Craig’s 24th Birthday

November 16, 2013 Update

I initially wrote this post one year ago, when Craig was turning 23. Well one year later, he's turning 24. He'll be home for the first time in 6 years for Thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for, as he will be graduating in December of this year. Everything I wrote a year ago is true, and I am just as proud. Can't wait to see you this week when you come home, but I'm sorry, Henley has taken over your bed, so you'll have to be on the couch :)

Twenty three years ago, November 17, 1989 my life changed for the better with the birth of our son, Craig, who was born eight weeks early! At that time, I was the General Manager of the Bangor Ramada Inn, and Craig wasn't due to be born until January, and I was at a meeting in Dallas. My wife Bonnie called me at about 3 AM and told me she was in the hospital at Eastern Maine Medical Center, and I needed to get home immediately!

Well, that's easier said than done, when you're half way across the country. Now, this was in 1989, before 9-11, and flying was more relaxed than it is now. I called Delta, and said I needed to be on the first available flight, and they said they would do the best they could, but I was going to have to fly stand-by, the entire way, Dallas to Laguardia, Laguardia to Bangor. I remember distinctly telling them that was fine, and they better have all the air marshalls they could find, because I was getting on the planes first. If I said that now, I'd be on the no-fly list for sure!

Now I'm calling EMMC and asking about my wife. "I'm sorry Mr. Popper, we can't give you any information about Bonnie Popper." "What??!!" I said. "I'm her husband, and we're having a baby. Tell me what the *%#$ is happening. Don't make me come in there and tear the hospital apart when I get there!" Again, this is pre-bath salt days. Luckily, we reached a compromise, they were going to give me all the info I needed whenever I called, and I wouldn't tear the hospital apart! Now this was pre-cell phone days too, so I'm using my calling card from pay phones at Dallas and Laguardia!

I'm in New York at Laguardia, and I'm a bundle of nerves. I went and bought Parent's Magazine, Parenting Magazine, and some other baby magazine too. The flight attendants saw me reading all the magazines, and asked if I was a father. I said, I would be very soon, and if they could get the plane to fly faster, I'd have a good chance of being there when our child was born! They laughed, and gave me a bottle of champagne for Bonnie and I, and little wings for our child.

Now, Craig was born eight weeks early. The doctors were not optimistic about his chances of survival. No one could really guarantee us anything. I arrived, the nurses saw I wasn't a maniac, and we settled in for the night. We had been to one Lamaze class, and I joked we were going from the class to the practical exam just like that. Our midwife came in and gave us the crash course in breathing and Lamaze. She told us the nurses would help us, and we settled in for the night. It was a Thursday, and the TV shut off after Johnny Carson. The hospital didn't have cable. There was nothing. We tried to fitfully sleep. I was never so happy when the Morning Stretch came on at 5 AM. I could have the TV on!

The next morning, the 17th was a blur. Lots of nurses in and out of the room, Bonnie was hungry, and I went and got her a tuna sandwich from the cafeteria. That didn't stay down long, and she went from a couple centimeters dilated to be rushed into the operating room. The nurses gave me a set of scrubs, and said get changed and come in. I used to be on the volunteer ambulance squad in Block Island, Rhode Island before moving to Maine, but when it's your family involved it's totally different. I took a couple of deep breaths, told myself I could do it, and went in.

Craig was born quickly, and rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The nurses who work in the NICU at EMMC are angels, plain and simple. While Bonnie was being treated, they brought me in to the NICU. Talk about being overwhelmed. There are monitors beeping, the tiniest babies, and nurses moving constantly, but we were treated with the greatest of love by Kathy, Gerry, Donna and others. See, it's twenty three years later, and I can tell you who cared for our son in his earliest days, that's how much of an impact these ladies had on me and my family.

We were encouraged to call whenever we wanted if we weren't at the hospital. Craig was 4 pound ten ounces when he was born. He had to be 5 pounds and meet other criteria to be discharged and it's not uncommon for babies to lose weight. I would call every morning around 5 AM because they would have just taken his vitals, and find out how much weight he had lost or gained. It was a big deal to hear, he'd gained 5 grams!

The nurses instructed me in changing Craig's diaper. I had to do it to their satisfaction! They taught me how to wash his hair and bathe him, and I had to demonstrate proficiency to them. Craig was as much their child as mine, and as I write this, my eyes are tearing up remembering all this. As a matter of fact, Kathy, became Craig's Godmother. To do this day, the NICU has a party in February, for all their graduates, and we were regular attendees for the first ten years or so of Craig's life, because we owed so much to them, and they wanted to know how he was doing.

Flash forward 23 years later. Craig is at Southwest Minnesota State University, getting ready to graduate in a year with a degree in health and physical education. I couldn't be any prouder of him! He's developed into a caring, kind man. He has persevered despite some physical handicaps (cerebral palsy from birth) and has taught me what determination, will-power, intestinal fortitude and courage mean. Craig, even though you're so many miles away, you're in my heart. Happy Birthday son!