Lena Dunham Is a Mother! The Sweet, Singular Story of How She Prepared

It was a mild November morning when I found myself kneeling by an exam table, fresh off a red-eye—with a rictus grin of anxious enthusiasm plastered on the lower half of my face while my eyes filled with anxious tears—clutching the hand of a woman I had met in person only twice.

While I’ve been known to make friends quickly—​airport terminals, veterinary offices—​this was the quickest leap from first coffee to gynecological procedure I’d ever done. And in that moment, as we watched the ball of cells our doctor had already told us could someday form a girl shooting across the dark ultrasound screen like a UFO on a mission, I had the overwhelming urge to tell her I loved her. Babies and dogs, they’ll coax it out of you fast.