Sponseller Family: Happy Birthday Uncle Kurt!

Last night we celebrated Kurt's 16th birthday!

December 15, 1992 My very pregnant mother went in for a routine check when she was 6 weeks away from her due date, the doctor told her at that appointment that something was very wrong with the baby and he needed to be delivered immediately. Mom and Dad spared us the details but let us know that our baby brother was to be born that night. At 3:00 in the morning on Dec. 16th, Kurt was born via emergency c-section. The next morning Dad was home with photos of this precious little boy, covered in tubes and wires and looking so so small. All I saw was the baby, all I thought was, when can I hold him . . . and I love him . . .

Dad brought Kris and I to see them the next day after school. Mom was recovering well, and we hugged her and told her that we missed her being home (and we really really did), but the truth was I just wanted to see Kurt . . . I was so excited, I wanted to see him, hold him, smell him, play with him, dress him up and carry him around, I wanted to bring him to school to show him off and hold him while he slept, but most of all I just wanted to hold him . . .

Then the saddest news I had ever heard . . . no . . . I could not hold him, no way . . he was very very sick and I could bring in germs . . . but I'm his sister, I thought, I should be allowed, I'll be very gentle . . . but no, I could not hold him . . . and what's worse is that he was in an isolation room in the NICU so I couldn't even see him . . . that was devastating . . . just the worst most horrible news ever . . .

I had waited years and years for a baby brother . . . mom had had at least two miscarriages (that she told us about) and now that my brother is here, is born and alive, I couldn't touch, hold, hear or even see him . . .

But finally a kind nurse saw the tears in my eyes, she ran back to his room, unplugged what she could and brought him to the window . . . . I was there . . . and there he was . . . he wasn't pink or plump like you see in the movies . . . no he was green and had bruises on him . . . he had tubes and wires hanging from him . . . and he was so so so small . . . and he yawned and looked like he was going to cry . . . and just as fast as the nurse had brought him to the window . . he was gone . . . but the green little bruised, small baby wasn't any baby, no he was MY brother so none of it matter . . . not one bit . . . that was MY brother . . . and in that moment, I fell in love . . . and I still love him just as much . . .

He came home six weeks later and that's when I held him for the first time . . . I remember he was still so small . . . and I had to be very gentle . . . but I got to hold him . . . and I didn't let go for hours . . . and from that point we had a special little bond . . . over the years there are many many special moments that we have shared . . . the way I used to brush his hair over his ear to help him fall asleep . . . the fact that we still know every word to "The Nightmare Before Christmas" . . . and many others . . . but they are special just to us . . .

Now that little boy, born at 3 1/2 pounds, so sick that even the doctors lost hope on some days . . . that little boy is taller than me, stronger than me and 16 years old!

Unbelievable . . . . and even though he is a typical teenager . . . and there are days when I want to, well you know . . . . I love him, and always will . . . love you C.B.!!

Okay, and now the photos . . .

Johnathan playing with his toys . . .