Baby’s arrival coordinated with dad’s

RICHLAND – Army Pfc. Douglas Lambe got on a plane in northern Iraq on the day his son was due to be born. As it turned out he arrived with eight hours to spare.

In two days of flights through Kuwait, Germany and three U.S. cities, “I was calling constantly on the phone,” Lambe said. “I was going nuts.”

Not to worry. He arrived at Tri-Cities Airport in nearby Pasco about 7 p.m. March14. His wife Nikki already had arranged with her doctor to induce labor the next morning but wound up going into contractions before that could happen.

“He waited around for me, I guess,” Douglas Lambe said.

Fighting jet lag, the new father brought his guitar to the hospital and played songs by The Who during labor. He and his wife named their son Aidan Devin, meaning “fiery poet,” to reflect his Celtic heritage.

“It was incredible,” Lambe said. “He’s gorgeous.”

The couple met at Richland High School and dated for four years before marrying in January 2003. Lambe joined the Army last year and two or three months in Hanau, Germany, before being sent to Iraq with the 502nd Engineering Company to build bridges and buildings.

Nikki Lambe, who stayed in Richland, said she plans to move in with her parents after her husband returns to Iraq on March 30, then rejoin him when he returns to Germany in September.