So far so good....

Claire is her normal self this morning! This would explain the high noise level in our home, but I am NOT complaining. I feel so blessed to be home this morning listening to the chaos and not contemplating evacuation like my good friend Emily in New Orleans! (Still praying for ya Em!) By the way, Emily is expecting their 4th little one soon. She never fails to amaze me with her amazing attitude! SO I thought I would use this lazy Saturday morning to give you a little info on Claire's health. Here is what little information I have been able to find.

Insulin resistance is a silent condition that increases the chances of developing diabetes and heart disease. Learning about insulin resistance is the first step you can take toward making lifestyle changes that will help you prevent diabetes and other health problems.
What does insulin do?
After you eat, the food is broken down into glucose, the simple sugar that is the main source of energy for the body's cells. But your cells cannot use glucose without insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas. Insulin helps the cells take in glucose and convert it to energy. When the pancreas does not make enough insulin or the body is unable to use the insulin that is present, the cells cannot use glucose. Excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream, setting the stage for diabetes.
Being obese or overweight affects the way insulin works in your body. Extra fat tissue can make your body resistant to the action of insulin, but exercise helps insulin work well.

If you have insulin resistance, your muscle, fat, and liver cells do not use insulin properly. The pancreas tries to keep up with the demand for insulin by producing more. Eventually, the pancreas cannot keep up with the body's need for insulin, and excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream. Many people with insulin resistance have high levels of blood glucose and high levels of insulin circulating in their blood at the same time.

Type 2 diabetes is sometimes defined as the form of diabetes that develops when the body does not respond properly to insulin, as opposed to type 1 diabetes, in which the pancreas makes no insulin at all. At first, the pancreas keeps up with the added demand by producing more insulin. In time, however, it loses the ability to secrete enough insulin in response to meals.
Insulin resistance can also occur in people who have type 1 diabetes, especially if they are overweight.
What causes insulin resistance?
Because insulin resistance tends to run in families, we know that genes are partly responsible. Excess weight also contributes to insulin resistance because too much fat interferes with muscles' ability to use insulin. Lack of exercise further reduces muscles' ability to use insulin.
Many people with insulin resistance and high blood glucose have excess weight around the waist, high LDL (bad) blood cholesterol levels, low HDL (good) cholesterol levels, high levels of triglycerides (another fat in the blood), and high blood pressure, all conditions that also put the heart at risk. This combination of problems is referred to as the metabolic syndrome, or the insulin resistance syndrome (formerly called Syndrome X).

So there you have it, this is pretty much all the info I have. If you will notice, no mention of children. There is NO information on children and insulin resistance. It is also very upsetting to me that everything I read makes it sound like if you have this condition it is because you are overweight and lazy. I KNOW that my child eats very healthy. She has always been a healthy eater and takes pride in the fact that she "chooses healthy choices!" She is also very active. Don't get me wrong, she watches TV and movies but she is not one to camp out for hours in a trance. She is in gymnastics, jumps on the trampoline and swims almost everyday. I KNOW all this. My family and friends know this, so I am having to stop myself from worrying about what everyone else thinks. I'm proud. I am proud that I listened to my heart and my gut. I'm proud that I fought for my daughter. I'm proud that she has a soft place to land when times are tough.

Reason Number 978 why....

it's a HUGE BLESSING to work for Johnson & Johnson. When I called to make sure Claire's Rx was in fact at the pharmacy, ready and waiting I asked if the insurance covered the liquid. She said "no" and I asked her how much it was. $36.92. It didn't sound too bad to me because I know how much Steph's chemo pills were and that is a drop in the bucket compared to that! HOWEVER, when Brian went to pick it up and they actually ran it through, we found that our insurance covered the WHOLE THING! I don't know why, but I'm not going to ask questions! God is so good to us and so is good ol' J&J!!!

Prayers

After a few days of leaving voicemail after voicemail we finally got Claire's medication called in. After Cohen's nap, we will go pick it up and find out if insurance covers it or not! She will start tonight. Please pray for her little body. The nurse told me today that we could be in for a long weekend. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I appreciate her honesty. I'm really nervous about it. They say that it could cause some pretty bad stomach "issues." Just pray that if she does have troubles with it that we can keep her comfortable. Did I mention that I'm extremely nervous?!? I will let you all know how it goes. After all, it's been a few days since my last "poopy post."

First Day of School

Drew and Papa before they met us at school.



Drew and Nanny

Claire, Drew and Cohen before they headed to their classrooms!

