Seahawk Malcolm Smith might have caught the tipped ball in Sunday’s NFC championship playoff, but it’s nothing compared to this Everett dad’s interception on game day.
Nathaniel Pinson caught the baby.
His catch was in the bedroom of his apartment. He intercepted his baby daughter’s debut into the world before passing her over to his wife, Michelle, and the midwives.
Adie Ruth Pinson was born in the same quarter as the Seahawk linebacker’s clinching play on the field.
Michelle was clinching as well, but she pushed out the 8.4 pound girl without a fumble after a 23-hour labor.
The baby’s first cries came around the same time as the tsunami of cheers and screams from Seahawks fans that resounded through the apartment complex.
“She’s ‘The 12th Baby,’” Nathaniel said.
Maybe so, but she’s the first baby for the couple, both 21. Nathaniel, the lot manager at Three Rivers Marine in Woodinville, and Michelle, a title assistant at Rainier Title in Everett, were high school sweethearts.
Nathaniel cut his football career short at Sultan High School to prepare for their marriage two weeks after graduation.
“He was going to be captain his senior year,” Michelle said, “but instead he worked so we could get married.”
Little did he know his best play would be on game day in the bedroom.
“The biggest catch I’ve ever done is Adie,” he said. “Catching your own baby is 100 times more exciting than catching a football.”
Adie arrived 11 days late. Michelle’s labor was easy enough the first 20 hours before the wicked contraction stuff started around kickoff time.
“Three hours of heavy pushing,” she said.
Three midwives were by her side. So was her husband.
No, he didn’t watch the game on the living room TV, where the rest of the family members huddled.
“There were a couple times I had to come out here and get water or whatever,” he said. “I saw the score, but it wasn’t intentional. I could never live with myself if I left my wife in agony to get the score.”
For real.
It was tempting to give the baby girl a name commemorating the game, but instead she got a nickname: “Little Hawk.”
That will stick with her for life.
“Little Hawk” has lots of pink outfits, but these will have to wait until at least after the Super Bowl.
“Blue and green are her colors now,” Michelle said.
Andrea Brown; 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com.
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