New Blog Location

Moved to Wordpress! I may set up a redirect here, but if so, mostly for practice since nobody'll use it cause that would imply readers and I don't think I have any of those.

Three Years Ago Today

From: Timothy Maguire
Sent: Jul 9, 2008 4:21 AM
To: strungout2l@yahoo.com
Subject: Jane's a Cancer!

To all Singers, Maguires, and Friends:

It looks like this is it. It's now about 4:20 AM. Heidi went in to labor around 2:30 this morning. We just called the doctor and he said to come to the hospital. I think he's a bit of a quack, but we're getting ready to go. Jane is early, but only by a few days so there is no concern there.

Will follow up with details.

From: Timothy Maguire
Sent: 07/09/2008 09:22 PM
To: strungout2l@yahoo.com
Subject: Follow up on Baby Jane

When we last left you, it was 4:20 this morning and we were heading to the hospital. We showed up sometime after 5:00 AM (not sure exactly when because I was using my watch to time contractions, resetting it every time a new one started) and Heidi's water broke on the sidewalk right in front of the hospital. Perfect timing! I dropped her off in the maternity ward and they sent me downstairs to do some paperwork. When I got back, Heidi was in triage, her doctor was in surgery and the resident was doing a cesarean, so no doctor had examined her yet and we had to wait for one to come free and look in on her before they could give her any painkillers.

Very quickly, the contractions got painful and she said she needed to push so I ran out to get the nurse, grab a doctor, get somebody in there and as I was heading out the door, a doctor was heading in Perfect timing! He examined her and said "you're fully dilated and the baby is crowning." No time for an epidural or any other painkiller, she was giving birth right then! They wheeled her down the hall to a birthing room and her doctor showed up as we got there. 10 minutes of extreme unpleasantness later, Jane popped out about an hour after we walked in the door and 3:50 after contractions started. Maybe not a record, but close. I really think that if we were running five minutes later, I would have had to do the delivery in the backseat of the car.

So Jane Astrid Wednesday Singer Maguire was born at 6:20 this morning, 5 lbs 14 ozs, 19 inches. Since it went so quickly and Heidi felt better immediately (still very sore, but all things considered...), we hope to bring her and Jane home tomorrow. We'll find out in the morning if the doctor clears them.

Attached are pictures. Thanks to Tracey, Sara, Allison and Joe for coming out to the hospital to visit and help keep Heidi company!

Tim

Then:

And now:

Too perfectly tragic to be true?

Or too perfectly tragic to be fake?

NADIA: For days, Mumpy would listen quietly as the elders discussed how only an eye surgery could save her father's vision and a kidney transplant her brother's life. But both surgeries were beyond the family's meagre means. So, Mumpy hit upon a plan, which to her 12-year-old mind seemed the answer to all troubles. She would kill herself, which would save the dowry, too, and her organs would give her loved ones back their lives.

Mumpy did stick to her plan. But the suicide note in which she had scribbled down her wishes was found the day after she was cremated.

The Return of the Princess

I’ve missed 13 months of Jane updates. Since the hiatus was unplanned, with weekly extensions granted weekly, I’ve kept some notes for posts that never got made. For instance:

1/3/2010 Jane is developing a sense of humor? She babbled a bit and laughed out loud, babbled some more and laughed out loud again. If I know my daughter, it involved a clumsy person and a banana peel.

1/9/2010 Jane climbed on the couch this morning and put a marker to the wall behind. So it’s begun…

1/21/2010 Jane handed me the phone today when someone called. I was washing dishes and didn’t intend to answer it, but here she is at my feet, all 18 months and about 18 pounds of her holding up the phone, so I have to take it...don’t I? I was pleased and annoyed at the same time.

Then whatever momentum carried me through the season of the knife petered out as we shifted to the season of the chemo (not my season, nor Jane's, but that of someone nearby). After that, even a sentence or two, here or there, became too much and the trail does not pick up again until July.

Jane's First Two-Word Phrase

NOOOO! MINE!

















How cute!

Learned Something New

Turns out "snot-nosed kid" is almost literal.

There will be no pictures with this post.

Walking

On the evening of September 12, 2009 in room 209 at the Fairfield Inn in Binghamton, NY. And a bit from the next day.