The Day Is Here

I assume that many of you following our blog already know what I am about to say from Facebook, but for those who do not frequent Facebook...

After all of the years of trying and planning and praying and working on bringing our Surrogacy Adventure to its desired end (or beginning, depending on how you look at it), the day has come.

Sonia Elena Tovar has given birth to Sophia Elena Grace Tovar today, August 28 at 2:11AM at the Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center.

Here's how it wentdown. I may leave stuff out...Betty, Sonia, or Pablo can fill in the holes:
I got a call yesterday from Betty telling me that Sonia's contractions were sufficiently close together to justify us going to the hospital and getting Sonia admitted. I rushed out of a meeting at work, drove home, and then Pablo, Sonia, Betty and I all drove down together. We spent a good amount of time waiting, talking to doctors and nurses, waiting for Sophia to move into the correct position for actual labor to begin. And by good amount I mean from roughly 4PM on August 27 to 2AM on August 28. That is really long time to endure a tremendous amount of pain and discomfort (those of you who have experienced giving birth can attest to this and understand all of the details that come with it), which is exactly what Sonia did. To say that Sonia is tough and tolerant is a gross understatement, and on closer inspection, perhaps masks the true driving force behind her actions, not only in the last 2 days but throughout the last year...Sonias' motivation was unselfish love. There is no conceivable reason that a person would show such an extent of grace to another person with nothing comparable to offer in return if it is not driven by love. I mentioned this at one of the baby showers. I believe that Pablo and Sonia believe that God calls us to show practical acts of love to those who it is not owed, who do not or cannot offer the same in reciprocity, or in some cases who clearly do not deserve such treatment. Pablo and Sonia believe that we are called to follow the example of God himself. Betty and I hold the same belief. Betty, Sophia, and I are the recipients of grace. Grace that has been extended through Pablo, Sonia, and Gabriel, who in turn have also been shown Grace by God. In the Bible in John 15:13, Jesus says "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." I believe that Pablo, Sonia, and Gabriel have sacrificed and risked much to emulate this. I consciously include Gabriel (Pablo and Sonia's toddler-aged son) in this because even though it may seem like he would not sacrifice much, he has too. In fact today, I became acutely aware of an example of this. A while after Sonia had given birth, Gabriel turned to Sonia and said something to the effect of "now you can pick me up and carry me again, Mommy". I had forgotten that Gabriel had given up the basic comfort of being picked up and carried by his mom whenever he needed it (which is quite often, for little kids) so that she could be pregnant with Sophia. That may not strike you as deeply as it did me, but it is a simple yet humbling example of the pile of things that Pablo, Sonia, and Gabriel have laid down for the sake of showing grace.

Which brings me to a sub-topic. You have probably already put the pieces together in your head, but the reason that I picked Grace for Sophia's "secret" middle name is so that she will have a lifelong reminder both for her and for the rest of us that it is Pablo, Sonia, and Gabriel's act of grace that made her own existence possible, that ultimately God has shown all of humanity Grace, and that God calls us all to live lives marked by acts of grace towards each other.

By the way, both Sonia and Sophia came out from the birthing process tired, but very healthy without major complications, thank God. There were some tense moments when we were not sure that Sophia would come out easily (without a c-section), but through some fancy coaxing and a ton of work on Sonia's part, she made it through just fine...complete, perfectly healthy, and wonderful.

I would gush about Sophia, about how much we love her, how beautiful and amazing we think she is, (all true) etc., etc., etc., but you have the rest of our lives to hear about that from me and Betty! Brace yourselves...

I am really sorry about not posting many pics... I'm having technological issues ( I can't find a cable I need to get it done) and I need to coordinate with my brother who took the majority of the pics to get them all in one place. We'll post some in the next couple of days, I promise, once we've has some sleep and got our acts together. Here are a couple of low-res pics to get things started.

Just out of the canal:

Fixed up a bit a few minutes later:

With Mom:

Hopefully, we'll all be going home from the hospital together tomorrow, but we'll see. In any case, we can't wait for Sophia to get to know you!

More soon...

-Alvaro