Emily Helen Jost

Emily finally made her appearance this morning! Amy woke up in the night with contractions. They waited around awhile because she had been having pains all week and they weren't sure it was the real thing. Well it was and by the time she got to the hospital around 5 AM she was 7 centimeters. She was not able to get an epidural at that time because the anesthesia provider was in an emergency c-section. She did get an epidural once she was complete and says she felt relief during the last couple of contractions. She is one tough lady! Emily weighs 8lbs. 4oz. and is 22 inches long. We are thinking she looks like her daddy and resembles Rachel's baby pictures. Both mom and baby are doing wonderfully and Emily appears to be very healthy (we are always very cautious with that word)! The above story and following pictures are from proud aunt Anna. Amy and Michael have many more they will be posting when they get home Wednesday. I don't have any from when Rachel met her because I wasn't there but I am told she liked Emily a little bit.










Very long fingers and toes, just like Rachel had!





First Bath!

NO MORE CHEMO! :)

Rach took what we hope is her last dose of chemo on Monday. She has taken chemo for 14 months and at her age they don't recommend more than what she's had if it can be avoided. It can start to permanently damage organs and her bone marrow. We are not sure what's next for her treatment. We have a few options: 1. different chemo, not our fav option! 2. radiation or 3. doing nothing for a few months before radiating. She has an MRI scheduled for March 4th and that will help the doctors make some decisions. We will also have to move her care to Houston for the next part so we are going to be making regular trips to MD Anderson now. We'll probably have to go right after the MRI which is definitely a big reason the baby needs to get here soon! Rachel's March calendar is going to be full and mommy needs a little time to heal before I have to dive into all that!

She is still doing really good so we're not expecting major news from the MRI. She has started to lose some hair in spots but is managing to keep most of it! We're hoping that her throwing up and loss of appetite gets better without the chemo. It's unbelieveable how much someone so little can vomit! We're also expecting to see an increase in energy and hopefully less pain and tantrums. The chemo has helped us get her older but we're trying to focus on getting rid of the cancer now so she will still need lots of prayers!

Playing with Play Doh

Rachel's new favorite thing to play with is play doh. She has a little table in her playroom that she uses to play with it. She was being silly when she was playing with it today so we decided to take some pictures.






Her hair is at a crazy growing out stage and it looks awful but there's not much I can do about it!

Still waiting for baby...

The baby is officially overdue now! The due date was Friday and she's still hiding out inside. I've had labor pains off and on all week and am dilated and effaced some but she's taking her sweet time! I am delivering her at a military hospital and so far I'm less than thrilled with the experience. They assigned me to a midwife, I have no idea why especially since I have a child with health issues, and she's not willing to induce until Friday. She's all about things happening naturally even though I have explained that I have to take care of a sick child too. I have carried this baby 9 days longer than Rach and she was over 8lbs when she was born. I'm really hoping that this one isn't huge but the possibility is there! I have begged them to induce but they stick to their policies for no reason at Wilford Hall!! Penny has spent the week with us so she can take Rach when something happens. We have been keeping busy doing various things around town.

Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory

Rachel built a bear for her sister and one for her too. She picked Hello Kitty for her with much pushing from her daddy!

She loved stuffing the heart in the bear because you have to kiss it and make a wish. Each bear has a few hearts because she kept wanting to add more!

She is starting to like posing for pics but we need to work on keeping her eyes open!

Looking at her accomplishments.

Riding the riverboat at the Riverwalk. We were trying to move things along by walking around.