Two Parts Excitement/One Part Fear

We made it!  It's my birthday week.  Tomorrow I will be 34! 
More importantly, tomorrow is the day David, Rachel and I leave for Rochester for Rachel's surgery on Wednesday morning.  When we chose Nov. 14, I wasn't sure it was going to be a good birthday present to leave on my birthday for such an occasion, but now I feel that it is a great gift from God.  Today I am two parts excited to have this experience behind us and one part scared, but I think that's just part of being a mom. :o) 
I was thinking the other day, 1 year ago, I was becoming VERY anxious about giving birth to my fourth baby. I was more anxious about labor and delivery with Rachel than with any other of my children.  I had already done it three times and I knew it was going to hurt.  Bad.  To add to it, we knew this baby grew a bit bigger than the rest.  Even so, I didn't want to have an epidural.  I had one with Teresa that didn't really work and for some reason I just wanted to do it on my own.  My birth plan became prayers and I asked for them wherever I could get them.  We all know how it turned out.  Our baby girl came in just 4 hours with only prayers as pain medication.  Oh, it wasn't pain free at all, but they got me through.
So, today I guess I'm just excited to see how God's grace will become apparent to us this week.  He led us to our doctors in Rochester, let Rachel grow a bit more before surgery, and every single time I have felt scared or overwhelmed these past several months, He always send me encouragement in one way or another.  If you are reading this, you were probably one of the people God worked through to comfort or encourage me at some point and you didn't even know it. 
I know that this could be a much more serious surgery and I am thankful that it isn't.  I always have been thankful for that.  It doesn't help that I have a general fear of surgery anyway.  I'm not sure what the technical phobia is for that, but I have it.  At least we know that I don't have Munchhousen's by Proxy (sp?) (where a parent will put his/her child through medical procedures for attention) nor will I seek out extensive plastic surgery when I am older. 
(Well, maybe I'll keep Dr. Bite's card handy for a few birthdays down the road . . . just in case.)  :o)
I'd like to leave you all with a quote from our good old furry friend Grover.  "Hey, do not shout!  This kind of situation does not call for freaking out!  Wabba, wabba, wabba, and a woo, woo, woo!" 
See you next time from Rochester . . . .