I was scared. I was afraid she would feel unnecessary, forgotten, replaced.

So every day I talked to her — stroked her hair and told her that a little brother was growing in mommy’s belly, someone she would have to love and protect. She seemed to understand. Or pretended to.

Who knows what goes on in the mind of a one-and-a-half-year-old child? But after the birth, something happened that was so unexpected I will never forget it.

I was lying in the hospital room with the newborn in my arms when my husband walked in with our daughter so she could meet her brother. My little girl stopped by the bed and stared for a long, very long time at the tiny bundle wrapped in the blue blanket.