One Month: The Second Act

Well, it's been one month since Quinn Mikayla Pavnoz blessed us with her presence. She came a week early and it was an incredible and, at times, overwhelming experience. As we did with Lucas, we decided to wait until the birth to discover the gender of the baby. Fortunately, it turned out that Quinn was indeed a girl, since that's what everyone wanted (including me).

And the strangest thing happened.

When Xtina was pregnant with Lucas three-and-a-half years ago, she had an epiphanous experience. About a week before the birth, she woke in the middle of the night with an enormous contraction and while she suffered through it she thought to herself, 'Okay, who are you?' Then she had a vision inside the placenta and it was obvious that we were having a boy.

This time around, it was my turn to experience the strange workings of the universe. Quinn was born on January 8th at 9:11 at night. At four in the morning on the 7th, Xtina began to have contractions and throughout the next day, they gradually grew closer and closer together. Since her experience with Lucas was a long and brutal affair we decided that we would try to stay at home as long as possible. So, we slowly got everything ready as the all-day-process built to its inevitable finale. One of the things that I did was head over to Whole Foods to make sure that we had enough nourishment for the hospital and for when we eventually made it home in a couple of days. While I was at the store, I was being helped at the dessert counter so that I could obtain Xtina's favourite treat, creme brulee. A young woman asked me if I needed any help. I explained to her that I was already being helped but afterwards, for some reason, I found my eye turning in her direction. I was attracted to her! And it was the very day that my second child was going to be born! What in the hell was happening? It was strange because she wasn't the type of girl that normally draws my attention. She was blond and way too skinny, but there was something about her that kept pulling my head. Then I took a good long look at her and realized that her eyes were just like Lucas' eyes. It was very amusing once I figured it out and I came right home and told Xtina everything.

She looked at me very seriously and said, "Maybe you saw the future."

That totally blew my mind. Was the universe telling me something important? And was I actually paying attention this time? I really believe that there is a force in the universe that we communicate with all of the time. Some people create entire religions based on this concept. Xtina and I have had many discussions about our lives where the circumstances are amazingly mystical. Even when we didn't know each other, it was almost like we were in tune with one another.

In the end, the birth was quick and efficient, and the experience was the complete opposite of our time in the hospital with Lucas (in more ways than one). I suppose the universe may have given me a vision, who really knows after all? But we have our little girl and I have a tale to tell the rest of her life.