Nothing...

That is exactly what the nurse practitioner said to me today "Nothing"- as in no change. Lucas is evidently quite content where he is and he has no inclination to make his entrance in this world any time soon. I know that this really doesn't mean anything because I have had several people tell me that their doctor told them that there was no change and they ended up going into labor that week. Let's remember though that this will be Eric's son and well there is a little bit of a stubborness there...just teasing...sort of. My due date isn't until next Friday so I'm really not trying to rush things, but...

Life is still good. Mom just finished her 4th round of chemo so next week is an off week then we start the 5th round which means there are only 6 more treatments! She is excited to be even further through the process. She should know the latest CA125 count tomorrow so I will update everyone then.

Hope everyone has a great evening!

Other happenings...

OK, let's see...

Eric has started training for triathlons!! I am so proud of him!! He has done so well. He began in January really training and has done 7 races since then (mixture of 1/2 marathons, duathlons, and triathlons). You can catch up on his training/progress at his website (see my sidebar). We have learned a lot about the sport and he has definitely been bitten by the bug!

Back in March my mom was having a lot of trouble breathing and she went to the emergency room and Brookwood Hospital. They took x-rays and discovered that she had fluid on her right lung. She was in the hospital for a few days while they drained the fluid and then tried to figure out what was going on. To make a long story short (email me if you want more details) we went from she has some fluid on her lung to my mother's diagnosis of Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer.

Life was hard for several weeks while we were in a hurry up and wait game with doctors and tests. She had a full hysterectomy with exploratory surgery. Her surgeon, Dr. Barnes, felt that he had gotten 90-95% of the cancer. Praise God! Dr. Barnes is a fantastic doctor and we feel blessed that God allowed us to be under his care. As mom was healing from surgery in the hospital we met her oncologist, Dr. Yeilding. He is also an amazing Godly man who puts his patients first in his practice and you feel loved and respects by this man. He reassured us that my mother was going to get through this fine. It was during this time that we found out that we were going to have a little boy. Looking back God's timing is always perfect.

We have had some ups and downs with all of this of course, but my mother is a pillar of strength. She is 1/2 way through with her chemo treatments and is doing amazing. The doctors use the CA125 marker to indicate how active the cancer is in the body with ovarian cancer. Prior to mom's surgery her CA125 was 225 and the doctors want the number to be below 35 so we had a long way to go. I am so proud of my mom because she is only 1/2 way through with her treatments and she is already at 38!!! Just 3 more points and we will be on the high end of normal!! The treatment is working!!

We have been so blessed throughout all of this. Let me just say that I don't know how people can get through something like this without God. There is no way we could have gotten through day one. There have been many low times, but never once have any of us turned from God. He is the only thing that has gotten us through this. It is very scary to think that you could lose you mother and believe me I have prayed for complete healing of my mother every single day. He hears our cries and the wants of our hearts. He knows our desires. We do not always get the desires of our hearts, and we have readied ourselves for that possibility, but God has too much work here left for my mother to do. She has been so amazing through all of this. She has run toward God when it would have been so easy to run from Him and to feel abandoned. We have all prayed that God would not allow our hearts to harden to Him through this and he has been so faithful to us.

God has blessed us with so many friends and family to care for us. Thank you so much for your prayers!! As I said God's timing is perfect because at first we were wondering why now of all times? Not that there is every a more appropriate time to get cancer, but we had so much joy going on in our family (my brother was graduating from college, I was pregnant, my cousin was getting married, etc). There were too many things going on that mom wanted to be a part of, well let me tell you she hasn't missed anything. How silly we were to question His timing. This was a perfect time for all of this to happen because it has brought such joy to a time when could be a lot of sadness and despair. Not with my mother though. Our family has laughed so many more times that we have cried (if you know my family then you know how we can get). Thanks again to all those that have prayed. My mom has a Caring Bridge website just go to www.caringbridge.com and type in Toni Keyes and it will take you to her site.

God is good all the time and all the time God is good!!

And we're back...

OK, I'm back. I have been such a good stalker for all these months that I decided to get back into the blogging world. I left because there was absolutely nothing for me to talk about and then a week after I deleted the blog we found out that we were pregnant. So as all you mothers out there know, there has been PLENTY to blog about with pregnancy, but for crying out loud I didn't have the time nor the energy!! With our little man due in less than 3 weeks (OH MY GOSH!!) I thought well I would start one up again so that I can keep a journal for our family and this is easier than writing with a pen and paper.

Let's see...a lot has happened in the past 9 months. We found out that we were pregnant a few days after Christmas. We were thrilled!! Those first few weeks though I was absolutely exhausted. It is a tired unlike anything I have known and it was all from doing absolutely NOTHING. Seriously, I would take a shower and have to rest because it wore me out. I didn't see Eric much those first couple of weeks because as soon as I stepped foot in the door from work I was on the couch asleep. I have called Eric my "good little house wife" because he did EVERYTHING-cooking, cleaning, running errands, etc. Now I know that there are a lot of husbands out there that do these things even when they don't have a pregnant wife at home, and Eric does too, but he did all of it for about 3 months (he will tell you it was much longer) with no help at all from me!

The second trimester brought back my energy thank goodness. I really cannot complain about my pregnancy because it has been wonderful. I was only sick a few times in the very beginning, but that was all. So sorry to my friends out there that were sick for 6-9 months of pregnancy.

I have entered the stage of being uncomfortable often especially when I am "sleeping". I use quotation marks because you can't really call what I do sleep since I am up at least every hour to either roll over or nature is calling (OK screaming) for me to answer. Since I am on my feet all day (which has been a very good thing during pregnancy) I have cankles that would make an elephant jealous by the time I get home.

Let me just say that there is no better feeling than to feel my son move. My grandfather put it in a really great way when he asked me if I had felt life yet. I love that! Yes, I have felt life and believe me he is full of life!! God has been so good to us!!

Our little man is supposed to arrive on September 4th. It gives a whole new meaning to Labor Day Weekend for me. We have named him Lucas Charles O'Neal. The Charles is from Eric's side as all the men in his family have the middle name Charles and we just really liked the name Lucas. Many have asked what we will call him and we will call him Luke/Lucas or LUCAS CHARLES O'NEAL through gritted teeth I am sure. That is just a brief update on my little man/pregnancy. In the next post I will share about all the other happenings from the past 9 months.