How To Hide An Insulin Pump Under A Wedding Dress
Yesterday I wrote about my wedding, focusing on the parts that meant the most to me: the man I love, our families and friends, the church service, saying “I do,” and dancing ourselves silly at the reception.
But diabetes was a part of my wedding day. We did our best to keep it quiet and unnoticed, though, using several tricky methods. I’m like a diabetes wedding magician … sort of.
First things first: the dress. Wearing an insulin pump is the easiest and least intrusive way for me to take my insulin, and I wasn’t about to go off the pump just for the sake of fashion. My solution? Design a pocket to hold my insulin pump, hidden in my wedding dress. I spoke with the seamstress at Ye Olde Bridal Shoppe and she and I designed something that left the pump accessible, yet hidden.
Even if you were looking for it, the pump pocket was almost impossible to find. Hidden along the seam of my wedding gown, it was held shut with a small piece of velcro.
The hole cut in the seam was just big enough to fit my hand into, so I could reach for the pump.
The hole was big enough for the pump to be pulled through.
And once it was free, I could make whatever adjustments I needed and then slip the pump back into its pocket.
The pocket itself was underneath the main fabric of the dress, attached to the petticoat. It was sized to be about half an inch bigger than my insulin pump, leaving room for my hands to reach in and access the pump. We stuck a safety pin to the top of the pocket so that when I reached in, I could feel around quickly for the pin and know exactly where the top of the pocket was located. This made pump retrieval and replacement very easy.
The tubing itself went from the top of the pump, through a hole cut into the petticoat, and attached to the infusion site on my right thigh. I had to plan ahead of time where my infusion set would be located so the pocket could be properly situated.
And during the entire course of my wedding, no one had any clue that I was wearing my insulin pump in my wedding dress. Even my friends who know about it couldn’t find it unless I pointed it out. I felt empowered and like a secret agent … only the bridal version.
So insulin pump: check. And I had a few other tricks up my sleeve. Like the flowers carried by my maid of honor:
After speaking with the florist, she devised a small pocket in the ribbon of NBF’s bouquet. This pocket could hold a life saver (as pictured) or even a tube of cake gel. As I stood at the altar, I felt safe knowing that NBF had a quick dose of sugar at the ready, if I needed it.
Diabetes, on the whole, didn’t affect my day enough to matter. I danced, ate cake, and experienced a wild array of emotions. But there were a few moments when it required some attention. Like after the ceremony at the church, when I tested and realized my blood sugar had cruised up from 156 mg/dl pre-ceremony to a whopping 380 mg/dl afterwards. (Nerves – they hit me right in the A1c.) Before the ceremony, I was running on the high end, cresting up around 160 – 180 mg/dl and holding steady. And during the reception, I was too excited to eat much, so I let my numbers run higher there, too, to compensate for all the dancing.
I did have a pretty aggressive low blood sugar just before our first dance, but thanks to my fast-as-lightning maid of honor, a glass of orange juice from the bar held me steady as we were announced on the dance floor as Mr. and Mrs. Christopher and Kerri Sparling.
“I’m a little low,” I admitted to Chris as the opening bars to “The Luckiest” played from the speakers. He held me close and gave me a smile.
“You’ll be fine. Just focus on me. As far as I can tell, there’s no one else in this room but you.”
You may have had your moments, Diabetes, but my wedding day was mine.
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And for more photos of ladies rocking their pumps in their wedding dresses, check out this post!
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
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