A whole, complete, precious human child, every bit as worthy of being loved and wanted and carried home as any child who has ever been born.

Her worth was not conditional.

It did not depend on her spine, or on a surgery, or on a prognosis, or on how much her care might cost.

A baby is not a set of specifications to be evaluated.

She was already, from her first breath, a full and finished person, deserving of everything, and the mark on her back changed precisely none of that.

I knew it holding her those three days.