Technology brings soldier in Iraq, wife together for baby’s birth

By Jinae West

Monday, June 29, 2009 | 4:16 p.m.

Despite being stationed far away, Lance Cpl. Jeremy Quintana, who is in Al Asad, Iraq, was able to spend some quality time with his wife, Crystal, and new baby, Julian, born Friday in Henderson, thanks to some new technology and a nonprofit group that made it possible.

With help from the Freedom Calls Foundation, a public charity that connects troops overseas with families back home, the thousands of miles of desert and ocean between them weren’t able to keep the young family separated.

Last week, through a satellite network, Quintana, 20, talked his wife through the labor and delivery of their son, Julian Joseph Quintana, who was born at 7:50 a.m. Friday at St. Rose Dominican Hospital - Rose de Lima Campus in Henderson.

The Quintanas were reunited again Monday via videoconference at the hospital. Crystal Quintana, 21, said her husband has been in Iraq since Jan. 23 and is expected to return in about eight weeks. They live in Bullhead City, Ariz., and have been married since August.

Despite an initial technological glitch and a pixelated resolution, Jeremy Quintana sat beaming at his new baby boy from thousands of miles away.

Julian slept quietly in his mother's arms.

"See how much hair he has?" she said.

"Yeah," he said, smiling. "You should've, like, spiked it up or something."

For the first 10 minutes of the call, neither Jeremy nor Crystal Quintana said much. The silence was filled with the clicking of cameras and back-and-forth glances between the television screen and the baby. All attention was on Julian.

Jeremy Quintana said it was nice to be present for the birth of his son.

"It was good that I got to see it," he said, adding that he knew he wouldn't be able to come home for it.

Asked how Julian looked to him, Jeremy Quintana replied: "Exactly like me."

The foundation has arranged for the family to have three videoconferences per month at home.

John Harlow, executive director of the foundation, said it does about 200 to 300 new baby conferences per month. It also conducts videoconferences for graduations, first communions and marriages for servicemen and women in Iraq. Freedom Calls was founded in 2003 after Harlow said he heard about a National Guardsman who had to pay $7,000 for a telephone call to his family.

He said he learned AT&T has an exclusive contract in Iraq, charging 20 cents a minute for phone calls.

“We started this network to provide free communication," Harlow said.

But as great as it is to see a loved one who is stationed far away, a videoconference just isn't the same as the real thing, the Quintanas contended. Jeremy Quintana said he is looking forward to coming home to spend time with his family.

And the first thing he's going to do?

"I'm just going to hold him," he said.