Welcome Lily Grace!

With giddy jubilation, Laura and I announce the birth of our new daughter

Lily Grace Hundhausen

Weighing in at a petite 6 pounds, 12 oz. and measuring a svelte 20 inches in length, Lily came into the world via C-section on Friday, December 28, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.

The Story of Lily's Birth

Laura's official due date was December 17, which passed uneventfully after much anticipation. Yes, I know that 70% of first pregnancies are late, but I was really excited to meet this little girl, who had stolen my heart through many weeks of in utero kicking games. Besides, she looked so beautiful in the womb. Here's a pic of Laura at 6 months:

..and at eight months with a painted belly:

Laura felt completely normal on Christmas Eve, exactly one week past her due date. However, at the Christmas Eve service we attended, something changed. There was a lot of talk and poetry about the miracle and wisdom of children at the service, and we felt a divine connection to Lily, who sent the following message to Laura the next day: "I want to be borned, momma."

The Labor

At 2 am on the early morning of December 26, early labor started with the first sporadic contractions. On December 27, the contractions grew more frequent and more intense, so that by the evening, they were occuring every 3 to 5 minutes and lasting up to a minute. With the help of Laura's doula Maggie,

Laura chanted and breathed her way through waves of intense contractions during the afternoon. However, by 5 pm, she was less than 1 cm dilated. That evening, the contractions, breathing, and chanting kicked up several notches. By 11:30 pm, they were becoming too much, and we headed to the hospital as snow began to fall.

At the hostpital, the contractions were equally intense, but became less frequent. By 8:30 am on December 28, Laura had dilated to a whopping 1 cm after over 24 hours of contractions and 12 hours of intense contractions! Laura was sleep deprived and totally spent. After carefully weighing our options, we decided the best way to get Lily safely into the world would be a C-section, which, with the doctor's consent, was scheduled for 1 pm that afternoon.

As luck would have it, the Moscow-Pullman area had received a snowstorm on the morning of the 28th (an auspicious sign, as far as I'm concerned, since I love snow), and the hospital was unusually busy with emergency surgeries, which pushed the scheduled procedure back to 6:30 pm. Bravely, Laura endured another day of intense but non-progressing contractions as we awaited the C-section.

Preparing for Birth

Finally, just after 6:30 pm, we were prepped and ready to enter surgery. Despite our exhaustion, we were excited for the arrival of Lily:

I was excited yet nervous as I prepared to enter the operating room, as I had never experienced or seen anything of the kind before:

I also had a lot of confidence in our doctor, Kim Guida, who had been such a pleasure to work with throughout Laura's pregnancy, and who, with the assistance of Dr. Ben Atkins, would be performing the C-section. Here's a picture of Dr. Guida right before she entered the operating room:

The Birth

I was allowed to enter the operating room only after Laura had received her spinal anesthesia. I was led to a stool right beside Laura, and a large curtain was put up between her head and her womb. The anesthesiologist, Wes, entertained us with stories and jokes on our side of the curtain as the good docs gave us updates on the procedure. For me, this was a time of nervousness and anticipation. I tried to keep talking to Laura, but I found it difficult to maintain a conversation in the midst of this life changing event.

Just 10 minutes after I entered the room, I heard Dr. Guida exclaim that we had a baby girl (surprise, surprise!). A labor nurse then led me from Laura's side of the curtain to a "clean up" station on the other side of the curtain. As I passed Laura's womb and the doctors, I kept my eyes fixated on this little being of light who had just joined us.

Here's the labor nurse cleaning up Lily Grace just seconds after her arrival. This is the first look I got of my new daughter:

The docs had kindly left a generous piece of the umbilical cord attached to Lily. I performed a symbolic cutting of the cord, and had the nurses save the piece of cord I cut for a birth ceremony that Laura and I will perform later on.

Here's a closer look at our little miracle just seconds after her birth, after the nurse had cleaned her up a bit more. Notice the peace and contentment in her eyes, something I plan to study and learn from in the coming months.

After Lily had gotten cleaned up and swaddled, the anesthesiologist snapped one pic of mommy, daddy, and baby:

The Nursery

Well, mommy had to get sewn up and recover from major surgery. This meant that daddy, Lily, and the nurse had to leave the operating room. We proceeded to the nursery to give Lily her initial tests and weigh her in:

Everything tested out great: Lily's vital signs and reflexes were superb. I felt so grateful and elated that she had come safely into the world.

Early Father-Daughter Bonding

Although both Laura and I were grateful for the miracle of the C-section, it did have its drawbacks. The biggest one was that Lily and I did not get to see Laura until two hours after the birth. That wasn't all bad for me, though, as it gave me some time to bond with my new daughter. First, I just sat down with her in the nursery for a few minutes to hold this precious miracle:

I then walked around with her for a while. Here is an early zen moment I had with Lily—the first time Lily and I saw eye to eye and realized our primordial connection:

Lily was amazingly alert, responsive, and in tune with the universe, as evidenced by this early laugh we shared just minutes after her birth:

The Family Reunites

While Laura's recovery was going well, we had to wait for the recovery room to clear of other patients before we could visit her. Finally, two hours after the birth, daddy and Lily got to reunite with mommy. Athough she had no feeling from her womb down, mom was in excellent spirits above the womb. Here is one of the first times Laura's and Lily's eyes met, shortly after we entered the recovery room:

From my bonding with Lily, I learned of her strong sucking instinct. I could hold her and comfort her, but her attempts to nuzzle my breast were futile. Although divinely inspired, I simply was unable to deliver in that department! Luckily, after just a few minutes of practice, Lily had no trouble latching on to Laura and nursing right in the recovery room:

Postscript

Laura and I are, needless to say, beside ourselves with joy, excitement, and gratitude. We see our new parenthood as a spiritual path, just as our relationship has been for us over the years. We look forward not only to shepherding this little girl into life, but also to learning the ancient wisdom of the divine from our great guru Lily.

Last modified by C. Hundhausen on Dec. 29, 2007