Birthing from the outside

Seth Anderson
May 9, 2008

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    My outdoor-adventurous life is about to change. My wife, Randi, has the radiant glow of pregnancy; the stork is weeks from bringing a new baby boy to the world. I’ve been ramping up my last-minute adventures before domestication grips me. I am very excited to become a father, and have no complaints. At 33 years old I have traveled and survived more than a son of Clifton should be allowed.

    This February I followed my brother Dirk to Cerro Aconcagua at 22,841 feet in Argentina to summit one of the seven continental high points.

    Dirk and my cousin Rana Schnell reached the top. I contracted high altitude pulmonary edema at 14,000 feet.

    I was lucky to survive, but was delighted to engage more of South America than dirt, wind and snow. Since my return I’ve been rambling on Colorado and Utah’s gorgeous peaks to enjoy the view and ride down the fantastic and plentiful snow that blessed us this year.

    On my last trip I struggled 4,100 feet to a summit in the Ragged Mountains. I had an epiphany. I had never felt so bad while climbing a mountain. The self-inflicted pain was as repentance for selfish-living, and of not having a mid-week training program.

    I now have greater responsibility than ever before. But like the mountains above me, I view the challenge as a lofty snowcapped goal rather than a heightened level domestic bondage.

    Randi and I are attending early childhood classes at the Hilltop Learning Center. I love learning from the bubbly and insightful Gretchen Gore. Information surrounding childbirth is gruesome, but it’s good for couples to know the gory details in advance of fainting in the delivery room. Everyone should take these classes; even sex-education courses with this perspective might help deter overpopulation ... the required backrubs alone are deterrent enough.

    On the subject of backrubs, our last class featured the 35-pound empathy belly. I’m used to wearing 80 pounds in a backpack, but the game changes when the heft is on the front side; I’m not envious of this part of pregnancy. I cracked that the extra weight could be used as an exercise regimen. I was swiftly booed and failed the empathy test.

    In my new child-rearing adventures I don’t know entirely what will be the greatest hardship ... at this stage I am more fearful of what I’ll be losing. I fear that traveling, climbing and skiing trips will dramatically decline. I also fear that I’ll be an overbearing father and that my child will buckle, rebel and play video games rather go hiking and exploring with me. Having been that type of child, I’ve decided that I can’t afford to let fear prevent me from being myself, and from sharing the outdoor joy I live for.

    My boy will be who he is. All I can do is keep moving forward, hopefully upward.

    Now I’ll have a new friend to come along, at first on my back.

    I’ve put myself in the stork’s flight path and he’s preparing to land on me. Wish Randi and I luck in raising our greatest adventure.

    To paraphrase from our new baby book, “Grown-ups need babies; it makes them feel that life is a new and ripe for exploring.” I’m looking forward to a new challenge in my life and feeling the world is new, even better through our child’s eyes.

    When Seth Anderson isn’t outside doing cool stuff and writing about it for the Free Press, he’s a managing member of LOKI Outerwear, the Grand Junction-based outdoor clothing company.