When we got back to the room, Hal put the baby down on the visitor bed on the other side of the curtain. This was a double, but Cally was the only occupant, so the extra bed had been made but stayed dark and empty. I pulled the curtain around to give us our own space with the baby. Hal unfurled the blankets and peeled off the newborn T-shirt, which was only a wraparound, with no snaps, no ties. We gazed at the beautiful body of our tiny wriggling wonder. Hal touched the bottoms of her wrinkled little feet and examined her toes. He traced her chunky arms and studied her long delicate fingers, like matchsticks, and her miniature fingernails.

Hal slid the pink hat off her head and stroked her matted black hair. Something about her hair struck me as odd, like a kitten that had fallen in the toilet.

“Look at her ears,” I said, and I untucked the tiny flaps of skin that had been pressed down against her head. “Like little buds of tulip petals.”

“Have you changed her diaper yet?”

“No! Should I?”

“Sure, why not?” said Hal.

I searched around for the stash of newborn diapers. “Look at this little thing!” Hal lifted the baby’s legs and I slid the clean diaper under, just like I’d learned at the Lamaze classes. We wrapped the flaps around and stuck the tape on the sides. “Lemme try the blanket thing,” I said, laying out the square flannel blanket and giving myself audible instructions, from our training. “Fold this part over here, then this over here, and tuck this under, and . . .”

“Voilà!” said Hal, helping me with the final tuck-in.

“Good job,” I said, and we high-fived.

“Uh-oh,” said Hal, noticing my tears.

“Yeah,” I said, wiping my cheeks.

“Come here,” said Hal, and he pulled me toward him.

I kept one hand on the baby, who was bundled up on the empty bed. “Hang on, I want to get her,” I said, and I picked her up.

“You make a beautiful mother,” he said.

“Oh, Hal,” I said, and the tears came again.

“It’s all right,” he said, putting his arms around me and our daughter.

“Hello?” said a voice from the other side of the room. “Hello? Who’s there?”

Hal opened the curtain, and we saw Cally sitting up in her bed. “How long have you been awake?” I asked.

She pulled on her sheet and straightened the blanket. “Where’s the baby?”

“With us,” I said, holding her out for Cally to see.

“Why is she over there? What are you guys doing?” said Cally, making both Hal and me bristle.

“We just wanted to see her,” said Hal, as if it were obvious.

“Yeah, and we changed her diaper,” I said, cradling the baby.

“Oh, okay. Thanks.”