North Twin

It has been a long time since I have been able to take a whole day away from home and a telephone, very refreshing. For the week before Aurora's due date, the 2 weeks she was over due, and the first week of her life I opted out of all day excursions. Today with mom and baby doing well I escaped to the Sisters Range. This small range, a mere 20 miles from the ocean, is home to the largest body of exposed olivine in the Western Hemisphere. The rock weathers a rust colored orange, but where it has recenly fractured it reveals its drab green coloring. The texture is rougher than sandstone, but not so sharp to tear up pads, its climbing quality is superb. I lament that there are not longer more sustained route opportunites. The West ridge is an excellent solo with low 5th class scrambling and good exposure. It is hard to beat, only a 30 min drive and 3 hr approach to the base of the ridge. Car to car, 7 hours of good times.

Week One

Parents, who us? No...having a baby is one of those things that happens to other families and to other people. The fact that Shannon is a mother, which makes me a father, is difficult to grasp and yet family is exactly what is happening to us now. There is no denying a crying infant, poopy diapers, spitups, and the effects of compromised sleep, and still at times it is almost impossible to believe that she is real, so perfect, helpless and beautiful.. We feel like we are living in a pause, a fragil moment wherein this new reality cannot possibly last. When we are shaken from our dreams it is usually to a hugry infant or a dirty diaper at 3am, and somehow this is exactly as things are supposed to be.

Aurora

It seems to me that the single most significant word that will repeatedly resound in a persons’ life will be their name. Prior to pregnancy I can remember naming a pet rat, Strados (St-ra-dough-s), later in life after participating in several climbing first ascents, I’ve helped to name these rock and alpine routes. Not a lot of preparation for naming a human being.
The criterion for our naming our baby was something, unique, significant, and easily adaptable for nick-names. We chose Aurora McCune Dickerson. McCune is Shannon’s maiden name which she has been very reluctant to relinquish. When we were married she dropped her middle name Margaret and replaced it with McCune. She still uses and confuses people with McCune Dickerson as her full last name. I have committed to changing my name to from Daniel Abram to Abram McCune, and am just waiting for the extra $100 to make it official. We have decided to use McCune as the middle name and Dickerson for the last name for everyone in our family, the both of us contributing to the constitution of our family.
Aurora has a strong association with light. Aurora Borealis are natural colored light displays in the polar regions and are caused by collisions of charged particles in the earths atmosphere, they are very beautiful. Aurora is Latin for Dawn, and refers to the Roman equivalent of Eos, the ancient Greek Goddess of the dawn. Dawn is the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of soft light, while the sun itself is still below the horizon and should not be confused with sunrise, the moment when the leading edge of the sun itself appears above the horizon.
Aurora was born at 6:10am on Friday May 16, 2008, sunrise that morning was at 5:26am so technically she was born just following the dawn however the pushing process of her entrance into this world occupied a beautiful dawn morning in a lovely cottage adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the beautiful Northwest.
Aurora is “aurorable” with her soft features, she has my nose and her mothers fingers, and perfect little chin. Her, peeps, mutters, and cries have earned her the title “Roarie”. She is perfect, our little “Rora”.

Aurora McCune Dickerson

A new dawn has arrived in our lives, Aurora McCune Dickerson, born Friday May 16 2008, at 6:10am. Most of you know that we have been waiting for this moment with anticipation, joy, disbelief, fear, uncertainty, and love. Thursday morning we were 13 days overdue and facing the forced option to be induced the next day. We were prepared for this, but Shannon very much wanted to have the intimacy and privacy of a home birth; assuming we could do so safely. Our day was filled with every prayerful, medical, and heretical attempt to “naturally” invite labor: castor oil with breakfast, eggplant parmesan for lunch and a visit to the acupuncturist in the early afternoon. Something worked. The baby already head down dropped several more inches, cramps came and went, and contractions began. We took a walk to the beach, Shannon walked with her mother, I bouldered, we sat in the sun together, and together we anticipated the hours and experiences that lie ahead.
As the contractions increased in intensity and regularity we walked back to the car, and drove to Woodstock Farm, a property owned by Bellingham Park and Recreation. Friends of ours are caretakers on the property and live in a small cottage nestled in the sheep pasture that overlooks the ocean. The location was ideal; simple, secluded, and beautiful. Our team consisted of an experienced and loving midwife, a wonderful doula, and the two of us. With these beautiful people and in this incredible place we delivered our baby.
I learned a lot about love that night, I witnessed sacrifice and selflessness like I have never before imagined. Shannon never once complained and the labor was long and hard. We spent most of the night together in the tub, I massaged as Shannon’s uterus prepared for delivery. The baby was slightly turned from an ideal position resulting in near constant back labor and slow progress. She worked so hard. At 4:00am, through the painful sleepless stupor we could hear birds singing, and with them came the urge to push. Those next 2 hours were an eternity that passed in instant. Then she arrived. Beautiful, slippery, sobbing, a miracle, our daughter. We became a family.
8lbs 3oz, 20in long, healthy, beautiful, and perfect. Shannon is recovering well; she experienced some tearing and has yet to complain I doubt she ever will. Aurora is feeding better with each suckle, she pees, she poops, and she sleeps. I don’t know how this is possible but she is the most beautiful thing in the world and somehow exponentially increases in splendor each day. We are filled with love and wonder over this life and blessing in our lives and are grateful to share it with each of you! Your prayers, thoughts, calls, and love are all so appreciated. We love you.