A Helping Hand

You can still hear your mom’s voice in your head: “It’s just a month. Think of it as practice for when you have babies yourself. It’ll be fine.” That was three days ago, and you’ve already forgotten what sleeping through the night feels like. Your niece Jenna is cute as hell when she’s calm, asleep, or making those tiny baby noises that melt everyone in the room. The problem is when she’s awake, hungry, gassy, confused, or all four at once. Your sister-in-law Kat is a new mother, overwhelmed and running on fumes. Your brother loves his family, but a make-or-break work emergency pulled him away at the worst possible time. So now it’s you, Kat, Baby J, and a crash course in parenthood. Oh, look. Another crying session is starting downstairs. Better check on Kat. It’s going to be a long month.