How I survived the longest, best day of my life

How I survived the longest, best day of my life

When my daughter was being born, I was awake for the last 39 hours of it. Outside of my iboga journeys, this is the longest I have ever stayed awake.

And somewhere in the middle of that, I did something really dumb.

Vylana's water had broken two days prior, but active labor hadn't started yet. So I spent the day taking care of Vy and handling Kingdom things, and around midnight, wrung out and trying to steal a little sleep before the storm, I took a megadose of melatonin.

Of course. The second I start drifting toward faeryland, Vylana groans. Contractions.

Sufferin mothertruckin succotash.

So I reach for a packet of Edge, our caffeine metabolite and botanical blend, best formula I’ve ever created since Alpha Brain. It was my in-case-of-emergency, rip-the-packet moment, and once I down the drink, the fog lifts and I am in it. Rubbing her shoulders, pressing into her feet, breathing her through every wave that rolls up through her body. I have never had more respect for mothers in my life. It was primal.

The sun comes up over the hills, the birds start their morning racket, and I rip another packet.

We make it through the morning, and around midday we move to the birthing pool. I've got a few bottles of water cut with Fuel (electrolytes and ketones) because I get desperately thirsty when I'm this wrecked, and the ketones are the one thing keeping my brain from sliding off its hinges. And of course, Vy wants me in the water with her.

Ah, the birthing pool. Whatever you are imagining might end up in a birthing pool, yes. It is all of that.

No worries. I got this.

She’s riding the waves of contractions and making waves in the water. I am waterlogged, cooking in the labor stew. She starts pushing, but there is no movement. After two hours of sending it in the water, eventually we try it on dry land. I put on some Hawaiian Haka, and like a warrior queen, Vy bears down and gives the birth everything she has.

But her cervix will not open.

Thirty-three hours awake now, and we are off to the hospital. I put the Tesla on autodrive. Autodrive, it turns out, has no eye for little potholes. We hit one, Vy lets me hear about it, and I take back manual control.

We slide into the hospital and the team is incredible. Cervix still closed, her white blood cell count climbing, they recommend a C-section.

Alright. Rip another packet, and scrub up.

Watching them operate was like witnessing a symphony of precision. Then, with a suck and a pop, little baby Huxley was born.

Best moment of my life.

I’ve always created supplements that I knew I needed. And I’ve never needed them more.

All the way back to my Onnit days, I only ever made supplements because I needed them myself. I use Edge and Fuel every day. But this day, I needed them the way you need air.

Edge is the reason I could stay locked in and present for 39 straight hours while my body begged me to quit. It runs on paraxanthine, the compound your body already makes from caffeine, so the energy arrives clean and stays steady. Focus without the jitter. Drive without the spike and the ugly crash waiting on the other side. The packets I kept tearing open were Edge Instant, an arsenal folded down into something I could carry in one hand.

Fuel is what kept my brain online and my body watered through hour after hour in that pool. It runs on goBHB ketones for clean cellular energy, Aquamin minerals drawn from the sea to put back what you sweat out, and Metabolyte to keep your endurance from falling off a cliff at hour thirty. No sugar bombs. No crash on the far side. Hydration, endurance, and a fat-burn, in one bottle.

I used Edge to birth something else this year, too.

After a seven-year labor, I finally handed the production manuscript of my new book to Harper. Seven years. Edge was in my corner for the final push, the long quiet mornings when focus was the only thing standing between me and one more year of excuses.

And I'll tell you the truth, because that is the deal between us. I am the heaviest I have ever been. Dad life layered a few extra pounds on me, and I am leaning on the fat-burning side of Fuel to carve them back off. Same product. A different mission.

Dads, I used to imagine what this job would ask of me. Now I know. So much respect for every one of you. And if the products keeping this dad's ass off the floor can help you stand up for yours, then they have done their job.

Much love, everyone. Hoka.

— Aubrey

Show up for your hardest days.
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