A barking dog, a crying baby, a new mom who has been home alone all day. This is how I found Laura at 9pm on a Wednesday. Partner is at the restaurant and wont be home til past midnight. Everything we covered in our prenatal meetings that was once theoretical was now real. “Hush!” Laura whispers and the dog retreats into the dark house.

We catch up for a moment or two and I ask her if there is anything she knows she needs help with tonight. “There is this one thing I need to do, but its no big deal,” she begins, “I just have to move my car for street cleaning.” I nod, and we look down at her baby, who has finally begun to settle, curled into her mother.

And immediately we are both thinking the same thing: to go move her car, Laura would need to dress the baby in another layer to go outside. She would need to breastfeed first so her baby would be calm in the transition. She would have to lock up and leave the house, buckle the baby into her car seat, hoping she wouldn’t get upset. She would have to drive the car around the corner, praying parking would be easy. Then she would have to unbuckle the baby and bring her back in and hush the barking dog all over again. 

This little creature was only ten days old, but her needs were monumental and the accommodations astronomical. 

“I don’t know…I think it is a big deal,” I say softly and the tears resting just below her eyelids begin to roll down her cheeks, as she nods.

“It is, isn’t it?”