Dear friends & family,

We are delighted to announce the arrival of Cassia Naima Lengbeyer,
lovingly welcomed into this world on Tuesday, April 2, 2002, at 2:28 am.
At her birth, she weighed 7 pounds, 11.4 ounces, measured 18.5 inches,
and had a lovely rosy blush. Her heartbeat never once faltered through
labor, and from all indications she’s generally as strong as a horse.
For those of you who care about such things, “Cassia” is Greek for
‘champion’; “Naima” is Arabic for ‘comfort’ and the title of a
beautiful ballad by John Coltrane; and “Lengbeyer” is Urdu for
‘half-filled bathtub.’ Actually, that last bit isn’t true – but
Lengbeyer, a compressed version of our pre-marriage names, is the name
that we have legally adopted for ourselves and our new family. Even
though we are now Audrey Lengbeyer and Larry Lengbeyer, however, our
lifetime email forwarding addresses will remain unchanged:
audreyleung@stanfordalumni.org and beyer@post.harvard.edu. So you’ll
have no excuse for not staying in touch!

The labor was surprisingly short for a first time birth (for those
keeping score at home, dilating from 4 to 10 centimeters took just about
two hours). Audrey’s not at all sure she ever wants to do that again –
let alone another five times! And this despite us being very fortunate
with the birth process, where we got the best of both worlds: a
drug-free and low-intervention, low-anxiety, midwife-supported birth,
followed by the postpartum hospital care of one very thorough surgeon
(Audrey had some tearing from Cassia’s head), a posse of nurses and
consultants bringing all kinds of reassuring information and free
doodads, a meals service, and even a massage therapist.

The most astonishing aspect was something that never happened. Audrey
had such a great attitude throughout, letting nothing faze her, that she
never uttered a cross word at anyone, even Larry (who now plans to go
without a helmet and flak jacket for the next birth).

We apologize for the lateness of this message. As have all new parents
before us, we have learned that all tasks now take at least 4.3 times as
long as before, and this email, which we’ve been meaning to send for 48
hours now, is no exception.

Though Audrey has been hit fairly hard by stitches, hormone withdrawal,
the flu-like symptoms of her milk coming in, and even an allergic
reaction of unknown origin, she’s slowly coming around and we’re
grateful that everything has so far gone as well as it has. The bottom
line, of course, is that Cassia seems healthy and content, and is truly
a delicious little gift.

We hope you’re all well, and enjoying a lovely springtime. Send us
news!

Audrey & Larry

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I am SO happy...i think i'm going to cry....