Four weeks ago today...

our family became bigger and better.  I know what you're thinking...we got another cat.   No, not this time.  While we have definitely met our fuzzy quota in our small home, we did have room for a little human.  I am so very happy to announce that we welcomed Lillian DeAnne Lisle (aka Lily D) into the world on Friday, April 8, 2011.  She is absolutely perfect.  Here's a snapshot of Lily's first month with each picture representing a different day.  I hope to do this every month for Lily D's first year, so stay tuned! 

Matt and I are so very happy to finally be parents.  We've been waiting a long time. Even though Lily is only four weeks old, she has quite a history.  As you may know, Matt and I did IVF in December of 2009 in an effort to preserve our ability to have children before I went through a second round of treatments for breast cancer.   The process resulted in five embryos, which we froze.  At the time, we didn't really know what'd we do them.  We knew that a pregnancy wouldn't be a good idea in the short term, and soon it became clear that I should never be pregnant. 

So steps in our hero Lisa, Matt's sister.  With true unconditional love, she volunteered to be our gestational surrogate. The process, which included countless doctor's visits, legal consultations, group counseling and of course a lot of love and hope, took over a year. We left for Georgia, where Lisa lives with her husband and two kids, in late March to wait for Lily.  Matt and I along with Lisa's husband Steve were in the delivery room through the labor and for the birth.  It was an amazing and intense experience that I will never forget.  These words somehow seem inadequate in describing this experience and the gratitude and admiration we have for our Lisa.   I think that I could write the world's longest blog post and still feel like I haven't covered it :) So I will simply say thank you, Lisa!  Here's a shot of Lisa and Lily.  Notice Lily's outfit says "I love Auntie."

If you're interested in hearing the story at-length, please listen to a radio interview we did with our fertility clinic.  Here's the link (our interview is the February 19th podcast).