My sister-in-law and her husband just had a baby girl in early November. They were home visiting over the holidays and Ryan got a lot of practice! He was so interested in her – every time she cried or made a noise he had to run over and watch, he loved holding her and feeding her a bottle and just sitting near her… it was adorable.
Steve got some practice in too 
And then, of course, Ryan wanted to BE the baby, lol:
Thousands to be spared open heart surgery for leaky valves.(News)
Daily Mail (London) July 11, 2009 Byline: Fiona MacRae Science Reporter A PIONEERING procedure which could remove the need for open heart surgery in thousands of patients has been performed in Britain.
Surgeons can now repair leaking heart valves by passing a tiny 20cm long wire down the jugular vein.
The patient is awake during the operation and should be well enough to be discharged the day afterwards.
Doctors at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge performed the procedure last week as part of the Evolution II clinical research trial.
It is hoped that the process can cure mitral valve regurgitation, a condition which causes blood to wash backwards as heart valves weaken.
Papworth’s consultant cardiologist Dr Michael O’Sullivan, who carried out one of the first procedures in Britain with his colleague Dr Peter Schofield, said the operation had huge potential to help patients. He said: ‘This new approach is the first type of treatment of its kind in this country and is a brilliant, minimally invasive way of helping patients with leaking valves. We can have you back on your feet the next day.’ He added: ‘Open heart surgery is still very effective and suits the majority of patients. But it does have risks and we are always looking to develop new, less invasive procedures. go to website open heart surgery
‘In the future, it is possible that for some patients this may be a treatment that would remove the need for open heart surgery.’ The procedure uses a device called a MONARC made of the metal nitinol. It has two mesh anchors separated by a spring, which is kept open with packing material between the coils.
The device is passed through a five millimetre incision in the neck and down the jugular vein into the coronary sinus, a vein that runs around the valve. The device is anchored in position and left to gradually contract as the packing material dissolves in the blood.
Doctors say that over six weeks the slow contraction of the MONARC will reshape the valve, stopping blood leakage. After two years it will make the valve as good as new. Mitral valve regur-gitation can put extra strain on the heart, causing it to become less effective and eventually leading to heart failure and even death.
Around 1 per cent to 2 per cent of adults have leaking mitral valves. Some but not all of these would be suitable for the twohour operation. here open heart surgery
Papworth is one of three centres in the UK taking part in this trial and Dr O’Sullivan’s patient, a man from Norfolk, is responding well after returning home the following day.
The procedure has been performed just 60 times elsewhere in the world. It is still experimental and around three years away from widespread use.
Cathy Ross, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said the procedure could save thousands of lives.
She said: ‘Open heart surgery is complex and can put huge strain on the heart which is problematic because most people who need this operation are older people.
‘Open heart basically involves stopping a heart and keeping it pumping on a machine which is very stressful and if this can alleviate that then it is only a good thing.’ More than 30,000 people have heart surgery in the UK every year. Around 95 out of every 100 surgeries are completed successfully.
HOW THE PROCEDURE WORKS 1 Small cut is made over jugular vein in patient”s neck while they are under local anaesthetic.
2 MONARC device consisting of two mesh anchors joined by a coiled central wire is threaded through jugular vein into coronary sinus, a vein that runs around the damaged valve.
3 The mesh anchors mould to the shape of the vein, holding the device in place.
4 Material around wire dissolves, pulling the anchors together.
5 Valve slowly reshapes, stopping leak. Patient discharged next day and starts to feel better in six months.
Awww! He is ready to be a great big brother!
[Reply]
Aw! Glad he seems so happy about it
[Reply]
Super cute! It looks like he is ready!
[Reply]
Awww so sweet! It looks like he’s ready as he’ll ever be to become a big brother!
[Reply]
looks like he will love it
[Reply]