Lily.
My Lily.
For several seconds, I simply stared at her.
After four years of negative pregnancy tests, doctor appointments, disappointment, and tears I often tried to hide, she was finally here.
When we first saw those two pink lines, Ethan had wrapped his arms around me and whispered,
**“You and our little girl are my whole world.”**
The pregnancy had been one of the happiest periods of my life.
The delivery was another story.
After twenty-one exhausting hours of labor, things suddenly became complicated.
Doctors moved quickly.
A nurse kept Ethan back while I was taken down the hallway.
The last thing I remembered clearly was hearing him call after us.
Then came fragments.
Bright lights.
Someone announcing **3:17 p.m.**
And finally, the strong cry of our daughter.
By the following morning, Lily was doing wonderfully.