I left off last time with Judah being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at the doctor’s office on Saturday morning.

What I didn’t say last time was that I didn’t ask my husband to come to the clinic with us, he just decided to come when I told him I was freaking out. And I am so very, very thankful he did. Right after they told us he has type 1 diabetes and was in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), they called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. I was at the doctor with Judah and my three week old son – I wouldn’t have been able to ride on the ambulance with him since I had Owen with me also. Jared (my husband) was able to ride in the ambulance with him to the emergency room. Side note – Jared knew the paramedic that was in the back with Judah, which made the ride a little less intimidating.

There was another doctor at the clinic that day that came to see me and gave me her cell phone number. Her son was then 21 years old, but had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 11 months old. I can’t even imagine having a baby with this disease. She talked to me while I was waiting for my mom and sister to get there and she told me that this is the best time for him to be diagnosed because they have made so much progress in technology and she believes there will be a cure in Judah’s lifetime. Her husband is also a doctor and he is now Judah and Zoe Kate’s endocrinologist.

The doctor told me I needed to call someone to take me to the hospital because she wasn’t going to allow me to drive. Thankfully my mom was available to come pick me and Owen up and my sister came with her to get Jared’s truck. At the time, I thought it was silly she made me get a driver, but by the time my mom got there, I know I wouldn’t have been able to make it to the hospital safely. I’m so thankful for how quickly my mom and sister got there.

Judah had made it into a room at the ER by the time we got to the hospital and they were trying to put in an IV. I think that had to have been the most heartbreaking moment of my life. He was so thirsty because he was so dehydrated from DKA and they couldn’t find a vein. Every single person that came in the room, he begged for water, but they all had to tell him no. It makes me tear up thinking about it.

As hard as that day was, looking back on it, I can see things to be thankful for. The nurse we had also had type 1 diabetes and was able to help us through the process and explain things, not just from an academic perspective, but the perspective of the patient. And a few months later, when we ended up back in the emergency room with Judah, she saw his name and remembered him and came to check on him.

After bringing in the vein finder device and the nurse that was best at sticking patients, they finally got an IV in and we were taken to a room. Judah wasn’t allowed to eat or drink the rest of the day and we decided I should go home and sleep since Owen was still waking up at night to eat. I spent the night with my mom so I could leave Zoe Kate with her when I needed to get back to the hospital in the morning early to be there when the doctor came.

Funny story: I have autoimmune urticaria (hives). I don’t have hives all the time, but after Owen was born I had a flare up and they make it really hard to function, and when I have a flare up, stress makes them a lot worse. And I was a little stressed while all this was going on 😬. On Sunday morning, the nurse practitioner I used to see came to the hospital to give me a steroid shot, it was a life saver! I was miserable from the hives as well all that was going on with my son – this was one of the other things I found to be thankful for.

The days we spent in the hospital are really mostly a blur. I do remember one of the mornings I was driving to the hospital, Jared called me and told me that Judah had been low, but they gave him some apple juice and he was fine. There were several different moments (and still are) that it really hit me that this is what my son’s life was going to be and this was one of those times. I was overwhelmed thinking about being responsible for him not going too low (we had an old friend that has type 1 diabetes, so I was aware of how bad lows can be) or too high – they trusted us to keep him healthy?! It was too much.

Judah ended up spending two night in the hospital. I was scared to death to take him home! But both of the doctors we had seen at the clinic on Saturday either called or texted me over the weekend to check in on Judah. The hospital staff took us through a lot of diabetes education, how to count carbs and dose insulin, how to give glucagon. Honestly, I can’t remember everything they told – we were given SO MUCH information in 48 hours.

We were so nervous to go home with this huge responsibility, but it was good to be home as a family. Zoe Kate had missed us and our boxer, Bailey, was so happy to have Judah back home. She had been so depressed before we had gone to the doctor, I think she knew something was wrong with Judah. There are diabetes alert dogs (DADs) that can sense when there will be a high or low blood sugar – Bailey seemed to naturally be a diabetes alert dog without all the training.

How long was your hospital stay? Did you have to stay in the ICU? How was that experience? Even though it was so scary how sick Judah was, I’m very thankful he didn’t have to stay in ICU. How did you feel when you were headed home? Do you have a diabetes alert dog?