Lily Mei is here!!!

So it's only 3 weeks late in coming......but Jeff and I are so happy and proud to announce the long- awaited arrival of our miracle baby, Lily Mei Solomon on Tuesday, May 12, 2009!!! She was 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 19 inches long.

Just moments after birth

My water broke just after midnight on the 12th, and it took us about an hour to decide that this was really it and get ourselves to St. Mark's Hospital. When we arrived, I was only dilated to 1cm but 75% effaced, and was having contractions according to the monitor, although I wasn't feeling them yet. It wasn't long after I was admitted when I started feeling them. Around 7 a.m. they subsided and I was only dilated to 2 cm, and was unchanged when my OB got there at 9 a.m. He wanted to start pitocin since things had come to a bit of a halt, and I reluctantly agreed. The contractions didn't take long to start up again and they were not so much fun. By the time it was 1 p.m. I was only at 3 cm, so I opted for the epidural. Considering how slowly I was progressing, I didn't want any more of the contraction experience. The difference in my comfort level was great, but I didn't particularly like the numb feeling or the sleepiness that ensued. Come 5 p.m., the nurses were still not happy with how things were progressing and they came in to place an internal monitor to get a better idea of the strength of my contractions, and when she went to place it.....surprise! I was dilated to a 9 and 100% effaced. All hell broke loose then. I was brought out of my stupor very quickly at the mention of "time to push." That got my heart rate going right away. I honestly don't think I've been that scared for a really long time, maybe ever. It was just nuts how it went from being quiet, Jeff and I watching a movie and visiting with our parents, to pandemonium---nurses grabbing all the supplies for delivery and setting everything up, phone calls being made. With Jeff and my mom at my side, I started to push at 5:45. Jeff was an incredible coach, he never stopped comforting me and giving words of encouragement. I know we all joked about him needing a bed right next to me, but when it came time to deliver, it was like a switch flipped and he was in the zone. It was so neat to be able to share the experience with my mom as well, I'm glad she was there. At a certain point, Lily was not moving down anymore, and was having more frequent decelerations in her heart rate, so my doctor felt forceps were in order. Again, not so excited for that. It didn't feel so good, but she came out not too long after he made that decision. And he did a very good job because she had a perfectly shaped head and no bruising. Finally, after a major push-fest that just about did me in, Lily Mei made her grand entrance at 7:03 p.m. As she let out her first cry, our families that were waiting in the hall outside my door let out cheers. When they placed her on my abdomen, I couldn't believe she was finally here! This was the little miracle we had been waiting for! Those were the little feet that had been wedged in my ribs! It was the most beautiful experience of my life, and to share that with Jeff is indescribable. It was amazing to see him and the immediate feelings of love and amazement he had for this little girl, and how proud he was of me for giving birth to her. I'll never forget the sense of relief and gratitude I felt in seeing her and holding her, as I remembered the 6-1/2 years of heartache and times of darkness and despair I went through in the quest to get pregnant, not knowing if it was in my future to be a mother. And now here she was, healthy and beautiful.....and my own flesh and blood! It doesn't matter to me at all that she was conceived in a little dish in a laboratory; the fact that she is mine and Jeff's is so amazing I still can't comprehend it.