Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Happy Birthday Carolan!


Photo shows Carolan (right) and her friend Gretchen Wolfe at the Augustiner Brau Bier Garten in Salzburg, Austria: "Prosit! Slainte!"
Today is my daughter Carolan Ruth Sanders Coughlin's 23rd birthday. Sometime around 4 in the morning on July 16, 1985, in Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, Carolan was born into this world--a great day for Carolan and her family, and a great day for the world.

I vividly remember driving the 45 miles from Berea, Kentucky, to Central Baptist Hospital that summer night, north on I-75, over the long and high interstate bridge over the Kentucky River, and into the Bluegrass region of Fayette County. I was focused on driving carefully and getting to the hospital safely; Linda was focused on the contractions and on her Lamaze-type breathing.

It took us just under an hour to get to the hospital; I was worried that our second child would be born on I-75, maybe at the rest stop between Berea and Lexington. if that had happened, her name would have been "Rest-Stop I-75 Sanders Coughlin." But we made it to the hospital.

Once there, they put Linda into a birthing room, where we expected the baby to be born. By the way, we had no inkling if this would be a baby girl or boy, or if it would look like Julia, with her dark brown eyes, dark hair, and olive-colored skin. We had been playing with names, both boys names and girls names. For boys' names I was partial to "John Francis," or in Italian, "Giovanni Francesco," the name of St. Francis of Assisi and of my grandfather, John Francis Fitzpatrick. For girls, I was thinking about "Carmel" or "Carmen." July 16th was the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and I remembered a beautiful Irish singer named Carmel Quinn who used to appear on the Mike Douglas TV show. Linda had her own list of names, and I doubted "Carmel" was on it--"Carmen" maybe, especially if this new baby had the dark eyes, hair, and skin that Julia was born with.

The labor moved along very quickly, but a glitch developed right near the end when, as with Julia, the nurses or doctor detected meconium--a sign that the baby might be in some trouble. That ended the birthing-room plans as hospital personnel immediately wheeled Linda on her bed into an operating room. Their urgency worried us--would we lose this baby?

Linda had not had any anaesthetic at all, and as transition labor proceeded, she went through it without any problem (none that I could see--but then again, I had the easy part at this birth). I stood at Linda's head as our new baby was born, her "labor coach," whose main task (and accomplishment) was not fainting! And then voila! There she was, a beautiful baby girl--who didn't look anything like we expected! She had fair skin and eyes, and flaming red hair! This didn't look like any Carmen, and certainly not any Giovanni Francesco!

Very soon after the birth, we were back in a room at the hospital, Linda holding on to her new baby, and me at their side. Linda was as happy as a human being could be--she was happy, energetic, and bursting with the desire to share our wonderful news with the world. She wanted to immediately call her Mom and Dad, her brothers, her sister, her friend Jan Shepherd. And I said to her, "Sweetie, nobody else in the world is awake! Let's wait a couple hours to call people!" So we waited a while to share our good news with the world.

Linda went home from the hospital the very next day, and I remember getting a phone call from a friend congratulating me on the birth of baby "Carmen." I guess I must have shared my name ideas with some people--and they hadn't heard that plans had changed! We ended up naming this new baby "Carolan Ruth." "Carolan" was in honor of the great Irish harpist and composer Turlough O'Carolan, who lived circa 1700, and whose music is still played and enjoyed today. Her middle name honored her grandmother, Ruth Sanders. And there she was, "Carolan Ruth Sanders Coughlin," our second child (and we thought we would never be blessed with any children! and three years later, another miracle, our third: Emily Anne Sanders Coughlin).

How did this baby turn out? There is a German word for the likes of her: einmalig, "one of a kind." Carolan is a happy kid, a very fun person, very bright, compassionate, loving, a great friend, and very fun. Did I mention she's a lot of fun? Carolan is a great gift from God.

May the Lord bless Carolan and keep her, let God's grace shine upon her! Keep her Lord like the apple of your eye, shelter her under the shadow of your wings!

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