Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Opie? What's Opie?

Owen Pankow

O.P.

Opie

Started saying it shortly after we picked out a name. It stuck. :-)

Also, we figure he'll look like Opie from Sons of Anarchy

Opie Winston from FX's "Sons of Anarchy," played by Ryan Hurst.:

And, heeeeere's Opie!

Owen Francis Pankow!  Born May 14, 2017.  6 lbs, 15 ounces.  Somewhere between 6 and 60 inches.  Lots of hair.  Uhhh...what else do people ask for when it comes to babies? 

Welcome to the world, Owen!

So, let me tell you how this all went down.  Pics at the bottom of the post. 

It's Monday night.  I am NOT currently in Mountain View.  I am at Swedish Hospital in Seattle with my beautiful wife and my 2 (count them...one, two) sons! 

Saturday night, Kim and I were chilling at home.  I had already checked into my flight to San Jose scheduled for the next day and I was procrastinating putting my bag together.  Kim had just come over and kissed me goodnight.  I was going to watch an episode of American Gods.  Kim goes into the bathroom.

2 minutes later, "Ummm...Honey???  I think my water just broke."

No it didn't.  It's too early for that.  I have to be on a plane in 14 hours. 

Alas...her water did indeed break. 

FULL STOP!  SHIFT GEARS!!!

Emails sent to my new boss and my recruiter.  Ticket and hotel cancelled (to be rescheduled), forget about a luggage for San Jose, we already have hospital bags ready.  I checked all the boxes to kick off the labor process and spend a few hours at home while Kim labors there.

Nope.

Contractions progress very rapidly.  Like, really really rapidly.  They weren't lasting a full minute.  But, there were coming within 5 minutes of each other.  So, we opt to go to the hospital.  Worse case, they send us home.

They didn't send us home.  This baby is on the way!!!

I've mentioned before that I think women are amazing.  If I had to give birth, I would have filed for lifetime celibacy.

We got to the hospital around 10:30 or so.  Right to triage and taken to a birthing suite within 30 minutes.  Kim had an epidural put in around 11:30 or so and things started to calm down.  At that point, the nurse suggested we try to get some rest while we wait for the baby to move down a bit.  So we did.

Around 7ish, the pushing began. 

Push, push, PUUUUUUSH!  Ok, didn't work.  Go again.  Push, push, PUUUUUUUUSH!!!  No luck.

4 hours later, Dr. comes in with forceps.  Apparently, she's an expert with these.

(Side note...Kim's OB, Dr. Oman is pretty rad.  She's young, but she's also no nonsense.  She was totally rad and she's been with us from start to finish, from our original insemination to...well, what's coming up.)

Dr. Oman has the forceps.  But, after feeling around, she's not 100% sure she wants to use them.  It sounds like the problem is that Owen was not turning properly.  The Dr. wasn't able to get a good read on his shoulders.  Was he not turning because he's shoulders are too big?  It is his head?  What's going on?  Regardless, he's not coming out correctly.  We need to take alternative measures.  In her words, we should pick one. Nobody needs to be a hero.  So, rather than attempt forceps, which might not work, her recommendation was a C-section. 

So, C-section it is.

Now, I know many people who have had C-sections.  They've been successful.  Happy, healthy babies.  But, it was still scary going into an OR with a bunch of strange people (although, Dr. Oman was the surgeon, which was rad) getting ready to watch your wife get cut open. 

But, it went super smoothly!  Dr. O walked us through what was going to happen.  They put the big blue sheet up so we couldn't see what was happening, and they got to work. 

A few minutes in, Kim says to me, "I just felt them put an organ on my stomach."  ew.

A few minutes after that, I hear Dr. Oman say, "Dad, do you want to watch your son be born."

"Nope," I reply.

"Yes you do," she says.  "Stand up."

So, I stand up.  And there is my son, Owen Francis Pankow, being held by the doctor, umbilical chord attached to him at one end and going into my wife's bloody stomach at the other.  It was amazing.  Then he made his first noise.  Kim and I looked at each other and we were both crying.  I sat back down before I passed out.

