Disclaimer: this post may be brief as it is extremely hard to type with a cast on. I had my appointment at RCH a week and a bit ago and GREAT news: no mores placenta previa OR tachycardia--HURRAY and praise God! The specialist actually seemed kind of bored and he jokingly mentioned that he expected my case to be more dramatic. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support! The little foal lives! He's a feisty little guy and we decided to call him Leo, after Leonidas, the Spartan hero-king who survived nights in the wild fighting off wolves when he was just a little boy. Our Leo spent his first night in the world very cold, hungry, alone and taking beats from other horses in the herd, thus proving his natural strength and perseverance. And also, Leo's mama's name is Sarabi (Simba's mom in "The Lion King") so we wanted to stick with a lion-esque theme :). Baby doesn't stop moving. Ever. Baby is active when I'm eating, when I'm riding, doing karate, walking, sitting, standing, lying down and carrying groceries. I told David the other day that if this constant activity is an indicator of Baby's future habits we will never get any sleep! It sure is fun though :). The cast specialist put a real cast on (yay!) and it's scheduled to come off in less than three weeks. I have to wrap it in vet-wrap every day to keep the barn and pony dirt off if it and to hopefully keep it from getting smelly--so far so good. My last official day at Timberline is May 12; I'm actually super bummed about having to leave so early. Buuuuut it's probably for the best. We're planning a "send off" ride up to Golden Ears one sunny day and that will be such a great way to end things. I'll miss it there so much! I don't know what things will look like after Baby comes but if I go back to work Timberline would be my first choice--and Baby (then Toddler) could even come with me on certain days! But I digress... ... And I don't really have anything else to say :). We haven't bought any baby stuff for a few months and we still are searching for some bigger items. A trip to the good ol' US of A might be in order! I'm going to start a baby pool! Stay tuned and get your predictions ready :). Forewarning: if any of you predict that Baby will be over 9 pounds we can no longer be friends.

Welllllll... It's been a long April! There isn't anything new on the baby front--which is excellent because I'm not sure I could handle any more surprises right now :). Quick run-down:

Good Friday - broke my wrist toppling off my bike

Easter weekend - fun! Sunny! No complaints

This past Tuesday - we had to put down MacGyver, our awesome cat :(. Sad, sad day for us. Cricket is having a difficult time adjusting... Poor kitty.

Today - I arrived at the ranch to find that Sarabi delivered her foal overnight--two and a half months earlier than the vet told us she was due! Unfortunately she delivered him in the field with 42 other horses. By the time I got there she had rejected him completely and he was following Asia around, thinking she was his mummy. I managed to move him and Sarabi to a boxstall but she was intent on attacking him. After hours of milking the mare, bottle feeding the colt, and having half a dozen people help restrain Sarabi, the baby was finally able to nurse on his own. However, she is still trying to injure him when he gets too close so they will need to have 1-2 wranglers in the stall with them overnight and possibly much longer. Oi. This is a busy week with trail rides and guest groups too. We are all praying for strength and energy!

In spite of the stressful day it was very cool to be the first human to handle Little Colt and to have him snuggle up all over me. I had no experience with day-old foals, so today was pretty unbelievable. We had to find the placenta and examine it. Kathryn from the kitchen came down to help and she offered to carry the after birth out of the field for us. Her reasoning: "I'm a chef; meat is meat." So. Gross. :)

But anyway, Little Colt is a fighter and I'm in love already!

I really, really hope this little guy lives. I can't bear to see two animals die in one week :(.

Didja miss me? I know it's been a bit since I've posted... I was just waiting for something update-worthy to crop up :). And it did!

We have been referred to Dr. Farquarson at RCH and I have my first ultrasound with him on April 19th. Woot! So until then we've just been carrying on, business as usual: I'm working; we're beautifying the house and starting to make a dent in the landscape and garden projects; Baby is happy; the sun is shining!

The spring weather called David and I outside yesterday (I had to work but came home in the middle of the day for a bit... 'cause I can do that on Good Friday when there ain't a fellow soul on the ranch ;)), and we decided to go for a lovely bike ride around town. Splendid! We found the only gas station left in the world with FREE AIR, filled our tires generously, and headed out.

About 30 minutes in we decided to cut through the mall parking lot. David was in front of me and he gracefully demonstrated how to jump the curb. I attempted to follow suit, but ended up performing a pretty awesome wipe out RIGHT in front of the mall entrance. I'm so cool.

David made it to my side in a millisecond and examined my road rash--it started at my foot and touched down on my ankle, calf, thigh, wrist, jaw, cheekbone, temple and ear. Within minutes Baby started ninja-kicking, so we were relieved that he or she was a-ok! We got back in the saddle, made a few stops for groceries, and headed home.

Twenty four hours later... The colour and pain in my wrist had escalated so I popped into the clinic, where the Doc recommended a trip to Emerg.

So here I am. Yay! Happy Easter Eve...

The nice thing is that they sent me up to Maternity for a full stress test and everything came back great. Baby was dancing around, both our heart rates were normal, and I'm measuring exactly where I should be.

... So now it's just waiting to get in for X-rays. It's sad that there are only two of us in the waiting room, that we've been here over an hour, and that the same two of us are still here. Seriously?! I guess that's the payoff for free health care...

I wish I could post pics on here so I could show you the technicoloured piece of art that is my wrist-slash-hand...