When it comes to learning practical skills, I had a mother of an experience this year.

In short: I had a baby.

Longer version: I was pregnant for 7 months, then had an emergency caesarean because I got pre-eclampsia and the baby wasn’t growing properly and my liver and kidneys were about to fail and the baby was breach, then we lived in the hospital for 26 days and survived the most emotionally and logistically challenging month of our lives, and now we’re home and I’m the healthy mama of a healthy, 7 lb-ish baby boy named Isaac.

There are many topics I can write about as a result of this experience …

The revelation that my boobs had a higher calling and now sustain a human life, for one.

Or my newfound ability to survive without sleeping more than 4 hours at a time, even with the knowledge that I might not sleep 7 or more consecutive hours again for quite a long time.

I could talk about how miraculous it is that, despite all the drama with the pre-eclampsia stuff, Brock and I managed to conceive and produce a healthy baby, when I know way too many couples who haven’t had that luck.

I could wonder at the generosity of our family, friends and farm customers who have clothed and provided for Isaac with gifts of books, diapers, a bassinet, car seat and stroller, and everything else we’ve needed so far, without us asking for anything.

I have learned that my body is amazing and somehow knew how to make a baby: all I had to do was listen to its needs and get out of its way. Practical skills-wise, I changed my first diaper, learned to breast feed, taught myself to tie a Boba wrap, and developed a strategy to get over my fear of needles (it involves an iPod and Macklemore’s Thrift Shop).

Maybe it’s residual shock over the almost-dying part, or the sleep deprivation, or the life-altering experience of becoming a mom, but I’m finding it hard to settle on a single topic sentence for this blog post.

Maybe, instead of trying to put it all into words only 2 months and 2 days after Isaac came into the world, I need to stop trying for now and just go back to cuddling my increasingly chunky baby boy.