The Moment We All Were Waiting For

Began at 1:26 pm on May 16, when Valerie Marta emerged after an emergency c-section. At that point, I'd been in labor for 31 hours and it became clear that even though I was fully dilated, her wee rump was simply not coming down. When I was wheeled into surgery, it was still right up against my ribs. Labor was harder than I'd ever imgained and about 1000 times tougher than all the hypnobirthing books would have you think. But I'll gloss over all that and tell you about Val. She was 7 lbs, 10.5 oz, 20 inches long. It took her a minute to cry - the longest minute of my life. Finally she did though, a teeny little one that was enough to satisfy me. Andrea peeked over the curtain and got some pics of our daughter emerging. I'm biased, yes, but she's gorgeous. Totally gorgeous. She breastfeeds like a champ and is very alert. More soon, please excuse me because those breasts have been requested at her highness' dinner table.