CHAPTER 2
A TIMELY ARRIVAL
This is one of the first “stories” I wrote. It comes from the baby book of our “firstborn”, Cynthia.
It’s not every baby that is brought into the world by a Persian doctor in a hospital in Germany and then goes “home” to Greece via an airplane. From August 1967 to February 1969, Bill and I were living on the island of Crete in the midst of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea while Bill was stationed there with the United States Air Force. Since the hospital facilities at Iraklion Air Station were very limited, I was flown to Weisbaden, Germany, on October 11th so I could give birth to the baby at a large hospital. Bill decided to take 21 days of leave time and come to Germany also.
The doctor’s predicted arrival date for the baby was October 20th. While waiting for this blessed event to happen, both Bill and I enjoyed touring Weisbaden. When October 20th came and went with no baby, we began to do a lot of walking to encourage the birth but Cindy just wasn’t ready to make her debut into the world. Bill began running out of leave time and decided to take a military plane on the 24th back to Crete. However, at the last minute, Bill decided to wait another day or two. Next, Bill made reservations to take a flight on the 26th but just before boarding the plane he was told of an even better flight (direct to Athens) which would leave at noon on the 27th.
On the night of the 26th, Bill and I dined out at a pleasant German restaurant and then said our “farewells” – Bill stayed at the transit barracks in Frankfort about 10 miles away and I stayed as an outpatient at the hospital in Weisbaden. Both of us had given up that Bill would be present for the birth. Well, evidently this baby wanted “daddy” to be there because something started happening about being born. After and early morning phone call, Bill was able to return to the hospital. The nurses were so glad to have a prospective dad around that they gave him a set of “greens” to put on and sent him (totally unprepared) into the delivery room. The baby arrived at 10:02 a.m. after a short labor of 2 hours. Bill quickly changed back into his uniform, went to see Cindy in the nursery, returned to say good-bye to me and rushed off to the airport for a 12:30 p.m. flight to Greece.
Cindy and I flew home on November 3rd after Cindy got a passport to leave the hospital. The flight went from Germany to Tripoli, North Africa, then to Athens and then to Crete. Cindy was a very good on the 8 hour flight home.
The ANGELS have had great fun making flights available and hurrying the labor and birth process. Maybe the ANGELS were exhausted!
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