Caroline Shizuko Chao

Maia Teruko Su ~ Born 5/1/25

Reflections on a first month of bliss(ful chaos):

- Someone once told us it would be like living life in 4D: higher intensity, overwhelming, yet more vivid and afterward you can't imagine life without it.
- Progress (also recovery) isn't linear, but humans are so adaptable - as evidenced by watching a newborn struggle to eat, digest, poop, sleep, repeat. But they get better and so do we.
- Whatever I was warned about childbirth and the aftermath and at the time thinking I am not afraid of physical pain - lol. For a relatively uncomplicated birth and recovery, the first week was still pure insanity - the simultaneity of physical recovery, sleeplessness, the feeling of helplessness watching our baby wail and not yet understanding what they need, trying feed a baby with neither party yet knowing how. (How did the cavewomen do it? I will never know.)
- It takes so many hands - grateful to do this with @ericsu89 and with much help from our families
- Newborns force you to live in the present - the need to tend to their needs on demand - but also a reminder that life's best moments are enjoyed in the present, not planning for the future.
- Birth and life is a miracle. The commonality of babies and giving birth doesn't make it any less so.

📷: @rivkahlaberphotography Grateful to have captured these moments when she will never be this little again 🥹