To view the videos:

The videos are posted on my MobileMe web-host as well as to You Tube.  Click on the link or the photo to be directed to the applicable posting. The MobileMe video is uploaded in large format as well as mobile format.  You will need QuickTime 7.2 which you can download for free before playing the video.  Both the mobile and the You Tube format allow you to watch the movie on your iPhone.

Gavin Charles Cooney

 

Gavin was born September 29 at 2:40 am.  7 pounds 12 ounces, 20.5 inches.

We had been waiting since the due date, September 23, 2011.

Katie suggested that it would be okay for me to come into New York on the due date, since Jessica and Dan were expecting a boy, and anyway it was her first child.  He would be late.  I was nervous about that.  Since she was very little I had never missed an opening night, and this was going to be the biggest performance of her life – THE MAIN EVENT!.

Of course, as usual, Katie was right.  Gavin kept us waiting five days to the 29th.  We had FIVE final dinners before the birth!.

The waiting started on Friday evening as we spent some lovely time together at our apartment, re-living their wedding in Belize in February 2010, watching their wedding video on my laptop…

Waiting for the Main Event (You Tube – 0:28)

Jessica and Katie kept busy with the things mothers and daughters do when a baby is due to arrive any day – walking for exercise, shopping, baby clothes, etc.  Dan and I kept busy with our respective businesses on-line, and did a long bike ride almost every day, covering nearly 200 miles in total, exploring Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Harlem, New Jersey, and many other Manhattan neighborhoods.  Quite an adrenalin rush to ride a bike in the streets of New York!  We circumnavigated Manhattan Island – 34 miles, rode across the Brooklyn, Queensborough and Williamsburgh bridges several times, circling back into Manhattan, exploring New York and meeting people in a way I thought not possible.  I made a short video of these adventures:

 Still Waiting for the Main Event (You Tube – 01:16)

Finally, after FIVE days’ waiting, the Main Event happened.

Tired of eating out every night for four nights having “that SPECIAL LAST dinner before the baby”, Dan an Jessica offered to prepare some Lake Erie Perch which Dan’s dad, Chuck Cooney had caught, and which I brought to New York in a freezer bag on Friday.  It was delicious!

Katie and I left their apartment just after 10 pm, with mild contractions having started, thinking we’d better all get a good night’s rest since Gavin was likely to appear the next day.  Katie and I had just fallen asleep when we got the call at about midnight.  Contractions were now close together and intense, and Dan and Jessica were leaving their condo on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, heading to St. Luke’s Hospital in our neighborhood in Mid Town.

We rushed over to St. Luke’s, just a couple of blocks from our apartment, thinking it would be sometime later that day.  Instead he came at 2:40 am.  A beautiful, precious boy; 7 pounds 12 ounces, 20.5 inches.  Jessica was a real trooper and Dan was the perfect supporter.  All the staff at St Luke’s werewonderful.

The amazing thing was that we were back at their apartment exactly 24 hours after they cooked dinner for us.  Or more amazing, less than 18 hours after Gavin was born.  We are truly blessed with a wonderful gift, and Jessica and Dan were blessed with a short birthing process!

 The MAIN EVENT – Gavin Charles Cooney!

THE MAIN EVENT! (You Tube – 03:08)

What a blessing to now have TWO grandsons.  William Ryusei Grové with our son, Thomas and his wife, Yuki, and now Gavin Charles Cooney with Jessica and Dan.  It does not get much better!