Newborn Baby Care: This Is the First Day of My Life ...

It's 4 AM. The sun is starting to come up. My new baby is just six hours old and is sleeping peacefully on my chest. I know I need to rest myself, but I can't bear to lay her down. The new daddy is sleeping on the couch in our cozy little room. (He thinks he's the sleepy one!) And here I am, lost in complete admiration. She is perfect. Healthy and ridiculously beautiful.

And I keep thinking that even the word love isn't strong enough to describe how I feel for her. Perhaps I need to invent a new, not so overused, word for this unmatched feeling? I loved her from the moment I knew she was growing inside me. But that love doesn't even begin to compare to what is felt the moment they laid her on my chest, and I got to hug her from the outside, for the first time. I am so overwhelmed with all the joy overflowing in this tiny room that I am having a hard time catching my breath. And all the things I have struggled with in the past 9 months suddenly seem like a small fair to pay for this incredible journey that we have just begun.

And all of a sudden I realize this is what life is all about. That this is where my happiness has been hiding all these years.