What a difference a day makes

Announcing:
Zoë Talei Ligairi
Born April 25, 2008 at 11:06 pm
7 lbs, 1 oz
19 inches (More pictures at the bottom of the post.)

Our little girl is here! She’s actually been here for over 4 days now, but I’m not sure where the hours float away to in my haze of nursing, changing, sleeping, and cuddling.

Here’s the condensed (but still long) version of Zoë’s birth story: At 5:30 am on Friday, April 25, my water broke but I didn’t start contracting. So I went to my sister’s college graduation (she was receiving her nursing degree, appropriately enough) from 8:30 to 10:30 am. Josh and I then headed home. Since I was Strep B negative and could feel the baby move often, my midwife—Roberta—felt good about me staying home from the hospital until 5:30 pm to see if labor would start on its own. I tried every natural augmentation method I’d ever heard of, and contractions started with some regularity in the afternoon. By 4 pm, when my doula—Vanessa—came over, I was contracting often but only for about 15 to 30 seconds at a time. At the hospital, I was lucky enough to get the one room with the tub (though I’d been told earlier in the day it wouldn’t be available) and was dilated to a 4. It seemed like there was a long road ahead of us. Josh and Vanessa were the most amazing labor assistants ever. They tirelessly rubbed my back (I was having back labor) through every single contraction while encouraging me and helping me into more comfortable positions. I was able to find deep relaxation on my birth ball, in the rocking chair, and in the tub. At 8:30, Roberta said that she was going to check me at 9 pm and if I wasn’t far enough progressed, we would have to consider Pitocin, which I really wanted to avoid. Judging from the apparent strength of my contractions during that half hour, Vanessa told Josh she thought I might be dilated to a 7 (which would be good news). But then the really good news came from Roberta —I would “soon feel the urge to push!” I was dilated to a 9.5. I have never been so happy. I’d made it through transition, my biggest fear, and would be birthing this baby naturally. Then I pushed for two hours (in part because Zoë was posterior). Those minutes were the most grueling, intense, amazing, spiritual, achingly tiring, and dreamlike of my life. I’m obviously having a hard time finding the right adjectives. By that point, my mom, Josh’s mom, and my sister were there too, offering words of encouragement and physical support. When Zoë was born and put on my chest, I couldn’t believe she was real and that labor was over. Our sweet little girl had arrived. I am still amazed that everything went so well and am so grateful for everyone supporting me for making my birth experience what it was.

And afterwards I felt great! Without an episiotomy or any tearing, the recovery process has been really quick. On the other hand, nursing has proved more challenging than I had anticipated. It’s getting better now, but it’s definitely a learned skill.

Zoë received lots and lots of visitors in the hospital. As the first grandchild on both sides, her birth has been greatly anticipated and celebrated. We feel very blessed by all of the love shown us these last few days.

And we’re already having so much fun with our little Zoë bug! She cracks us up and we can’t believe how much we love her. It makes up for the sleep deprivation and everything else. Her middle name, Talei [tah-LAY], means “precious” in Fijian, while Zoë means “life.” And that’s a pretty good description of her to end on.


Two hours of pushing meant a major conehead . . . it's almost gone now.

First family portrait.


She's so small . . .

. . . which is resulting in some funny photos as well as the sweet ones.