Birth
Taya and Chris decided to start a family. Luckily, the first time they tried she got pregnant. She had a near-perfect pregnancy but when she was in labor things got complicated. Taya had a low platelet count. They discovered this much to late and she was unable to receive an epidural or other pain killer when it came time to give birth. She ended up having a completely natural birth. They had a baby boy and he weighed in at eight pounds. Taya was in labor in labor for 16 hours. They had asked if they could give her laughing gas even though there could be many things happen to their son, he chanced it and allowed them to give her laughing gas to ease the pain. Taya even passed out in between contractions. They had a lot of problems during labor but they got a perfectly healthy little boy out of it. IN the book, Chris claims he was more nervous while Taya was giving birth than he ever was during combat.
Calling Home
One night while on overwatch in Baghdad, things were quiet and Chris decided to call home to Taya using the sat phone. Normally, he would just tell Taya he was at base rather than out in the field or on overwatch just to make her feel better. This time was different though. He told her exactly what he was doing and she made sure it was okay that he was talking on the phone with her then. They had a very short conversation before someone started firing from another building. She asked "What's that?" He nonchalantly said, "Oh, nothing." Just then the gunfire got much louder and he told her he would have to get off the phone. As soon as he said that, an RPG hit the outside of the wall right beside him. As the fight ended he grabbed the phone to call her back only to find the batteries had died. A few days later, he called her back to her crying. It turned out, she had heard the whole thing. Gun shots, cursing, everything before the batteries finally ran out.
Bonding
Him and his son didn't have much bonding time since Chris left the states just 10 days after he was born. This deployment was \ months long and by the time he came home. His little guy had grown a personality and was such a bundle of joy. They would lie I the floor and play together, he would crawl all over him, Chris even realized the simplest things can make him ecstatic. Him and Taya disagreed on a decent amount of things when he got back. One being the co-sleeper, Taya had their son sleeping with her in the co-sleeper while Chris was gone and Chris didn't agree with that. While Chris had been gone the neighbors took care of things such as mowing the yard, watching the baby, help cleaning, etc. Well now that he was home that was his job to do. They had a small backyard so it wasn't difficult to mow except for the roses with thorns near the corner of their yard. One day, Chris just got fed up with them and he picked the mower up and trimmed them that way. Taya came out yelling, "What! Are you kidding me?!" He definitely has the temper of a SEAL.
Getting Ready To Go/ Giving Birth
Fortunately, while he was home, Taya became pregnant with their second child. They now argued often over his upcoming re-enlistment. She didn't want home to risk his life and their life and he just wanted to continue doing his job. As it came time to leave, Taya and him became more distant. They still loved each other, but their differences needed space for now. Before he deployed, we went to the doctor to have a cyst removed from his nick. As the doctor suck the needle in his neck to numb it, he passed out and had a seizure. Unfortunately, having a seizure while being a member of the Navy, he could be medically discharged. So luckily, a guy he was friends with is a corpsman and convinced the doctor not to put it on his record. While that was happening, Taya had a regular pregnancy check-up just 3 weeks before the baby was due. During the ultrasound though, the doctor realized she was in labor and was going to need a C-section tomorrow. The next day, the had a healthy baby girl. And 2 days after that, he deployed.
Leukemia/ Getting Better
Chris decided to call Taya one day and the first thing he heard when he picked up the phone was, " Our daughter is sick, her white blood cell count is low." Taya continued telling him that she had been getting infections for a while. The doctors thought she had Leukemia. And that terrified Chris. As things started to due down overseas he mentioned the situation to his command and they made arrangements for him to leave ASAP. Few days later, he was back in the states with his family and supporting them. The doctors performed several tests on her. They eventually found out that his daughter didn't have Leukemia after all. They even got control of her infections and could keep most away. What bothered him most during this time was that she would reject him and have nothing to do with him. Taya claimed she did that with all men. But it still hurt his feelings. Things with his son remained the same and as time went on, everything got better. But soon, it was time for him to leave again.