Brandi Updates

Delilah was born today.  she is adorable and I think she looks a lot like Angel did when she was born.  I am doing good. Surgery went well and I was ready to be up and about before the nurses were ready to let me be up. lol  Hopefully that will continue.

Well, we have made it to 27 weeks pregnant.  Wow!  Not long left to go at all.  I am feeling very good and the baby is doing great.  Now if only she wouldn't pay such special attention to kicking my bladder and ribs!  Ouch!  Sometimes I think Miss Delilah is just trying to break my ribs!  Anyway, the doctor says that hospital rules say that I will have to have a c-section with this baby (whahhhhh....crying. lol) since I had one with Angel.  They don't seem to care that I didn't have to have one with Kody or Emma!  I tried.  lol  So...our official due date is the 16th of January, but Dr. Vrbicky said that he will most likely have me come in a week early for the C-section provided that I don't go into labor before that.  (I have started having a few random contractions...nothing serious though.)  Curt is still praying the baby will come before Dec 31st...taxes and insurance reasons you know. lol  I told him don't count on it.  :)

This year has been just full of medical issues for me.   After the diagnosis and treatment of the Reiter's Disease, I was still feeling very tired all the time, so the doctor's pulled a lot more blood.  What they found was a little scary and surprising.  I was found to have two genetic blood clotting disorders.  Both of these disorders cause excessive clotting and can be a factor for things like stroke, heart attack, etc.  The first one is Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR).  The second one is a Factor V Leiden Mutation.   Both of these disorders make the pregnancy we are in very high risk because they can both cause miscarriage.  The doctors said that I was lucky that we didn't have problems when Angel, Kody, and Emma were born!  Luckily the risks on both of these disorders can be significantly lowered with a combination of vitamins and a daily asprin regimine.   Later on in life, I may have to go on blood thinners, but at this point due to the pregnancy, the doctors want to wait on that and so I am on 81mg of aspirin every day.  

Other than that, the pregnancy is going very well (see the family update page).

Well, I have just passed my 28th birthday.  It was a lot of fun.  Curt's parents watched the kids and we went out for dinner.  He also took me shopping (saved him from trying to choose something. lol) and then we rented movies, bought popcorn, candy, and sodas.  We picked the kids up jst in time for bedtime and then had a movie night date.  It was one of the best birthdays I think I have ever had.  It was just so much fun!

I have gone through a second round of prednisone for the Reiter's Disease and am feeling a bit better.  Enough to be off of the prednisone for at least a little while.  I still have some pain in my ankle and one shoulder, but it is bearable.  Whew!  

I have been busy getting ready for spring!  I am working with not only my horses, but also with some that belong to our landlord.  They haven't had much handling because he has been working so hard lately, but I get to spend a little time with them each day.  This spring I will be getting Misty ready to ride and when she is at the trainer's I will have some time to play with his horses. lol  

I am also back to writing poetry again.   It keeps me occupied when it is too cold outside to play out there with the kids or the horses.   So....I have added a page to the site of poetry I have written.

Well, I have been battling joint pain (started in the left knee, spread to the left ankle, then right ankle, then both wrists, both shoulders, and into the back) since Mid December and the doctor has finally figured out what is going on.  Yeah!!

I had a Urinary Tract Infection that spread into my kidneys at the time the joint pain started.  It turned out that the UTI was the trigger for the joint pain!  I have a condition called Reiter's Disease.  It is a migratory arthritis that can be caused by a serious infection.  It is not contagious and apparently only people with a certain genetic marker can be affected by it!  Just my luck! lol  The good news is that it can be treated with steriods (I started prednisone yesterday).  There is a chance that it could be chronic (meaning that I could have it flare any time I get an infection), but we are hoping for the best.     

I am still having pain and lots of fatigue, but the doctor says that the prednisone should help with that after the first few days.  Whew! lol

I know run a small rescue resource website for the rescues.  I am sent hundreds of emails every day about horses in need of new homes, horses being abused, rescues that need help, and many other things that are important to the rescues.  I noticed that no one took the time to organize them and to put them into one location for the rescues.  So I decided to fill the gap as a way to help.  What was born was Missy's Hope Equine Rescue Resource.  I spend a part of my day each day organizing all the information that comes to me through email (and some times phone calls!) and creating a list for the rescues.  I post this information on my website where the rescues will have a easy place to see if there are any horses they can help or where horse lovers can see where they can help the rescues.  It has been amazing to see and keep up with the horses that come through the list that have received help from the rescues. 

I have also had the opportunity to do some more hands on horse rescue.  I went to an auction in Oneill, Nebraska in October with a friend of mine who runs a rescue in Atkinson, Nebraska.  Her name is Lynn Schmale and she runs Phoenix Rising Horse Rescue.  We were able to pull three mares, four weanlings, and a jack donkey from the auction.  Some of them out of the hands of the kill buyers for the slaughter houses in Mexico.  Two of the mares truly broke our hearts from the moment we saw them and made us greatful that we were there to help them.  Their names were Annie and Cheyenne.  Annie was a 22 year old mare that was pregnant and severely emaciated.  Cheyenne was a 7 year old mare that was also severely emaciated.  Unfortunately the story is a sad one for these mares.  The neglect that they suffered eventually led to their euthanization.  We learned a lot from Cheyenne and Annie as we worked to save them.  We also learned that rescuers need the help of slings designed for horses in this condition and that sometimes due to their location, a sling may not be available.  So in honor of Cheyenne and Annie, I have created The Chey/Annie Project.  It is a fundraiser that is designed to put a sling at a rescue for the use of the rescues in that state.  Our goal doesn't stop there.  Eventually we would like to place a sling in each rescue in each state so that no other horses have to be euthanized due to not having the necessary and correct equipment on hand.