hello housecarl,
i would suggest : 1) follow QRH & don't invent new or home made procedures. 2) maybe i'm missing something, but i would think the flight altitude on the pressurization panel should be HIGHER than your actual flt altitude, so the delta pressure should be LOWER than the nominal values & exert a lower strain on the window ? anyway, this was the case, as you stated that you correctly stopped the climb when the event occurred. i think your captain aggravated the situation by reducing the flt altitude on the pressurization panel BELOW the actual flt altitude
kind regards,
bm