A Fathers Perspective

It was so great to have the opportunity to be a part of this with Sharon. It has unexpectedly increased the amount of respect and love I have for her. Below is my reflection on the moment.

Tuesday night I went to bed wondering and feeling that possibly the baby could come, would it really? Midnight struck and she felt the knock on the door. Deep breathing and a gentle hand on the back were enough to sooth and comfort the suffering. Inconsistent at first, but steady after fourteen hours the pain was mounting, the anxiety snowballing. The expert midwife was called to evaluate the true progress of a day’s worth of work; just over a tenth of the way, the task seemed too much, the ambition vain.

Four hours and a membrane sweep later the progress seemed grim and resting measures pursued. Warm baths, pain medication, and patience ensued. A half conscious husband groggily arises to the aide of his ever valiant and strong counterpart after the long hours already spent on the endeavor. Almost twenty four hours later she still heeds the call, the door only slightly ajar.

The gushing of water unexpectedly comes to the rescue; a hurried gathering of things while holding her tight through the pain. Our dash to the hospital reveals progress to the final stages. The slowly unfolding drama comes to a climax of pain and grit she pushes with more force than ever imaginable, as if transferring part of her soul were required to bring this new life into the world. Excitement builds as the brown hairs of a head emerge. Time has slipped by unnoticed as a being emerges from the bowel of the life giving source of its mother. Bloody, slimy, and slightly deformed from the forces of labor it is still distinguishable as a healthy baby boy. My eyes and heart swell as something beyond mytself touches me and testifies of the importance of this moment.

As I sit in wonder, reflecting on the miracle of life I have just witnessed I’m amazed at the thoughts that do and do not run through my mind. I lay with his new warm body resting on my chest in the dark quiet room. I don’t think of the life that might be lived, the choices made, and the paths taken. I do think of how blessed and lucky I am to have witnessed this moment of life. I savor the time and emotions, appreciating it for all its worth, and only hope for a lifetime of these moments to share in the eternities.

Baby Quinn

Sharon started labor Wednesday around 12:00am and delivered Thursday at 3:10am. I thought I would send some initial pictures and stats out.

Gender: Male

Name: Pretty sure it will be Ira Quinn. We are working on the middle name, the two front runners right now are Tanner and Hinckley.

Weight: 7 lbs. 8 oz.

Height: 20.5 inches

I'm working on a written account of the birth that I will probably put up later.

Last Days - Sharon Update

Hey Family!
Nope. No baby yet. Although last night I had this trippy sci-fi dream that I caught a blue fish, that turned into a baby boy, that had special healing powers. Weird, but it was the first dream I've had where the baby wasn't a girl.
Life has been good to us. I'm pretty much healthy, which suddenly makes pregnancy feel like a relative breeze. The baby is healthy from what we can tell, and our due date is this Saturday. Crazy!
Friday was my last day of work, which was kind of sudden but I think good. I was planning on working part of this week, but my director was too nervous to schedule me. It would put everyone in a bind if baby Quinn decided to suddenly come. So, it was fairy tale week, which went well. But the last day was the best! I only had 7 kids, and about 3 volunteers. Anthony brought in reeaaally delicious cookies and icecream to celebrate my last day with the kids, and stuck around for the rest of the afternoon, which meant work was so easy I almost didn't know what to do with myself. One of my most challenging students decided that he loved Ant and wouldn't leave his side. Cute! I'll miss those kids. It's not the kind of job I was looking for when we moved here, but I've been really blessed with the learning experiences and fun that I've had there.
Saturday was my baby shower which was also really fun. About 13 women showed up which was pretty amazing with how bad the roads have been lately. We now feel slightly more prepared for parenthood with baby clothes and gadgets, not to mention all the great gifts we got in Park City. People are so nice! I'm grateful for the support network the church provides, but it's been sweet to see co-workers and families from work step up to offer meals to freeze and hand-me-down baby furniture.
Last night after church we went to Discussion group. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but it's a group of members that pick a topic every month to swap ideas on and eat yummy potluck food. Topics have ranged from neuro-psychology, health care, the effects of virtual reality, etc. About half of them are professors at Pitt or CMU, and many have kids our age. We're going to be really sad to leave this ward. People are so good at reaching out across generations and backgrounds, to engage in thoughtful, intriguing interactions. I definitely feel lucky that people smarter than me are willing to hang out with me.
Alright, I'm off to do laundry and organized the house. We love you all, and hope life is full and beautiful for you this week.
Sharon

New Year

It's 2010! Happy New Years to everyone.. I'm looking to be more consistent this year on the blog and wanted to start out on the right foot.

New Years eve I went to the Phipps Conservatory with Gabe P., his girlfriend, and another couple. Sharon stayed home because she had already seen the gardens and is still recovering from being sick. I really liked the show they have there right now. The work of Hans Godo Frabel has been integrated with the gardens and plants. He is a glass artists.

