The Induction

It just kind of snuck up on me, ya know?

It was a normal Thursday afternoon.  I didn't expect anything unusual.  I work on Thursday evenings, so Thursdays tend to be slow paced around here.  I don't schedule much -- in fact, if anything, I try to take a little nap and come up with an easy dinner (you know...cereal, oatmeal, pancakes -- or tacos, like tonight).  The girls generally have a quiet day after school (HA HA HA HA!!!), often just hanging out in their rooms or watching a movie....with a few little arguments thrown into the mix. 

Well, Sugar has been asking to play with a new classmate off and on for a couple weeks.  Today I was finally able to cross paths with her mom at pick up, and it turned out that this afternoon would work for everyone.  This other little girl had a couple other friends coming to play which meant Sugar would get to hang out with a gaggle of pals!

I shuffled the two extra kiddos I usually pick up home to their abode, followed by my 3 girls who were all talking at once trying to tell me about their day.  I can't say that I was paying attention as my brain had already moved to the next step...preparing Sugar for a playdate at a new friend's house -- WITHOUT ME THERE.   I promised myself that I'd regroup and ask each of them individually about their days once I jumped the hurdle in front of me.

Once home, we checked her blood sugar (147, after a cupcake at school 2 hours earlier, thankyouverymuch), made sure the bag was stocked, and ran through a few scenarios: 

"What will you do if your blood sugar is less than 100?"  
"What will you do if your blood sugar is over 300?"  
"Recite our phone number."  

**RING RING**

We got the phone call, I wrote down directions, and then....you know....mentioned that Sugar has diabetes.

Because you can just throw something like that into a conversation, right?

Forget the fact that we've been playing this game for 5 years and *I* still don't understand all the rules.  Or the fact that Sugar is only 7.  Or the fact that this little drop is such a powerful thing.  Or the fact that she has celiac on top of it.  I mean....it's all arbitrary, right?

Worried that I'd scare my new mom friend away, I quickly followed with an explanation that Sugar can check her own sugar, knows how to operate her insulin pump, should keep her bag in a safe place, will bring along her own gluten free snack, and knows to call me for any reason at all.

With that, we packed up and headed over.

It just happened so fast.  I tried to focus on how well she did the other night with a new babysitter.  I tried to tell myself that she can do this -- and I'll only be 2 minutes away --and it's just going to be okay....

About 20 minutes later, the phone rang.

**EEK** PANIC -- RUN -- JUMP OVER THE DOG -- FLY TO THE PHONE!!!!!!

"Mom, we're going to go swimming."

Ummmm...say again?

Let's pause for a moment here.  Seriously.  Go find the D Mama nearest to you 

and mention these three words:

"SWIMMING.  BOUNCE HOUSE."

Watch what happens.  I guarantee you'll get the same universal response. Those words will send shivers down a D Mamas spine so fast it could turn the desert heat into Antartica.

"But you don't have your swimming suit"  (YEAH RIGHT!  Like that's going to work when she's playing with TWO other girls the same size!!!)

Think.  Think fast, Wendy.  THINK THINK THINK!!!!!!

"Okay.  Well....check your sugar first....and take off your pump..." (I figured losing the basal would be best for this scenario)

After a little chat with her mom (I hope I didn't sound nervous), she offered to set the kitchen timer and have Sugar test every 30 minutes.

God love that woman!

And that was that.

I proceeded to pretend everything was normal....you know....I'm just a normal mom with a normal kid who is enjoying a normal afternoon in a normal backyard pool with normal friends.  Yup.  It's all normal.

Normal.  Normal.  Normal.

This image kept flashing into my brain from yesterday...

TARGET BLOOD SUGAR 90 - 150

But, you know....it's all normal.

Ho Hum....HO HUM....HO HUM!!!!

The next 90 minutes went like this....

180
120
80 -- Phone call while I was getting ready to pick her up to let me know that she was eating her snack.

Ya know, I think this newfound friendship is going to work out quite nicely.

(And everyone had a great day at school, by the way!)