BOTH of my kiddos started "school" on Tuesday. Claire is actually in Pre-K and Cohen is just doing a "mother's day out" program. The preschool we take them to is AMAZING. They have all become like a family to us and I am not sure I would be able to leave my kids anywhere else. They love each child that comes through that door and it shows. The first day was crazy and hectic. I decided the night before that the kids would surely wake me up around 7. NOPE we all slept until 8, which is a problem since school starts at 9!!! So, we will get a handle on that for tomorrow! We were greeted by Nanny and Papa who were there with Drew waiting for us. Brian took Cohen down to his class and I never saw him again!!! I was so busy getting Claire settled in and turning in paperwork, that I totally missed my baby going into his first day! That's okay, Daddy got the job done (probably better than I would have!) AND we have a GREAT picture of it!

I went and had breakfast with my parents to celebrate their 30th anniversary! After we ate we decided that we would go to Target. Some of you may know, this is one of our favorite things to do! It may sound stupid to some and down right ridiculous to others, but we love it! I've said before, which was not the case on Tuesday, but we may not buy a thing we just love to look for bargains! We enjoyed ourselves but we were so excited to pick up the kids. When I drove up, Cohen's class was playing outside. One of my favorite things is to watch my kids when they don't know I'm watching. He was SO cute! We drove around and were the first cars in line. When Cohen looked out and saw me, he started jumping up and down with a huge smile on his face yelling "MOMMA MOMMA MOMMA!" His teachers brought him out and told me that he is one of the sweetest kids they have ever met! They said that there was a little girl that cried off and on all day. He was always hugging her and kissing her trying to console her!!! THAT'S MY BOY!

He was very excited when he saw Nanny behind me! He pointed right at her and yelled "NANNY!" Then Claire came out and was equally as excited to see me. We took the kids to Sonic for slushes and to talk about their day. Drew said his favorite part of the day was "waiting for Claire to get to school." Claire's favorite part was "the parachute." I was so proud of my big kids!

To top it off, today Cohen went without a diaper until noon! He peed in the potty 3 times! Let me rephrase that....he peed AROUND the potty. I can't believe how much he is WANTING to use the potty. I CAN'T wait to be rid of diapers! Size 6 diapers are expensive! I put him in a diaper and we headed to the movies! This was Cohen's first movie (Kung Fu Panda) and he did great. He laughed at the first 30 minutes (LOUD) and slept through the rest. Claire and Drew loved the movie (Claire had already seen it with Grandma but said it was "still good") and loved the snacks even more! I got my favorite, movie popcorn, so everyone was happy! Great day!

Results are in!

Well, after two years of pleading with 2 pediatricians and 4 pediatric specialists, we have our answer. Our sweet girl is insulin resistant. Here is the results we got on Monday.

Claire's chronological age= 4 years 1 month
Claire's bone age (the actual size of her bones)= 6 years 10 months

Normal insulin levels for a child her age= Less than 17
Claire's insulin levels= 41

SO what does this mean? Claire gets to take medication twice a day. For how long? I have no idea. We don't have another appointment with the endo doc until February unless we have problems with the meds. I wish I could tell you the name of the medication but I was driving when they called. I should have the medication in hand, but they never called it in yesterday (LIKE THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO!) which stinks. I was hoping to have at least 2 doses in her by tonight because they say it can cause some stomach issues and I was hoping to test it out on a day that she doesn't go to pre-school. So we may wait until this weekend to do it. Another thing is that the liquid form is MUCH more expensive than the pill form so not all insurance companies cover it. We have great insurance, but who knows.

We are glad to have a diagnosis. Although it's not exactly a jumping for joy moment, it is a relief to know that:

A. I'm not crazy.
B. I'm not vain for worrying about my child's weight gain. (I think she is perfect in every way, but I KNEW something wasn't right!!!)
C. What we are dealing with.
D. It's treatable.
E. It's not Type I diabetes.

So now, we wait to see what happens with the medication and hope that a spoonful of Splenda helps the medicine go down!

The glamourous life I lead...

Just the other day as I was checking my e-mail, the kids were playing together just a few feet away in the playroom. I was thinking to myself...."How sweet are they? They are just playing so well together!" Then I hear my little princess say "Oh Cohen, you took your diaper off!" Before I could get to them I heard her follow up with "OH COHEN! WHY DO YOU HAVE POOP ON YOUR FACE?!?!?" Yup, Poops McGee had taken his diaper off and then wiped his face!!! So gross. Oh, and the picture....that's him much later, after a bath enjoying some chocolate pudding. How many of you were gagging and questioning why I would actually take the time to get the camera to capture the image of my little man covered in dookie?!? Oh you underestimate me! Here is sister sledge getting in on the pudding festivities! (Sugar free of course!)