A Husband's Love

The sound of steady breathing was the only thing keeping my mind at ease. The hospital was beginning to close in on me and I felt trapped since the labor and delivery doctors put my wife into an induced coma. She had some minor complications with her blood pressure and blood sugar that they couldn’t get under control and decided to make the call to let her body gather the help it needed to become strong again. She hadn’t even got the chance to lay eyes on our baby boy, let alone hold him. Our extended family all sat in the waiting room patiently praying she would pull through. It’d only been 24 hours since they’d put her into a coma and I’d been by her side every minute. They brought in the baby like clockwork to get the necessary skin-to-skin contact and I’d sit on the bed and let her somewhat hold our son, but he needed more from her. I glanced up at her monitors, focusing on the green light that was her heartbeat rhythm. While the doctors came in, delivering promising news that her charts were improving. I felt a sense of ease wash over me, the waiting was becoming overwhelming, no one else had seen the baby since he was born. I’d made an instant decision to have no visitors until his mama was able to hold him. Everyone understood, but time was ticking and nurses wouldn’t be able to hold him in the nursery for much longer.

Kaitlyn stirred, bringing me out of the roller coaster my mind was riding. I rushed to her side, grabbed her hand and began talking to her, praying she’d wake up. “Kait, baby, you need to wake up. I need you to be strong for your son. He’s so perfect and could really use his mama’s warmth.” I kissed her forehead and squeezed her hand as I let the walls come crashing down. I couldn’t take it anymore, I needed my partner, my soulmate, my son’s mother. There was no way I could live without her and I didn’t intend to either. A tear slowly rolled down my cheek as I felt her squeeze my hand back. In shock, I looked up to find her confused with tears welling in her eyes. I pressed the emergency button to notify the nurses and her doctors to come quickly. I leaned over her and kissed her forehead, her eyes, cheeks, ending with a long kiss on her mouth. I whispered “The baby is perfectly healthy and needing you, are you strong enough my love?” I felt her hand tighten around mine as the hospital staff flooded into her room.

After what seemed like hours of checking and double checking, the baby was wheeled into our room. I reached in and picked him up, “Hey little man, are you ready to meet your mama?” I said as I handed her our son. The door opened, revealing a close friend of Kaitlyn’s who had a camera in her hand. She began snapping pictures instantly of Kait’s first look with our son. When she was done doting on him she looked up at me as I sat on the bed next to her. “I can’t believe you hired Molly to take newborn pictures without telling me” she sobbed. I wrapped her in my arms pressing my lips to her head. God it was so good to have this woman awake and alive. Her strength, love, and sense of kindness calmed me to my inner core, something I never realized she’d done for me. Molly went out to grab our parents, giving us a few minutes alone as a new family of three.

“You were my rock, I heard everything you said and I know you never left my side. What I didn’t know was that you’d kept our baby hidden until I saw him first. I don’t know how I will ever be able to thank you and apologize for scaring y’all, but I promise I will be the best mother to your child and however many more you want to give me.” She was bawling, but she smiled as she clutched our son a little tighter. “I love you so much K” I breathed into her hair.

The door swung open and our parents flooded in with relief and tears in their eyes. “Thank goodness baby girl” her mom said as she reached her bedside. “Everyone meet Latham Cal Anderson.” I froze, we’d thrown out names during her pregnancy, but hadn’t settled on any yet. We especially hadn’t thrown out either of our late grandfather's name in the hat and she’d just merged them together as a first and middle name for our baby boy. She turned to look at me, and murmured “I really hope that’s okay Tyler.” I couldn’t have fallen more in love with this woman than I had in the past four hours she’d woken up from her coma. I nodded, letting the tears stream down my face. I had everything I’d ever needed right here in my arms.