Henry comes home - and is greeted by Pecos and Elizabeth

To much fanfare from both Elizabeth and Pecos, Henry arrived at home today at about 4 p.m. Sorry that the video is a little dark.

All is well with our little family. Henry got medical clearance today to leave the hospital. His heart is A-OK and his kidneys are still a little dilated, so he has an appointment later this week to find out how serious the situation is (no one seems to think it's very serious, but it's worth looking into).

Henry comes into the world

At 7:47 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2011, Henry Aizcorbe Ward came into the world at 6 lbs, 15 oz. Happy Birthday, little man!

Henry - The name comes from my Opa, Heinz. We figured Henry was more palatable in the US of A than Heinz ... although they do make good ketchup.

Aizcorbe (roughly: eyes-CORE-bay) - Kate's paternal grandmother's maiden name. It's Basque meaning from the town of Aizkorbe in northern Spain.

Ward - Boring truncation of Warshavsky (or Wartofsky or Wardefsky) ... a Lithuanian Jewish last name meaning "From Warsaw, with love"

Henry's arrival into the world was tame compared to Elizabeth's. Well, tame is not the right word. Easier, simpler, smoother, less worrisome ... those would all be better terms. Although I'm sure Kate will be glad to give you all a first-hand account of every detail, here's my side-by-side comparison:

Warning signs:

Elizabeth - none. Kate just went into spontaneous labor the night before Elizabeth came.

Henry - a bunch. Kate was having contractions (not intense, just little rumbles) since Wednesday night.

The Labor:
Elizabeth - 16 hours, with the last three or so particularly painful because the doctors were telling Kate to NOT push, as Elizabeth wasn't aligned correctly.

Henry - About 4.

The Delivery:

Elizabeth - Horrible. Emergency C-Section after three hours of NOT pushing, which, I'm told, is extraordinarily difficult for laboring moms. Plus, obviously, drugs.

Henry - Complication free. Kate pushed for about 35 minutes and, shamwow!, Henry popped out. No drugs.

Immediate Recovery:

Elizabeth - The C-Section was pretty traumatic for Kate, with lots of pain and limited movement. A language barrier also prevented her from getting pain meds. And the nurses were as unhelpful as nurses could be, providing little to no help in the middle of the first night for Kate, who was trying desperately to nurse.

Henry - Less pain, more movement, and helpful nurses.

Early Nursing:

Elizabeth - Try as she might, Kate and Elizabeth couldn't figure this one out for a few days, resulting in a lot of baby tea and formula consumption for Elizabeth. Lots of tears were had by both parties.

Henry - He latched successfully within the first few minutes. And then every time again he tried. Bingo, bango, booby!

So far, Henry seems to be in good health. He had a pediatrician check him out shortly after birth and we haven't heard any negative reviews yet. The baby cardiologist is coming tomorrow morning (1/23) to give his heart a better listen, but we're pretty hopeful.

More later. Time for bed!

A Brooklyn Wonderland

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope you all had a good Winter Solstice celebration and maybe even took the time to don your most festive apparel. We certainly did.

No baby news yet, although everyone here (including Elizabeth) thinks it'll happen soon. Here's Elizabeth's reaction to us telling her about all the attention we'll have to give Henry after he's born.

And here's us trying to make a snowmama and baby in an attempt to explain the mama-baby connection (the baby is breastfeeding on the post-partum mama).

This picture isn't as weird as it looks. Elizabeth is watching her daddy slide backwards down a hill on her snowtube while Pecos is growling at some new enemy (probably a mylar balloon stuck in a tree. Mylar balloons always give him creepy stares). That's Staten Island in the background.

I started a new New Year's Day tradition: Donuts! This is Elizabeth's "don't steal my donut" face.

Elizabeth's friend Ethan came over for donuts on New Year's Day but filled up on the much healthier clementines. Rookie mistake.

Words can't explain.

Uh, this one is a little easier. She's a mummy.

And here she's helping daddy find screws that he keeps dropping while trying to raise the crib for a newborn.

Kate put on more Christmas weight this year than most. And now Elizabeth thinks that all photoshoots include a few belly shots.

Hence this shot.

This was Elizabeth's first snowman of the season, which graced our front steps for a few days.

And this is our Elizabeth getting ready to play in a parking spot.

And here are a smattering of photos from our Winter Solstice celebration, including Elizabeth's first gingerbread house of the season (as well as her first bite of one) and her first time seeing Santa this season. Enjoy:

And here are a few shots of the NYC Transit museum.

Kate was worried about having to listen to Henry eventually complain about how his "Oh the places you'll go ... in utero" book pale in comparison to Elizabeth's. So she's been thinking of interesting places to visit ... like this museum. Just as great as the Dolomites, right?