We interrupt our usual programming
for a special announcement: Last Wednesday, October 15, our daughter
Martha gave birth to our first grandchild, Matthew Hunter Coyle, in
Washington, D.C.
She called us early the next day
and told us his birth was more exciting than they had anticipated.
The afternoon of the 15th she had contractions 4 minutes
apart, so her husband Tyler drove her to the hospital, but they sent
her home. ½ hour after getting home her water broke and
contractions were coming every minute. They sped back, Tyler driving
carefully, using the horn liberally, while trying to assist Martha
who was lying in the back seat
screaming as Matthew's birth became more imminent. At the
hospital she could not sit in the wheelchair. Baby
Matthew was born at 10 p.m., less than 10 minutes after
their arrival. 7 lbs 6 oz. 20.5” She did it just
on Motrin – no time for anything else!
I was in the Swazi capital,
Katherine back at site, at 2 p.m. our time Thursday when Martha tried
to reach us. It took 3 calls to reach me, and the same for
Katherine, because of thunder storms across the country. It was 8
a.m. for Martha; she sounded exhausted, hoarse, and so proud and
happy, with her Little Bundle there beside her.
No phone call has ever made us so
happy.
Here is Matthew, 1 hour old:
And here he is 2 days later, at home, with a shirt we'd sent from Swaziland.
When Martha told us in March that
she was pregnant we were of course over-joyed. But both of us,
without saying anything to each other, also felt personally,
selfishly, very sad to miss the physical, tactile joy of our
daughter's pregnancy and the first days of our grandson. We remember
the morning after she called us with news of her pregnancy was one of
our worst classes, with the large 19-year-old boys in the back of the
5th and 6th grades mocking us and disrupting,
and we walked home wondering “Why are we here?” Others have
stepped forward to celebrate for us: my sister gave a baby shower,
and so did Tyler's mother and aunts. Our daughter Martha is a quick
study and very cool customer, blessed with a clever, loving husband
and a wise and helpful mother-in-law, so our presence in Maryland
would be wholly superfluous. Except we hate to be missing this.
When we left a year ago for our
two year service we knew we would miss important events and turning
points, and we have. Katherine and her father, age 94, knew it was
very possible they would never see each other again, and spent 4 good
days together in March, 2013, when he felt well; he died quickly last
December. We missed family and friends' weddings and Katherine's
Dad's interment; pictures, messages and calls from our family and
children have filled us in. Katherine foresaw a possible pregnancy
and knit pink and blue sweaters before we left; she pulled out some
special blankets and clothes she had stored for 3 decades and gave
them to my sister before we left, who passed them on. So
intellectually Katherine was way ahead, but the reality still
surprised us.
We will go back to Maryland to
have 5 days over Christmas with the 7 (!) of us – our son and his
wife will come down from Boston. And my sister will join us – 8!
Then, when we get back to Swaziland, there will be only 7 or so more
months. Soon after we get back we've scheduled a trip to Cape Town
and Stellenbosch before the new school term starts, anticipating a
need to have something fun to look forward to. Fortunately, we are
very busy here now, with classes and tutoring, some splendid kids
whom we'd like to see launched successfully to the next step, and
some more libraries to get established. And some good friends. We
gather with many of the other volunteers at a backpackers this coming
weekend to celebrate Halloween, and it's always fun to be with the
gang. But when things don't go well – a bad night of sleep; a bug
invasion; we step into a big fresh
chicken poop in front of our door; a snake scares us; a class
doesn't go well – we are quicker to get blue and start thinking “Do
we have to keep doing this?” But so far, we are determined to stick it out here until our 27 months service is completed – there is
still work we want to do here. We are, however, sure Matthew Coyle
is going to need some serious grandparent attention when we get home.
