Magnificent Day

This has truly and without a doubt been one of the most glorious days of my life.
And it is by far the best birthday I have ever had... ever.
I wanted only one thing for my birthday - a successful surgery for Tikva.
There are no sweeter words to hear from the mouth of a doctor than, "Her surgery was totally uneventful. Everything went really well."
I looked outside for the tenth time today and saw the clearest blue sky and sun shining bright on the bay and beyond, lighting up all the little houses of San Francisco.
How could it go any other way on such a magnificent and perfect day, especially the first such day after 4 days of dense fog and strong wind?
God has been smiling on Tikva and on us for the past 5 months, and She was indeed smiling on us today.
I received the only birthday gift I will ever need... ever.

Tikva is off the paralytic drug now, so she started moving around a little.
She moved her arm up and down and wiggled her toes.
The moment I will never forget today: When she opened her eyes and looked at me, toward the sound of my voice, and just stayed focused there for a minute.
My little girl is a week old and for the first time we were able to look at each other while I stroked the side of her head and face and my breasts responded by letting down milk.

She has a bandage over the scar on her left side where they opened her up to move everything back into place and repair her diaphragm with a Gore-Tex patch.
The bandage is shaped in three little hearts - cut especially so by Tippi, the head pediatric surgeon who did her surgery.
Yes, these are the kinds of people who were holding her today, and who have been holding her since I went into labor.
People with heart and soul, great skill and a desire to help that is exceptional.
How could it go any other way?

Tonight I looked at my little girl in wonder, and really acknowledged what an incredible miracle she is.
I saw her might in that little body, read her purpose in the energy within and surrounding her.
She has big work to do in this life, and she has already begun doing it.
I received a zillion text messages on my phone, outpourings of love and "Yay!" and lots of "I'm with Tikva!"
We celebrated with birthday cake in the family waiting room and shared the extras with the nurses.
And I kept looking out the window and I couldn't help but smile, feeling completely held by something so big and powerful.
Feeling how held Tikva has been and continues to be.

At one point during the surgery, I went into the pumping room with Laurie to pump my milk.
Sharon came in to tell me that a red tail hawk had just flown by the waiting room window on his way to fly by where Tikva was.
Tikva's power animal - a mighty force of nature, symbol of power and vision - visited her and us once again.
Of course... How could it go any other way?

Dahlia came for birthday cake and to see her little sister, and today she was dressed all in white and looked so beautiful and grown up to me.
So capable of being the big sister, stepping up in her life in her own way.
She is so ready to play with her sister, I can just feel it in her when she visits the ICN.

It's 10:15pm and I am sitting on the glider where I sit to pump my milk, in the quiet of our bedroom.
In a few hours it'll be the 18th, and this birthday will become one of my greatest and most important memories.
Today I promised Tikva that I would tell her the story of this day every June 17th for the rest of my life.
At least until the first time she rolls her eyes and says, "Oh no, Mom, you're not going to tell that story again, are you?"

Happy day, Sweet Baby Girl.
Thank you for the amazing gift you have given me today.
Thank you for your hard work, for the way in which you embrace life, for your fearlessness and might.
Thank you for your trust in Source and the incredible part you play in its unfolding and blossoming.
Thank you for being my teacher.
Thank you for being my girl.