I went over and hung out with Opie while Kim got stitched up.   Other than one "battle wound" from the surgery and a bit of a cone head from being stuck somewhere in Kim's pelvis, he was perfect! 

Due to the C-section, we get an extra day at the hospital.  Desmond is very excited to have his bro at home.  Shaundar brought him by last night to meet Owen for the first time.  It was one of the highlights of my whole life.  He's came again tonight for a bit to hang out.  He's going to be a great big bro. 

That's all I got for you.  Here's some pics! 

Right out of the oven.

What. The heck, people.  I did not ask to come out.

Mama gets to hold her baby for the first time. 

Kim's team.

Just don't look over the curtain.

Mommy should be pretty proud of her work.

Meeting his big bro for the first time! 

I've got some coming, soon.  This post was started the day we were supposed to leave.  Alas, we had to stay an extra day so Owen could use the tanning bed.  I'll write about that in the next post.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime...here is my new favorite video OF.ALL.TIME!


100% unprompted.  Love my boys!





Monday, May 15, 2017

First thing I need to do now that I am a Googler...

Stop using Bing.

I do genuinely love Bing.  I am sure there is some loyalty from my Microsoft days.  But, I also like the picture and the animations.  But, mostly it's habit.  I have been slowly trying to switch.  Updated the default on my (Google) phone.  Updated the homepage at home.

It's been real, Bing!  I will miss you.  But, I am a loyalist.  I am a Googler.  It's not you, it's me.  I've simply found someone else.  But, I wish you well!

Image result for goodbye bing

Friday, May 12, 2017

Just Google it.

Well, looks like I am taking another new job.

What?  Didn't you just take a new job?

Why, yes...I did.  Not that long ago.  In fact, I don't think I even put it on the blog when I left The Climate Corporation.

Long story short, I left The Climate Corporation for Amazon.  I was pretty excited as Amazon is easily the #1 brand that gets my money.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be.  I am not going to go into a ton of detail on this because I remain grateful for the opportunity.  I will simply say that the Amazon culture and I are not a fit.  This isn't to say that it's a bad place to work.  On the contrary, it's a great place to work for a great many people.  I am just not one of them.  I look for different things in a company I get passionate about working for.  And, I am pretty sure Amazon wants different ideals from their employees.  If we were reviewed by eHarmony, we probably wouldn't have even made it to the "What if" section.

With that said, at the beginning of the year, I put some feelers out.  Got some solid bites!  But, as processes dragged on and baby got closer, the choices basically narrowed themselves down to 2.  Both exciting in different ways.  But, in the end, there was only one.  The Googs!

That's right...I am hopping over to Google.

I am really excited about this!  I have not been this excited about a new role since I joined Xbox way back in 2004.  I am skeptical that I will ever love my job as much as I did between 2010-2014...but, I think this one has the best chance to come close.

First of all, I am going back to recruiting...just plain ol', grass roots recruiting.  This is something I was striving for when I was interviewing with Amazon.  I have been a "Program Manager" for about 5 years, now.  But, as I learned when I was reorged out of Xbox in 2014, I am not a PM in the sense of a true PM.  It took me a while to fully accept this.  My heart wanted to be a PM more than my brain did.  But, then I took the job at Climate and actually started to get my hands dirty recruiting again.  I forgot how much I missed it!  To the point that, when I got to hire a team, I didn't really want to give that part up!

Alas, when I moved to Amazon, my job was, once again, as a PM.  Eh.  Still don't love it.

So, when I started interviewing, I had to explain myself a lot.  "Why do you want to take a step back in your career?"  or "Why don't you want to be a manager?"  or "How long until you're bored and want to move back into management?"  Considering I didn't consider this taking a step back, that I have no interest at the moment in being a manager and that I am actually itching to get back into recruiting and out of management...these questions sometimes seemed hard to satisfactorily answer.

Googs got it.  I love recruiting.  I love engaging with people.  I love the challenge of finding talent.  That's what I want to do.  And, now I get to do it for the #1 company in the world!  It's pretty exciting!  When you think about the cutting edge of technology, I can't think of a company more at the forefront than Google.  I was part of that when Microsoft built Xbox 360 and Kinect.  I haven't been able to have that excitement in a while.  It feels really good that have that feeling back!!!

