Today is Sonny’s birthday
Join us in celebrating today as Steve (aka Sonny Poolroom) celebrates his 79th birthday!
Below is the first story in Sonny Poolroom, one that helps set the scene about what Sonny would face as a young boy growing up in rural Saskatchewan.
Happy birthday, Sonny! Readers, enjoy the chapter. If you’d like to read more, the full book is available as an ebook on Amazon or in hard copy here.
March 26, 1946: Another Mouth to Feed
It’s early morning, March 26, 1946, when my mom awakens my dad. “It’s time,” she says. Dad doesn’t need to ask what that means. He knows it’s time to drive mom the five miles from our farm to the Carrot River Union Hospital, where she’s about to have her third baby in 28 months.
“Chaotic” probably best describes the daily goings–on in the Hawrishok household in March 1946. When mom isn’t changing, cleaning and washing Rose’s or Nancy’s cloth diapers, she’s making pablum, heating baby bottles, and doing whatever she can to ensure the two girls aren’t doing anything to harm themselves. Of course, there is lots of crying and night calls to take care of too. (What my mom doesn’t need right now is another baby! Dad’s not much help when it comes to caring for his babies. He is proving, though, that he knows how to make them!)
Having already had two babies, Mom hopes this delivery will be easy. Nope, not going to happen. I’m anything but an easy delivery: I’ve got a head the size of a basketball (ouch!); I’m a big boy, too (12 pounds, 8 ounces). Lots of snips and blood loss, including three days of transfusions before my mom leaves the hospital.
Dad’s happy now that he has a son. “Someone to keep the Hawrishok name alive,” he said. Mom’s taking her time coming up with a name for me, but Dad already has that covered: if Steve is a good enough name for him, it should be good enough for his firstborn son. Mom and Dad agree that Stephen Robert sounds like a good name, so Stephen Robert it is.
Having a baby cost money in those days. (My mom was said to have cried when she found out she was pregnant with me. This was just another expense the family didn’t need.) Nevertheless, Dad managed to come up with the $55 he needed to pay the hospital and doctors’ bills* when they arrived.
*Effective January 1, 1947, The Hospital Insurance Act guaranteed every Saskatchewan citizen free hospital care—the cost for this coverage was $5.00 for each adult and child, subject to a maximum of $30 per family. Doctors were permitted to continue to charge patients for visits and consultations.