Adelaide Rose Taylor
June 23
20½ in.
8 lbs. 6 oz.

If there's such a thing as a having-a-baby trifecta, Rachel Griffiths hit it. First: she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Second: She was only in labor for an hour and a half. Third: It's not yet three weeks later, and Griffiths already fits into her pre-pregnancy jeans.

(Fact: If you're a woman, you probably just went back and read much of the foregoing paragraph a second time.) The speed of Adelaide Rose's arrival still amazes the actress. "I thought I could get to the hospital in a leisurely time so I could plug into the drugs," says Griffiths, 36, who arrived too far along to get an epidural. "I was just like 'This is not my birth plan!'"

The next evening, the Australian actress and her husband, artist Andrew Taylor, 37, brought Adelaide to their Hollywood Hills home, where 20-month-old brother Banjo had been prepped for what lay ahead. "I bought a doll, and we set up a cot and changed its diapers," says Griffiths, who kept fit by walking and doing prenatal yoga.

Just two days later, Adelaide met Mum's Six Feet Under castmates at a wrap party. Now mother and daughter can spend lots of downtime together. "I can really savor it, which is beautiful," says Griffiths. As for plotting her next career move? No worries just yet. "Kids remind you to stay in the now," says Griffiths. "If you've never had a reason to, you do now."