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Dara’s water broke at 11:30PM on Sunday evening, 8/24. She was 36 weeks and 5 days into pregnancy. We called the midwives and Becky came over to check vitals. We had been dreaming of a home birth but knew that we were early. Becky determined that the baby was 5 1/2 to 6 pounds and that we could have the baby at home… as long as Dara got into active labor within 24 hours. She told us to sleep as much as we could. By the next morning Dara was having contractions but not enough to be considered active labor so we went for a short hike with Sazi dog then Dara took some Castor oil to get things going. She got diarrhea from this but by noon on 8/25 her contractions became much more regular. Becky came over and we set up a little midwifery birth shop in our bedroom. By that evening Dara was in active labor. It was a long night with increasingly strong and painful contractions and Dara vomited several times. In the early morning, Dara slept between contractions. I slept too, but not much and was able to get Dara anything she needed. Becky slept but was there for guidance and would occasionally monitor Dara and the baby. At sunrise, after 17 hours of labors, Dara began to push (and SCREAM). Upon 2.5 hours of pushing, McKenna was born at our home at 7:42 on 8/26/2008 and she weighed 5 Lb 11 oz. Her Apgar score was 8 at one minute and 10 at ten minutes. Good scores. We did some napping yesterday and got into some diaper changing. McKenna did some nipple nursing. Dara and I each did a diaper (full of meconiom) change last night but it was a good night of sleep for all of us. Dara and the baby are slowly but surely getting the nursing figured out. Dara is doing well - sore but well. We are both very happy. I am taking a month off work to get adjusted. Baby vacation!

Now I am in love with two girls!

Aug. 29th post script: See Dara’s post here if you want a better view of the story.

How about another summer 2008 post? OK then.
My Father, Greg Williams died on July 14th due to complications from lung cancer.

He sure knew how to have a fun time. Every thing I love to do I learned from him. He was there when I learned to bike ride, drum, camp, ski, float rivers and lakes… He will be missed.

Dara is about a month away from giving birth to our first child. Here she is looking good and having fun at the end of July.

I went to a second bachlor party on boats at the East Clear Creek Reservoir. And again we took all our clothes off!

I finished Nate’s Crazy 88 race. I don’t feel very fit right now but I knew It might be the last race I would do for a year so I kept pedaling. The mud got bad but Jeremy pedaled with me and we kept each other motivated to finish. Thanks J-Money! For next year I have set my sites on the Colorado Trail Race (CTR) - 500+ miles with 300+ miles of single track! Check it out here.

Hope your summer is grand. If it is not then get on over to Flagstaff and smell the flowers.

I imagine it can be nice where ever you are. It is a state of mind right!

Dara’s 33rd Birthday party sure was a good time. Last to leave the party was Eric Frye. He can fall asleep anywhere and in any position - it’s called the “Frye Slide”.

The trails on the Kachina Peaks (of Northern AZ) have volcanic origins and they tend to get dry and dusty by June. So when the rains come (and they have!) they give the dusty trail a crusty and tacky surface which provides great traction. We like to get first tracks on these crusty powder days!

Flowers have been great this year and get better every day. This trail is near the Mt. Elden grave.

Last weekend Dara, Sazi, and I explored some trails in the White Mountain’s near Greer, AZ. We road the trails of three forks of the Little Colorado River - West Fork (Trail # 94), East Fork (#95) and South Fork (#97).

Dara had just started her third trimester of pregnancy so after riding all three trail-forks of the Little Colorado, we dubbed the weekend the Third Trimester Trifecta!

This looks interesting. An 88 mile figure 8 race/ride in Flagstaff, AZ. August 9th, 2008.

I plan to keep track of the Junk Boat floating on pontoons made of plastic bottles. Their epic is an adventure and a statement.
Lately my epic is one of house work and preping for the birth of our baby girl. My new epic is an adventure of love.

Makin’ bacon!