The pieces that I liked the most were the Longfellow gravity and fountain pieces, the balancing clowns in the pond, and the sprite and 'viney' abstract pieces. Going in the evening made the experience at Phipps seem much more like an art show because the lighting really accented and brought attention to glass pieces more than the plants. I liked the night lighting on the sculptures though. It made them more mysterious and thoughtful. That being said, I'd like to go back in the day and pay more attention to the plants.

I was surprised at how family friendly they made the exhibit to. For New Years eve it was really busy and there were a lot of families with kids running around. I think if we were staying around I would make taking the kids there a tradition.

The great thing about the Frabel exhibit and being there on New Years eve was the message of hope, fun, and optimism that was intended and present in the art work. To me this is a great attitude to have going into the new year. May you all have a happy, prosperous, and optimistic 2010.
---
Ant

Not so complainy update

Happy New Year!!!
We are excited for all that 2010 has in store for us. A baby, a move or two, a new job. It's going to be a new decade for a new phase of life.
Health: Since, I last wrote my health got worse, and now better. Hurray! My pink eye spread to my other eye, and I thought I broke a rib on Christmas from coughing too much and too hard. I'm on antibiotics which seem to have helped my cough a lot, and the left side of my back feels almost normal. Unfortunately yesterday I pulled the same thing on my right side, which my midwife told me hurts most right where my kidney is, which raises a couple questions. I have to put pressure on it, everytime I cough to lessen the pain. My boss probably hates me for it, but staying home this week has really helped out. Pink eye's gone, my voice is coming back, and the cough on it's way out.
Pregnancy: Things are looking pretty good. I'll be full term on saturday which kind of blows my mind. We are feeling more prepared stuffwise, with something for the baby to sleep in, a rocking chair, a stop watch, etc. When I look at the side view of my stomach in the mirror, it makes me laugh.
Christmas: It was so fun to have the Romeros here. They were good sports, since I probably acted and looked like a zombie slug the whole time they were here. We had a little feast in our tiny apartment, and enjoyed the company of one of our friends from church. They slept over, and went to the Children's museum the next day.
We are taking advantage of out Netflix trial while we're both at home. Up made me cry within the first 5 minutes, Food Inc is a must see, and we ordered Harry Potter 6 before we realized we never got around to seeing Harry Potter 5.
Anthony's been baking like crazy the past couple of days. Mmmm. He's used our new grain mill (thanks Quinns!) to make whole wheat bread, and cake out of rice flour. And then he went through a two day process to make panettone. I always thought panettone was kind of gross with it's boxed dryness, and weird chunks of fake fruit, but it turns out that when it's fresh, and made with chocolate chips, it's really really yummy. He's been a major sweety, encouraging me to rest and giving good back messages.
I'll be back at work on Monday. Fairy tale week. My second to last week of work, before the baby's due. Crazy!
We love you guys, and you're all in our prayers. Happy 2010!!!
Sharon

Home for the Holidays

I haven't written anything in a long time so I feel like I really need to update the blog on what has been doing on. Sharon had also written some updates that I added also, sorry for those who have already read them.

School: I'm done. I finished all my course work at Carnegie Mellon and I'm graduated. The ceremony and diploma come in May, but it is looking like we won't be here for that. It was a pretty stressful semester and I wasn't sure how I was going to do. Grades are in though and this ended up being my best semester so far. It helps that 24 credits (which would usually be 4 short classes or 2 normal classes) was my capstone project with Bosch ( By the way, I would like to thank those who participated in the survey we sent out). Our work culminated in a report and presentation given to the Bosch team here in Pittsburgh. They liked our work and it sounds like they might have another project for students to work on in the future.

I've been saying goodbye to all my friends. We went out to eat Indian food with a bunch of my Indian friends. There is an amazing Indian restaurant, called Tamarind, close to campus and right behind the church. We went out to the famous Primanti Brothers restaurant with my friends from Pittsburgh. It was a fun experience, but the food wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be. It was traditional Pittsburgh, meaning a lot of coleslaw and french fries on the burgers.

