Birth
Michelle's water broke at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday night, Feb. 1st. We were at home watching TV. By 8:45 p.m. we were checked into the hospital
and a machine was recording her contractions. I'm not sure when "labor" officially started, but by 2 a.m. the contractions were painful enough that Michelle
asked for a pain relieving drug (Stadol). Around 8 a.m. the doctor gave her an epidural. As late as 4:30 p.m. (20 hours after her water broke), she was
still only dilated 6 cm, and was exhausted from screaming all day. The doctor agreed to schedule a Cesarean section for 6:30 p.m. Lily was out a few minutes later,
and her umbilical cord was cut at 6:54 p.m. Michelle still had another hour and a half of surgery after that.
Here's a close-up of Lily on Feb. 3rd, when she was about 18 hours old. This was the first day we got to spend with her. Michelle's surgery finished around 8 p.m.
on Wednesday (Feb. 2nd), and she was confined to a recovery room until 10:30 p.m. By the time we saw each other again in a post-partum room, we were both
completely worn out, so the baby spent the night in the hospital nursery. They brought her to our room in the morning.
These are photos I took during the surgery, right after Lily was yanked out of her comfy womb. The nurses measured her heartbeat (first picture),
made a footprint impression (second picture), and wrapped her in a blanket and hat (third picture). You can tell from the third picture
that her face looked different the first evening. We thought she looked more Oriental here.
Before taking Lily to the nursery, the nurses let Michelle see her. They laid her on Michelle's chest while the surgery was still going on
(they had to close Michelle up for another hour and a half). The anesthesiologist took the second picture, which is the first photo of the three of us
together.
Feb. 3rd was the first full day we could spend with Lily. Michelle was required to lay flat all day by the anesthesiologists, but she could roll onto one side.
This is the first time she could hold Lily, in her bed.
Michelle took this photo of me holding Lily.
These are some of the flowers my parents sent, addressed to Lily Obenauer. We saved the white daisy in front.
