocking while others got snickers bars ;). In our case, this baby has a higher chance with two first degree relatives with the disease, but she’s still more likely not to get it either.
I never wished the disease on my siblings (even while munching on those snickers bars), but had one of them been diagnosed, I know I would have appreciated knowing someone else young that had it.
And luckily- eventually your daughter won’t need so much monitoring from you anyway. We childhood diabetics are known for being neurotically careful and independent.
As for juggling the current diabetes care and a new baby, I’m sure we’ll both feel a bit overwhelmed at first (just like we were when the kids were first diagnosed), but then somehow it will work itself out and we’ll laugh that we ever doubted ourselves.
Congratulations on your pregnancy~ your children are lucky to have such a sweet, invested mom!
Carolee
Very nicely put…thank you for that
Thank you so much! I’m much better now and I know I can take on whatever comes my way! You guys here are the best!
Everything will be alright!!! My oldest son was diagnosed at age 4 (he is now 7) and at the time I he had a 14 month old brother. We were freaked out, but it all seemed to work out just fine. Then, I got pregnant unexpectedly and now we have a wonderful 9 month old little girl. I will have to say adding one more to the mix has made things a little wild but overall it seems to work just fine. YES! I think all parents have the fear that another child will be diagnosed and I pray it doesn’t happen but if it does we already know what to expect. I will say I did save my little girls cord blood in the hopes of one day research would come up with something. Just always remember that each child is different and no one more important than the other, even though you will feel like sometimes you are neglecting one, but you are not, you are simply meeting the needs that are most important at the time for each child. Hang in there and be happy, you will soon have a wonderful addition to your family!