Well, the Tadpole decided to stay where she was until the Bush administration was officially over. I went to the hospital at about 11:00 on the night of January 20, and she was born at high noon the following day (alyson: your guess was closest! E-mail me or message me on Ravelry and we'll talk sock yarn).

I spent the morning in a triage room watching inauguration coverage on NBC--by the time they moved me to the room where I spent the rest of my hospital stay, I didn't really care much about how many balls the President and First Lady attended, who made Mrs. Obama's dresses, or, well, anything else, to tell you the truth.

All in all, though, my labor was very routine and went quicker than I think the doctor expected. I will spare you the gruesome details--the important part was that it ended in this:

As unpleasant as labor, pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational diabetes, and the doubts we had about whether we were able to produce a child were--she was worth all of it. The Tadpole is the most amazing little being I have ever encountered, and her Daddy and I are absolutely smitten.

The fact that she has come during such interesting times has given me food for thought. Unfortunately, my brain hasn't quite caught back up yet--they tell me that sleep deprivation will do this and that eventually I'll be able to hold coherent conversations that do not revolve around my baby's eating and sleeping habits, or my pride in her learning to suck her thumb.

So, instead, I'll leave you with something you may or may not have seen as part of last week's inaugural coverage. Bishop Robinson was invited to give the invocation at the inaugural kick-off celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. You know--the concert aired on HBO with Bono, the Boss, Beyonce, and all? Well, the HBO coverage did not include the invocation. Because I was hugely pregnant, overdue, and way out of sorts, I was irked, but didn't pay it much mind. This morning, I found the text of the prayer and this video:



If you haven't seen the video or read the prayer, I encourage you to take the time to glance through it--regardless of your religious affiliation. While directed largely at our new president, they are words for all of us to remember as we move forward into this new era.