Welcome To Hectic Dia-BEC-tic

Hello…

I’m Becky and I hail from a little town in the South Wales valleys in the UK. I blog about my hectic life as a Type 1 Diabetic single mum to my 4 year old daughter Cici. My aim is to provide inspiration and motivation by writing about my T1D struggles and accomplishments whilst juggling all the other important aspects of my life.

I created my blog in April 2016 after my Diabetes team decided I fit the criteria to commence Insulin Pump therapy as a way of treating my condition, in place of Multiple Daily Injections (MDI).  Originally, I wanted to use my blog as a diary to record my pump journey and discuss other Diabetes related topics. But Diabetes is just a small part of who I am. I decided to combine it with another important part of my life – being a mum – and so, Hectic Dia-BEC-tic was born, a place where you’ll read all about my random thoughts and ramblings about life!

Type 1 Diabetes

I was diagnosed with this crazy auto-immune condition aged just 6 years old, but when I turned 11, I started rebelling against it. I spent years in Diabetic denial and burnout, not really understanding the condition if I’m totally honest, just wanting to be normal. During my early adult life, I followed the crowd and became a massive party animal just like my friends, eating and drinking way too much, leading an extremely unhealthy lifestyle. This pattern continued until at the age of 26, I found out I was going to become a mum, which totally changed my outlook on life and my mindset. Now here I am aged 32, my control has never been better and I’ve finally learnt to embrace being a Diabetic instead of fighting against it! Click here to read about my Diabetes Diagnosis and my difficult journey in accepting and living with the condition.

Unfortunately, my condition hasn’t left me unscathed. In February 2016, after a routine eye screening, I was found to have developed early symptoms of a Retinopathy complication called Diabetic Macular Edema, which if left untreated, is the leading cause of blindness in Diabetics. It can develop from poor blood glucose control, but is also more common in those who have had Diabetes for a long time, usually over 20 years, so its a double whammy for me! However, touch wood, with treatment, my eyesight may remain unaffected, but the only thing I can do right now is to stay optimistic and just keep smiling.

Motherhood

In September 2011, I was shocked to discover that I was going to become a mum. My partner and I had been going through a rough patch, so it came as a complete surprise, but a good surprise. I instantly fell in love with the tiny pea sized being that was growing inside me and knew that no matter how things panned out with her dad, this baby was wanted. I cleaned up my act, listened to my Diabetes team and kept my condition under perfect control for the duration of my pregnancy. Cici was born one day after her due date weighing a whopping 9lbs 5oz!

When Cici was 5 months old, I found myself in the inevitable, but unfortunate, situation of single motherhood. Although I knew it was for the best, I struggled to cope. For the first 3 years of her life, Cici just would not sleep. I was tired and depressed. I spent most of my days on Facebook, just scrolling up and down, hitting the ‘like’ button, feeling more and more lonely as I watched everyone living their happy lives – travelling, studying, getting married, starting families. As for me, I was just existing. I too posted about my fake ‘happy’ life, wanting that little comment or ‘like’ to help me feel a little bit better about my mundane existence, but the good feeling never lasted very long.

Nowadays though, I’m enjoying every minute of being a Mum. Cici sleeps now, which has helped the fog to clear.

We have a huge bond and I enjoy our little life. We don’t have much, but we have each other. She makes me laugh every day with the funny things she says and does, and her laugh is infectious. Since joining the blogging world, I’ve had no time to feel lonely, there’s always something that needs doing. I have something to channel my energy into and I find I post a lot less on Facebook than I used to. I still click like on friends’ happy pictures and statuses, but it’s not an ‘envy’ like, it’s a ‘I’m genuinely happy for you’ like.

Our life is a never ending whirlwind of chaos & organisation, school & work runs, insulin pump refills & finger pricks, road trips & adventures, hugs & snuggles, tears & tantrums, but mostly, fun & laughter. Exactly how it should be!

Lifestyle

When I’m not busy blogging and being a Mum, I work full time at a theatre in my little town as a Marketing & Box Office Assistant. It’s a far cry from what I trained to do in College as a bright eyed 17 year old. I actually qualified as a Nursery Nurse, and by that point I already knew that wasn’t the path for me. Digital Marketing is my passion and I can’t wait to see where Hectic Dia-BEC-tic takes me!

What else should you know about me? Hmmm… Well I love coffee, I love cake and I love tattoos – I have 3 so far and want more. It’s true what they say, they are addictive! As for the rest of me, I’m sure you’ll get to know me better as you start reading my posts!

Cici

I’ve waffled on enough about me, but what about Cici?

Cici is my feisty, Frozen infatuated, 4  – going on 24 – year old blue eyed girl! She loves My Little Pony and all of the Disney Princesses, currently busy building up her collection of Disney Princess Sparkle Dolls. She’s a proper girlie girl – she loves attending Disco Dancing classes, she loves styling everybody’s hair and she loves getting her nails painted. But she can also be a bit of a tomboy, regularly leaving school at the end of day covered from head to toe in mud from “hunting worms” with her little pals!

Cici doesn’t care much for food, but like me, loves chocolate and cake. You’ll quite often find her with her head in her iPad, watching videos of Princess Dolls and the like on YouTube, whilst wearing some crazy fancy dress costume.

She’s my little ray of sunshine and will brighten up anyone’s day!

Work With Us

If you’ve got all the way to the bottom of the page and have decided you’d like to work with us, please feel free to email us at hecticdiabectic@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Alternatively, more often than not, you will find us hanging out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest with a cuppa and a slice of cake!