Pregnancy

Adelyn's umbilical cord stump fell off yesterday. And thank god. That thing was disgusting.

It was hanging by a thread for days, and each time we changed her diaper I felt like I was torturing her, accidentally nudging that black, icky scab hanging off her stomach.

Right after a diaper change yesterday, I looked down and realized it was gone. I frantically searched the floor--my dogs were roaming around and no telling what they would do with it if they found it first--and there it was, finally, inside her diaper...

Neither pregnancy nor motherhood addle a woman's brain, say the researchers based on their study of 1,241 women both before and after having babies. The Australian researchers say we have been misled by a fallacy.

Within five minutes of the nurse telling me I was in active labor, I was being wheeled into the delivery room. Before I even had a chance to catch my breath the epidural was ordered and countless family members were on the way...

I so badly want to write about what happened, about the most intense, wonderful, terrifying, beautiful, exhausting experience of my life--but I literally do not yet have the wherewithal or energy to give it justice. As it turns out, having a newborn at home makes it really tricky to get enough rest. Who would have thought...??