The wife of a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq had anticipated giving birth to their firstborn child days before her husband was to arrive home to welcome their new son.
Cara Rahming, 34, from Orland hills, Illinois, in mid-September paid a visit to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn four days before her due date, where she was surprised to learn her baby was about to arrive early.
But this wasn’t the only surprise in store for the soon-to-be mom.
Cara’s husband, Captain Harold Rahming—an Army captain and a doctor who had been deployed since June—had plans to arrive in Oak Lawn for the birth of their boy, even though he was scheduled to return home in mid-October.
But as luck would have it, the captain’s travel itinerary saw him shipped to a Texas Army base in time to receive word from Christ Medical officials that his son wasn’t going to wait any longer.
So, in conjunction with the Army base, and the help of an Orland Hills neighbor, the captain—unbeknownst to his wife—managed a change of plans.
Hospital staff captured a video-recording of Cara returning to her hospital room just hours before the birth. There, she encountered another unexpected early arrival.
She commented as she walked in the door, “Why are people recording?”
Then, she saw him: Her Army husband, Harold, dressed in military fatigues, was waiting to surprise her.
“I told you I was coming home,” he is heard saying.
With less than a day to spare, he made it in time to see the arrival of their firstborn.
Shortly thereafter, on Sept. 18—four days before their baby was expected—both mother and father welcomed their son, Harold Leroy II, who was born via cesarean after a medical induction was unsuccessful. The baby boy was delivered safely.
“I was over the moon,” Cara said in a hospital news release. “We were together for the first time in three months.”
