Sunday, June 28, 2009

Leigh's Big Weekend!

MomHV and DaDKV have gotten a little stir-crazy over the past 14 months since the arrival of the Leigh, so we took off the first chance we got.

First, to SHV's ancestral Brooklyn to see Lindy, Matt and Stacey.
DHV banging out some tunes on the piano. He woke up at 0520 Saturday morning, "I want to play the piano!"Saturday morning we set off for Matt and Stacey's new 3-5 bedroom apartment. Danny tested out their stroller all around both floors. (note full use of cup-holders)Stacey is 39 weeks, 1 day pregnant in these photos. Her gravid belly was so big it looked fake, like a Hollywood prosthesis. So big, that it jiggled when she laughed. Here she is, super-pregnant, cooking up some bacon for our clan. Or, as she pointed out to Matt, "I'm barefoot and pregnant, in the kitchen!"The workout must have done some good, because they had their baby, Katherine, today (Sunday!) We just missed it!

Anyway, this post was supposed to be about Leigh. Here's a better moment.Here she is after someone made her cry! We won't go into detail, but he's a very best friend to all of us and a new father; he must have been under tremendous stress.Then we packed up for DKV's ancestral Haddonfield. Sunday's soft morning light:Leigh playing a giving a game of give-and-take wth Grandpa.And, lastly, to Philadelphia to see Eric and Courtney and their one-year son, Evan.Eric told his wife, "Court, I need to eat," multiple times until food was procured. Then he did a magic trick with that massive foot-long sub and made it disappear. Courtney's response: "Don't you just love how some things never change?" We love it all, baby.

See you all again soon.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Economies of Scale

A couple of pictures from Wednesday, while we were waiting to leave the hospital.
"Mommy, she's touching me!"
Danny got in the crib and said, "I'm cry-yin!" Multiple bandaids were applied to various uh-ohs, real or perceived.
Today, we went for a run. With both kids! We've been waiting a long time for this. DHV pointed out all the sights to LRV on our usual route.
Tonight, a shared bath. They both seemed to enjoy it.

Danny sings and Leigh laughs

While Mommy and LiLi were at the hospital . . .

. . . and after they came home.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Hospital Day Three

It's OUT!
Leigh Rutledge Vining
June 17, 2009, 9:33 am.
19 pounds, 15 ounces.
27 1/2 inches.
Lots of hair, and an attitude, too.

Before.
During.
After.
She sounds a lot more like a baby and less like a duck, now.
Home tomorrow if everything goes well!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Hospital Day Two

A big day for Li-Li!
First she demonstrated her vitality for the doctors by clambering up her prison bars.Maybe she was trying to get a look at the assorted construction "bachines" outside her window. Who wouldn't want to check those out?Then she sneered at any suggestion that she might have an abnormal airway.

And raised an eyebrow to any doubters. "Just relax," she honked at us.
Then she had her bronchoscopy and the good doctors lasered off some scar tissue. Some drama followed in the recovery room but everything sorted itself ok.

Now she's asleep, trach capped off (that's the red thing), testing out this whole "breathing on your own" deal.If she does ok for the next 24 hours then we pull the trach.
24 hours after that we may be home.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Hospital Day One

Loading the van up on the way to "Baby Ee's abba."
LRV checking out her room on 7 West.
Janine and Baby Leigh watching for Mommy and Danny.
SHV and DHV bringing in a load of toys for Baby LiLi. DHV is not helping much here.
DHV dropping his toys into an abyss.
The ridiculousness of Danny wearing an isolation gown. We found out that Leigh is a virtual biologic weapon of mass destruction, harboring 4 or 5 supergerms.
The Accuweather forecast calls for bronchoscopy Tuesday afternoon, with a chance of decannulation. We could be home Thursday!

Back to the Hospital!

For some bronchoscopic picture perfect tracheo-tastic action.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Waiting Place

From one of Danny's favorite books, Oh the Places You'll Go "with Fame!"

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
head, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place.

We are all just waiting for some other baby to leave the respiratory unit at Yale-New Haven so Leigh can go in and we can get this show on the road. A week or two or three more.

In the meantime, here's a video of Leigh cruising on our couch, with Danny driving his car over what he affectionately calls "this bump."
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