1. A Noble Endeavor

Here she is, as expertly captured by Katy Taylor at about 30 hours old, gazing at her Uncle Judd.

Happy Birthday to Noble Aquemini Moreno! 

Party animal. Daughter. Avid fan of colostrum.

Her arrival, though highly anticipated, was somewhat unexpected. No longer content to be wedged under the table like so many soiled and crumpled napkins, she broke my water after a little salsa at dinner Monday night. Determined not to spend another meal inside a bag of fluid, a few hours later she encouraged my uterus to start the arduous process of moving her toward the nearest exit.

The timeline went like this: contractions began later that night at 9:15, reminiscent of a hearty series of menstrual cramps, about 6 minutes apart. We arrived at St. David's Downtown Medical Center around 11pm and in the hours following, contractions took on a more sinister nature, reducing me to a kind of caged animal, menaced by delusions, and given less than a minute to recover in between. My enclosure was a dimly lit birthing room with a side bed in a nook where I crashed into a stack of pillows each time a mind-numbing wave seized my lower back. Hypnosis tracks I'd been practicing during pregnancy offered me an hour's distraction from the punishing reality that this was only going to get more intense. By 3:45, the urge to push gave me new perspective on the work to be done, so I refocused my efforts and prepared my nethers for a strain heretofore unrealized...

At 4:55, Noble's crowning was so full of pageantry that every inhale came trumpeting out with more and more raucous force and volume. Calls from the staff to slow down were deliberately disregarded as I sent my daughter barreling through precious tissues to burst out onto the bed at 4:56 am, September 13, 2016.

21 inches of gorgeous, squalling, raw human music, wearing an 8lb 13 oz suit of baby magic. Such a crescendo as hers did require stitches, and left me with a sore throat.

Baby wig photo ops. Enough reason to start a family.