Lee arrives!

Lee Elizabeth Smith was born on May 31st. I went into the hospital on May 30th, which was Memorial Day, at 5 PM. I was induced during the 39th week because that is the new recommendation, at least at Lee Obgyn. I was induced with Hank and Pete, too, but at 41 weeks. Anyway, we went to the hospital at 5 PM and I spent a long night not sleeping, and I had two fast-food meals that Mat sneaked in, and Lee was born the next afternoon. I was shocked she was a girl, for no real reason--I just thought she'd be a boy because, well, Hank and Pete are boys. She emerged with a shock of black hair, and at first I thought someone said she was a boy but then I looked down and saw that she wasn't. Our doctor (Dr. Mahram) said, "You've broken your streak!" Pete and Hank and my parents came an hour later, when we were still in the delivery room, to see her. The boys thought her name was Leon--later that night Hank went up to my mom and said "Why they name the baby Leon?" And they were both perplexed as to why she couldn't eat real food. Pete: "Not even a soft muffin?"

She would have been Lee if she'd been a boy, too--it's a family name on my mom's side. Elizabeth is after my former publicist, who became a dear friend, and died in 2019.

Out of order--this was pre-Lee.

First contact

First night at home

In the hospital room--I don't know why Wix can't upload pics in the correct order! It drives me crazy but not crazy enough to upload them one by one. Wuwu and Poppy took the boys to see a play at the Gogue (I forget which one) but they stopped at the hospital first. Visiting rules had relaxed by that point, luckily. A lot of my friends who gave birth in the past few years weren't allowed to have any visitors.

While we were in the hospital Pete had a real Alabama day: Waffle House and reptile-catching.

Just pretend that "TEXT" isn't there--I was trying to conceal Hankie's nakedness.

She had so much hair!

First pic at home. We left the hospital and came home and took a nap.