Lost Creek Hollow locus

it had been six days since the birth of mona's son, @Ashlar, and more than half of that time had bene marked by a sorrowful darkness. it had descended the morning following his arrival, and had not abated, wrapping the young mother tightly in a chokehold. silently she tended ashlar, cleaning him, checking to see that he breathed, dutifully bringing him to her breasts — all with an automatic and impartial air.
did she love him? mona believed so, for she recalled how she had felt upon seeing him draw his first breath. but currently she could feel nothing beyond a fathomless emptiness, one that stretched interminably within her.
presently, her vision blurred with tears for the third time that day as she watched her son move groggily between her forepaws, a pain she could not understand nor identify.