The story of Anaiya's birth and how she came to be Anaiya Lalita Luz.
My beautiful, precious, sweet, passionate, and expressive Anaiyana Lalita Luz Greenlee is celebrating two months earthbound today. Born April 9, at 10:00 am. She came earlier than expected and very clearly in her perfect divine timing. We unexpectedly had to go to the hospital for an early induction due to some super rare health complications that arose with my liver (cholestasis) which was putting her in pretty serious direct danger. What a journey of surrender as I shifted into the reality of hospital rather than home birth and a few weeks earlier than I’d anticipated.
“What a journey of surrender as I shifted into the reality of hospital rather than home birth and a few weeks earlier than I’d anticipated.”
I won’t go into all the details here but what I will share is that I never let go of my vision of birthing in the water. So, even at the hospital where they said I could only labor in the tub and not birth, I continued to trust my intention.
Over my pregnancy I had envisioned the moment of her birthing: me catching her with my own hands in the water and allowing for the sweet and gentle transition from amniotic fluid, to water, to air. I wanted my baby to have a peaceful transition into this earth plane and to breathing for the first time.
The whole birthing and laboring experience was magical, and intense! There were continual layers of surrender and acceptance, over and over again. It culminated in 3.5 hours of active labor, the last part being in the tub. Held in the perfection of my dream, everything aligned and I received sweet Anaiya with my own hands in the water. There, she transitioned for a few moments before I felt the impulse to lift her from the water and she took her first breath. She cooed as I brought her to my heart and held her in awe. My dear friend and mentor Raina was sitting outside the tub alongside my sister Jennie in sweet witness.
"Held in the perfection of my dream, everything aligned and I received sweet Anaiya with my own hands in the water. There, she transitioned for a few moments before I felt the impulse to lift her from the water and she took her first breath."
My amazing tribe of women held sacred witness to my labor, circled round me until I moved to the tub. I'm not sure the hospital had ever seen something like this before! The love continues to unfold over these weeks, as I know it will forever. We’ve been at home in sacred bonding time, naked with skin to skin contact most of the time. She’s an angel, so completely precious and already quite expressive and dynamic as she discovers this little body that her bright spirit is inhabiting. I’ve been so incredibly supported by my community which has allowed for complete bonding and nesting time. I’m beyond grateful.
As for her name. She told me it back in October at the first weekend of teaching the Subtle Self program. We were all in a beautiful blissful open-hearted space and I felt her here, recognizing this is where she is all the time, it’s who she is. And in this field of love this is where we meet. As I felt her, I heard her name: Anaiyana. A name I’d never heard before and yet I felt it deeply in my heart. I wrote it down with joy. And then I sat with this name for all of pregnancy between just she and I, often singing it aloud. Feeling the beauty and joy of this song. Towards the end of my pregnancy, through a breadcrumb trail of insights I discovered that Anaiya, in Hebrew, means God has answered. In Sanskrit, she who is free. And in western Indian, she who brings sunshine. Of course!
Lalita also came into my awareness in the fall when I began learning chants on my harmonium. The Lalita Devi chant is my favorite and I love what Lalita means. She who plays, walks in bliss, pleasure and joy. I felt the joy of her spirit as she continued to grow inside of me. And just in case I needed assurance that this was part of her name, the day she was born, when my dear friend Raina was heading out from the hospital she told me she wanted to show me something. She said to me “you probably already have her name but this reminded me of you.” She showed me a picture of a beautiful Hindu goddess on her phone and told me her name... Lalita! I'm appreciating how clearly my sweet girl let me know her name!
Luz came in while on retreat over New Years. It is the last name that she and I share. Our spiritual last name, as we also rest in the lineage of Greenlee. Luz is our light. We are this.
As many of you know she was conceived on the Big Island and it very much feels like her home in a deep way. Naiya means dolphin in Hawaiian and we have quite a profound connection to dolphin consciousness so I love that this is also included in her first name. She’ll go by Anaiya, a name I love singing over and over again to her and hearing others call her by.
This has been a time of immense beauty and love as this perfect precious being cracks my heart open again and again. I feel incredibly grateful to all the support during this time as we’ve been in this intimate bonding period. So blessed we are.
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