He was born in January, and in those icy weeks afterward I also indulged in sitting on my sofa, nursing this new love and watching a lot of the Food Network. My husband and I ate a lot of takeout and soup, and that was just fine.

Well, the second child is a different story.

Our daughter arrived in September, and as I had been warned, the second time around is oh, so different.

I fell in love again, yes, but with a 2-year-old to keep track of and of course feed, I was not able to lounge around all day.

Enter mealtrain – a new twist on what it means to eat locally.

There are a number of online meal organizers, but mealtrain.com is the one a friend set up for me for folks who might be interested in helping out following the baby’s birth.

What’s brilliant is that you get to stagger the meals so you don’t run out of room in your fridge. People can also say what they’re bringing so you don’t get repeats, and you can state preferences, allergies, and when to drop the meals off.

I had no idea what a godsend this would be.

For the first month after my daughter was born, I did not have to think about dinner – a task that would have been almost impossible given that she takes about an hour to nurse, unlike her big brother. Without these meals, which were healthy and made with obvious care, we would have been eating a lot, and I mean a lot, of takeout.

When we had family visiting, we blocked off the days for mealtrain. When we were on our own, a meal was brought by around 4 p.m.

And let me tell you, people brought their A game.

We dined on an Italian meatball stew that was made in a crock pot (a recipe I’ll be asking for – the crock pot is my friend) and came accompanied with a fresh loaf of Tuscan bread and a little baggie of shaved cheese. We had two iterations of potato soup – one vegetarian with homemade cornbread and salad, the other with bacon and served in bread bowls, salted caramel cupcakes for dessert.

I learned from the salmon dish one friend brought that cooking with coconut oil adds a delicious, exotic flavor. Another friend introduced a version of pulled pork that had my husband admitting there were other ways to pull a pig than his traditional, Eastern Carolina recipe.

One of the best meals was a veritable feast brought by our next-door neighbors: ribs, broccoli salad and roasted potatoes, followed by a homemade apple pie and an entire box of chocolate pecan bars. Unbelievable.

And our closest friend who does not cook much and works constantly was kind enough to simply call in an order for Chinese food one night. Those steamed pork dumplings never tasted so good.

What this process showed me was that we very much have a support network now – motherhood has brought new friendships. When our son was born, a few friends brought food, and I had prepared a number of lasagnas that I froze beforehand. But that didn’t get us more than maybe a week’s worth of meals. With mealtrain, our son was able to have “normal” family dinners each night during those tumultuous weeks of his adjusting to big brotherhood and for that, I will be forever grateful.

As is often the case with births, deaths, surgeries, and life’s other major events, food becomes a way for people to take care of one another. I had brought people meals in the past, some of them by mealtrain, but I will never again underestimate the value of such a simple gesture.

When friends step up to help out, it fills more than just your bellies.