Another Love... [Part I]

I love being a dad. The end.
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There's been far too little blogging going on around here for a long time (for many, many reasons). Nonetheless, I've been itching to tell the world about our newest baby girl, but I've also wanted to put some thought and effort into it rather than simply post a picture with some stats. Months ago I resolved that I would not blog again unless it was about Maya.

So, without further ado, let me introduce my beautiful Maya Annaliese...

*thanks again, Beth, for an amazing birth announcement!*

| PROLOGUE |

So, if you're interested in my wife's lovely version of the labor and birth process, check out Part 1 & Part 2. My version may be slightly less graphic :-) but that’s because she’s a better writer than I. (Forgive me in advance, as I am rarely very good at telling a concise story)

Allow me to lead into the actual birth story with something seemingly unrelated. I would say that the past 5 years have been an important and unexpected journey for both Tara and myself. It's been interesting as we wrapped-up our undergrad, got married, transitioned to the “real world,” charted our collective path forward as “one,” learned more about the world outside of the American bubble, went back to school, traveled abroad, intensified our wrestling with faith & spirituality, got pregnant, had baby Shea immediately following grad school, experienced raising a daughter, and then pregnant again! ::surrrrrprise:: … needless to say, we could have never foretold all the twists and turns life would take (nor would we want to).

I recount all of that to outline the arch of life events that have permanently (and unpredictably) shaped both of us together and individually. The way we perceive the world around us is now… changed. Realities that were commonplace are now intriguing. Situations within our everyday experience now beg questions and curiosity rather than melding into the unnoticeable background. It’s sometimes an uncomfortable place to be, but more often it’s exciting and vibrant which I think comes with unpredictability and newness. If I could wrap it into one phrase, I guess I feel like we’ve gradually shifted to wearing different “lenses”… now confronted with views that point toward journeys rather than destinations. (This paragraph has been vague, I know. Even Tara’s probably reading and at this point thinking, “Heh?”)

What I’m getting at is that these nebulous concepts ultimately end up presenting us with very practical lifestyle questions: Why do we truly want to buy [insert consumer good of choice]? Why do we eat those ingredients we can’t pronounce? How much trash do we create and energy do we use? Why do we buy products from that company? Why do we hold that political/racial/spiritual/cultural viewpoint? … and so on… A lot of these questions usually stem from books we’re reading, experiences in school, conversations we have with friends, and often movies that we see. Such was the case after we watched the documentary, The Business of Being Born.

With the birth of our first daughter, Shea, we were generally going with the flow of standard birthing protocol simply because it was our first pregnancy, and we were generally preoccupied with getting used to the fact that WE WERE GOING TO BE PARENTS!  Yet during our second go'round with Maya, following various conversations and after viewing that documentary, we again found ourselves asking culturally uncomfortable questions, this time about why the American medical community approaches childbirth the way it does (Tara also wrote about her thoughts on the film here).  After much deliberation, we decided to transfer our care from an OB to a wonderful Certified Nurse Midwife, and honestly, I think that was one of the best decisions that we've made as family.  The resulting birth experience, for me, was phenomenal, and I'll use my next post to describe why that was...