The kicker...they are giving me 12 weeks paid parental leave.  12 weeks!!!  That's 3 months!  I remember being stoked about the 4 weeks Microsoft gave me when Desmond was born.  Amazon offers 6 weeks paid, but you have to be an employee for a year first (I wasn't).  This is huge.  And, as someone who values employee value proposition, what a huge statement to make to a bran new employee.  We are hiring you for you and we don't mind that you're about to have a kid.

Anywhoo...my first day is Monday.  Works starts with a 2 day orientation in Mountain View.  So, cross your fingers, say a prayer, close your eyes and go "LALALALALA"...whatever works for you...that Owen stays put for a few more days.  We're cutting this really close.

Image result for google


Wednesday, May 3, 2017

We have amazing friends!! Well, Kim does, at least.

Just kidding!  My friends are great, too!  And, we all know that a bonus for having Kim as a friend is getting me, too!!!

So, Kim has recently completed Baby Shower #3!

Baby Shower #1 was held by her girlfriends.

This was taken right before the pillow fight. 

This was taken right before I ate all the Nutter Butters. 

 This was taken. 

Then her coworkers threw one.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) Kim's friend Michaela only took pics of me.  I mean, I'm dead sexy, so I get it.  But here they are. 

Here's me being awesome in Owen's new Mariners hat. 

Here's me being awesome and eating baby food for money (guess the food...$5 for each correct answer...I got $20!  I think I left it in my pants pocket),

Here's Kim joining in my awesomeness.  

And, finally...the 2nd grade mom's at Our Lady of Guadalupe threw one!  Alas, I haven't received any pics from this one.  Although, it did come with a great "Diaper cake" made by Grace.  


People rock!  We love you guys!  We've pretty much checked everything off of our baby list.  There is more stuff that we will get a bit later.  Our house is only so big, so there will need to be some rotation.  Although, he currently has 92 onesies.  That is not a joke.  He literally has 92 onesies.  Not a lot of pants, though.  So, we'll either need to by him some bottoms or he can just start taking after dad early and go pantless most of the time. 

Anyway, friends rule!  Thanks, all!!  



Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Jimmy Kimmel Tells a Story...

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel told the story of his newborn son's birth and heart disease.  It was a touching story.  He clarifies at the beginning that the story has a happy ending, so hang in there.  But, it's certainly a tear jerker.

I consider us blessed that Desmond was born perfectly healthy.  And, I pray every night that the same will be the case with Owen.  While I have never been through anything so terrifying as a parent, I can feel the emotions as Jimmy shares what they went through.


Monday, May 1, 2017

Kid is HUGE...actually, no he's not

So...Kim has this a human inside her.  And, he takes up a lot of space!  Like, seriously...when he moves, you can't miss it.  It looked something like this:

[editors note:  here was inserted a scene from the movie Aliens...however, given that baby mamma reads this blog, the editor has decided to remove said scene to avoid early labor]

See...clearly not a lot of room.

Therefore, in her last trip to the Doc, Doc suggested another ultrasound.  Because, if this kid is too huge and he's to term, she says she's not going to force Kim to wait another 3 weeks.

OMG...did I just say 3 weeks?  Wow...that's like, really soon.

So, we go to the ultrasound.

We see a little footsie wootsie!  And, we get a good shot of his face, straight on!  From what we saw, it appears he will have a shorter Romine nose as opposed to the pointy Pankow nose that Desmond and I share.

And we see that he is just under 6 lbs, exactly where he should be.

Translation:  No early baby for you.

This is probably good as we're totally NOT ready.  I mean, we've got the baby room all set up and we've got the carseat and all the stuff we need.  So, I guess we're pretty much "ready."  But, we're totally not READY, if you know what I mean.

Image result for huge baby

I can't NOT chime in on this Supreme Court thing

So, it's no secret on this page that I am rapidly pro-life.  I don't beat around the bush on this topic.  But, what you may not know...