Thank you

Thank you to all of you who left comments and emailed me and called me and left messages on Facebook. I really appreciate all your suggestions and support. It's very nice to know there are many people who care about how I'm feeling, and that in itself made me feel much better.

Things are looking up. I hired a doula from Phoenix who will help us during the birth process. She said that she is willing to do whatever we need her to do during labor, whether it be massage or breathing techniques or being our liaison to the nurses/doctors or getting Mark food or staying with me while Mark gets food or supporting Mark while he supports me, etc. I think we're both a little relieved that we'll have someone there on our "team" and we're looking forward to it. She'll come to our house when labor begins (unless we want her to meet us at the hospital) and she's meeting with us the week we get to Phoenix so we can meet face to face and so my mom can meet her also. We're excited.

I also set up my first OB appt in AZ today, which means I have an OB there lined up. I'll be going to Dr. Rebecca Branaman. She's in a practice with 4 doctors, including her, 3 females and 1 male. They said her c-section rate is around 30% including repeat c-sections, and that they thought she'd be open to different birthing positions. It's another big relief to have that set up and not have to worry about that anymore. My first appt there is April 21.

Mark hooked (failed) his first ride ever in training yesterday. He's learning to basically dogfight now, and learning to max perform the jet he flies. He over G'd the jet, which is an automatic hook, so he was a little bummed about that. They're allowed to pull 6.1 G's in the jet and he pulled 6.18 G's, so they didn't get to complete their flight. (When you over G a jet, you have to immediately stop the flight and go back to base and land so they can check the jet over.) His instructor was really bummed because he said Mark was doing exactly what he was supposed to do and he was beating the guy he was flying against. Mark redid that flight today and passed. I was worried Mark would be really upset with himself for hooking. All through phases 1,2 and 3 of UPT, he never hooked a flight. (He hooked twice in between UPT and IFF, but mainly because he wasn't getting enough hours and one of the hooks was after he'd been out of the jet for over a month because he was at survival trainings.) He only got sat down once during EP's (emergency procedures) during UPT also. (Ironically enough, by your husband, Lisa. *grins*) For those of you not "related" to the military, they have to do briefs before their flights, and they go over emergency procedures and they have to stand up in front of the class and recite what they'd do if certain emergencies happen. If they don't get the EP right, they get "sat down" and then sometimes they don't get to fly that day, depending on the instructor.

Mark was worried that I'd be mad at him about hooking his ride yesterday, and that made me feel bad. He walked in the door and I knew immediately that he hooked by the look on his face. He was worried I'd freak out because he had to redo that ride, which put him another day behind, but I was more worried about how he was handling hooking the ride. He's pretty hard on himself sometimes and we talked (or he talked and I listened) about everything he could have done differently. He's flying tomorrow and has a sim and then he'll do the last flight in this block on Monday. So after Monday, he'll have 6 flights left and 2 sims, and he'll have 7 days of training left. Things are looking good as long as the weather holds out for us. Please say a prayer or two if you think about it, for him to be done on time.

Oh, and the jet he flew yesterday and hooked in? Today they made it an IP (instructor) only jet because I guess 8-9 people have over G'd in it so they think it's extra sensitive... Go figure.