13 days left

Today there are only 13 days left until Rachel's arrival! Isn't it amazing?! I just can't believe she's almost here.

I'm being fairly easy on myself since I'm so close. Sometimes I don't have a choice - I don't have enough energy, I can't get anyone to help me, I can't think of anything interesting to do... However, sometimes I actually reject the idea b/4 it gets off the ground.

Not part of taking it easy was yesterday. We harnessed Febe up to my newly re-designed cart. It was our first hitching & instead of taking the chance myself, mom got behind the horse. It didn't go badly, but it didn't go as well as I had hoped. I think there's something on my equipment that she wasn't liking. However, I think we're going to post-pone any more harnessing until after Rachel arrives. Who knows, it may be another 6 months b/4 I try. As long as I get to pat her nose & breathe her horsie smell I'm sure I'll be fine!

38 week check-up

Officially I'm not 38 weeks until tomorrow, but today was my appointment day, so that's what we'll call it! I was right about my progress... Not a whole lot, but definitely some - I'm now 2 cm dilated & 60% effaced. Dr. Briones wasn't worried about it at all. She was kind of concerned b/c I've been having times where my entire stomach gets rock hard & stays that way for quite some time. Apparently, that's called a hypertonic (I think its hyper- and not hypo-) uterus & can be bad for Rachel. Anyway, if it happens for more than 2 minutes I'm supposed to lay down & rest. If it still doesn't go away - or if it keeps up, I'm on my way to L&D again. Hopefully, I'll be good.

The big news today is that we've decided that Rachel is going to come on or before November 26 (her due date). If she's not here before (hopefully not) I will be 'augmented' in my labor on Thanksgiving day! I did the same thing w/ Simon and didn't have any trouble what-so-ever, so I'm hoping to continue that trend! Its funny the coincidences between Simon's pregnancy & this one... I had some problems early on where I thought I was going to lose Simon - same w/ Rachel. Then everything was pretty smooth sailing - same w/ Rachel. I started progressing around 34 weeks w/ Simon - same w/ Rachel. I was on 2 weeks bed-rest w/ Simon - same w/ Rachel. I was offered the option to augment my labor w/ Simon on his actual due date - same w/ Rachel. Simon's due date was a holiday - same w/ Rachel. Simon's due date was a Thursday - same w/ Rachel! I think its meant to be! :-)

Tomorrow is a red-letter day for a completely different reason. I get to try out my horse & cart tomorrow! Andrew brought the cart home yesterday afternoon. He put the bench seat out of his dad's Dodge Raider on the frame of my old cart. He even included both seat belts so that when I ride w/ kiddos I can strap them in to keep them from standing, climbing, and falling! He fabricated a new pulling bar & attached it for me. He also looked at all the welds, bolts, nuts, etc for wear and tear. Hopefully, if the weather is nice (its supposed to be) I'll hitch Febe up and go for a drive! I can't wait!

On a more serious note... I want to mention how grateful I am that we have men & women who are willing to risk their lives for our freedom & rights. Even if its not popular or safe for them, they willingly step up and protect this wonderful country of ours. Its amazing to me that I've got so many military people in the family... A brother & brother-in-law, two cousins (different sides of the family), my grand-dad, my dad (Coast Guard counts in my book), and I'm probably missing more. I wasn't called to be one of them, but my prayers, thoughts, and support are present & accounted for these fine individuals! Its heart-rending to think of the lives lost recently at Fort Hood as well as those lost in the Mid-East and other locations around the world. However, it is wonderful to know that their lives were not in vain. They will live on in our hearts, souls, and memories as heroes. God bless!

Our 1st official BPP...

Today we did something a little bit different. Dr. Briones ordered a Bio-Physical Profile (BPP) for Rachel that was done outside of her office. The key points were to check that Rachel was pretend breathing (she had the hiccups for the 1st 30 seconds or so - so she passed), heart-rate (154 bpm - good), movement (she wasn't still the whole time - pass), and my fluid levels (passed). So while we got to see her to check all these things, we didn't get any measurements, so I don't know how huge she's gotten in the past week or so. I guess since I already know she's over 7 lbs, I know she's not going to be small!

I also had one of my weekly blood-tests at Dr. M's office. My blood levels have all come back up to normal range. That hopefully means there won't be any complications to my delivery caused by the chemo! I'm still having paranoid thoughts about delivery for some reason, but I think knowing that my blood levels are ok will relieve some of that tension.

Yesterday we had Alix out at our house. She's from Morganfield (knows my sister-in-law & brother) and is currently studying photojournalism at WKU. She chose me as her photo story. She's to catalog my journey of being pregnant while going through chemo. She started w/ the benefit & yesterday was supposed to just be a day-in-the-life. I was afraid I'd bore her to death, but apparently w/ our 4-wheeler riding, horse petting, house-visiting, and Simon we're not terribly boring. Anyway, since I had a photographer at my mercy (he he he ;), I asked her to take some family shots of all 3 (4 if you already count Rachel) of us. One of the photos is hopefully going to end up as our Christmas card photo. Anyway, here's a small selection of the 300+ shots she took all days.