Job: For those who haven't heard, I have accepted a job with General Electric (GE) in Connecticut. I start the beginning of July. We are excited for the opportunity. I've had my eye on the job since I talked with some Alumni from my program who were at the Career Fair at Carnegie Mellon. I liked the idea for several reasons. First, it is a 2 year rotational leadership program they call the Information Management Leadership Program (IMLP). Which means, if you perform well and they like you, there are opportunities for good career growth in the company. If at the end of two years they don't like me, or I don't like what I'm doing, it will be a convenient time to leave, with great experience and 'graduation' from a highly valued program.
Second, every 6 months I will be rotated into a new project with a different focus and exposure to different roles (4 rotations in total). I could be working on designing and implementing a database one rotation, helping gather requirements in another rotation, doing software/application development on another rotation, or doing process improvement. I like this idea because I want experience in different areas. It is kind of giving me a 'consultant' like experience without the travel and other downers that can some with consulting.
Third, we still have options for where we end up. We will be moving to Connecticut for the first rotation, but on any (possibly all) the rotations I could be moved to a new geographic location. We would live there the duration of the rotation and move on to the next one. We like this because as a young and fairly mobile family it will give us the chance to try out some other locations. We are excited to start in Connecticut because we will be about an hour from New York City on the train, or less driving (Depending on traffic).
Fourth, I'm in an industry I've been interested in getting to know more about. I will be working in the GE Capital group, meaning all my rotations and likely future employment would be in GE Capital. That ranges from their consumer finance (like credit cards), to commercial finance (like financing small businesses or green technology development) to other financial areas. GE has actually been trying to shrink this part of the company since the financial crisis, but it means the opportunities for what I do are greater, I also don't see them ever getting rid of this part of the business like they are getting rid of NBC Universal.

So, we are excited about work. We are now working out all the details of what we will do from now until July. Probably visiting a lot of you and introducing our new child to the family.

Baby: The pregnancy is going well. We are officially in the last month! We are in the 38th week, which means the baby could really come anytime in the next 5 weeks. Sharon is taking it well. It would be a lot easier if we could keep her healthy. Something about Pittsburgh irritates Sharon's respiratory system and causes her to cough a lot, combined with a runny nose, cold weather, and working at a preschool you have a recipe for making someone sick. The last three weeks have been pretty bad. We are off to the doctor today to see if we can't speed up recovery. She will stop working in a couple of weeks so she can rest before the baby is due. We finished our lamaze class a few weeks ago. It was a decent class. I was expecting more practice and not as much lecture, but the videos helped prepare me for what it will be like.

We have been getting everything together for the baby. People here are super nice. We have a car seat for infants and a basinet on loan from friends. We got a rocking chair and crib for free through friends and freecycle (if you don't know about this you should read up on it).

Fun:
Thanksgiving: We visited my family in Utah. It was great to be in the mountains again and to play out in the field behind the house, visit with family, and feel the crisp mountain air. We did the 'Turkey Trot". A 5k community event put on by the stake(Picture above). Sharon made it all the way. I got to break in our new gift from my sister with our niece, a back pack for carrying the new baby around.

Wedding: Sharon's co-worker got married the beginning of December. We were invited to the ceremony and reception. It was a lot of fun. It was my first Catholic Wedding. It was nice and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Christmas: We stayed put for Christmas. It was fun and above all relaxing. We had Sharon's sister and her family from Niagara Falls here Christmas day and had a dinner with them and a single guy from our ward. It was an enjoyable evening. The next day we just lounged around and visited. It was just what we needed.

Beginning Dec. Update - Sharon

Hey Family,
The beginning of December has treated us well. Here are the highlights.
* Anthony's graduation!!!! Not walking with a cap and gown till spring (maybe), but he is finished, done, completely free and moving forward from school! Yay! Friday was his last day with any school obligations, a major presentation. I came home from work that night to 4 loads of laundry already done. What a hunk. :)
* Wedding: My friend from work has been engaged for over a year and has shared every joy and misery of wedding planning with her coworkers. This was both Ant and my first Catholic wedding. It was fun to go with kind of anthropological eyes. Lots and lots of ritual. At the reception there was loads of fancy food and lots of drinking. I think I'm still naive enough to not recognize when people are drunk as opposed to just being silly. But I found it interesting to still feel the spirit on this happy occasion. Marriage is of God.
* Church: Sang in the ward Christmas presentation today. Had a really fun pajama brunch Christmas celebration. And hit a sweet Christmas concert organized by the stake, I think most of the performers were CMU and Pitt students, most of which are probably not members.
* Pregnancy: I must be noticeably huge now, because funny things are starting to happen. When we met some of Ant's Indian friends for lunch, the waiter brought me a mango lassi that as far as I know no-one ordered, and it didn't show up on our bill. People have been asking to touch my stomach, or just doing it without asking. One of the toddler mom's at work saw me in the hallway, looked at my abdomen, and just started laughing...kind of a sympathetic laugh I guess. :) Etc, etc. Anyway, I've been feeling pretty good. My cold (which I now attribute to just plain being allergic to Pittsburgh) acted up a lot this last week, so I drove to work instead of walked. I'm feeling well enough to walk there and back now, as long as the sidewalks aren't icy.
So that's some of life in a jiffy. We're excited for Christmas! Woohoo!
Love you guys. You are all in our prayers,
Sharon