Lena Dunham is a mother, and she knew exactly what to say to the baby for the first time. The Girls creator and her husband, musician Luis Felber, welcomed a baby girl via surrogate, Dunham revealed in a deeply personal essay published in Vogue on Wednesday, September 16.
In the essay, Dunham detailed the timeline of the process, revealing that the embryo transfer with her surrogate took place in November, and describing her daughter's dramatic entrance into the world. "And then, 13 days late, in the face of a solar eclipse and a meteor shower, she announced herself."
Dunham reflected candidly on the emotional complexity of the surrogacy journey, writing that the jealousy she expected to feel toward her surrogate never materialised. Instead, she said she found herself envying her daughter for "the chance to be tucked into someone who radiated such safety."
Dunham described the moment she first spoke to her newborn daughter, after a midwife encouraged her to say hello: "Hello. You look nothing like I thought you would, but exactly right. We've been waiting for you, do you know that? It was so nice of you to come."