Update on Chris

Subtitle: How Mother Nature Trumped Mother Tiffany
Sub-sub Title: Why I Hate Hurricane Ike
I let you all know in my "Updates, Updates" post that Chris was being deployed as a part of a state police contingent here in Texas to aid in enforcement efforts down in Galveston, so I just thought I'd provide a little update on how that's going.

Chris arrived there Thursday afternoon and got his gear stowed and settled in. He began work at 5 AM on Friday morning and spent his first 12 hour shift accompanying convoys and then driving around Galveston Island. Today's 12 hour shift was spent at a roadblock...apparently, despite sunscreen, he's burned.

We were hopeful that because the baby has sped up our timetable, he'd be able to head home a bit earlier than the deployment schedule calls for, so that he can be here if something happens. To summarize my update over at How to Have a Baby, my doctor has set the goal of keeping Baby Girl inside until September 27th. (Head over there for details...no need to rehash here.) But Chris isn't scheduled to leave south Texas until the morning of September 29th. Hmm...

Another agent volunteered to take his place. So I was even more hopeful. I'm very capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much, but I'd definitely feel a little more calm if Chris were here instead of there. But...it's not going to happen.

Governor Perry has requested an additional 600 state police officers to help out in both Houston and Galveston. Only 6 agents from the Dallas and Fort Worth districts of Chris' agency originally went last week. ALL of the remaining agents from both districts will now be heading down there on Monday. Ergo, no one to swap out with Chris. Ergo, he stays.

If I go into labor between now and the 29th, they allow him to come home at that time. If it's during the day, he can get over to Houston Hobby airport and I can get him on a plane up here - 45 minute ride and since I work for AA, it won't be any big deal to get him a seat. We run planes out of Hobby constantly from about 6 AM until about 8 PM. If it's during the night...well...it's a long drive up from Galveston. Even with lights and sirens. I've threatened the baby with duct tape.

So I'm coming to you again to ask for a few prayers. We need for this little girl to stay put until her daddy can come home. I'm trying to do my part by following my doctor's orders as best I can to restrict movement. But I have to tell you that I'm feeling a bit frantic. My intuition is that she's not going to follow orders that nicely...and that it'll become a matter of her racing her dad. In fact, I'm firmly convinced of this. And unfortunately, my intuition is typically dead on. Ask my friends about the times that I get up to go answer the phone before it even rings...

So in any case, that's our update. Hope ya'll are having a good weekend! I'm still trying to figure out how to dial back and do this whole relaxation thing.