She went into coma after giving birth. Her husband refused to let anyone hold their baby until she could

People often choose a partner based on how they make them feel during life's best moments. However, true love is often proven when things go wrong. For instance, when 35-year-old Casey Gould suffered a cardiac arrest and fell into a medically induced coma after an emergency C-section, her husband, Ben Rosengberger, exemplified love by standing up for her. Well, according to a July 6 report by PEOPLE, he refused to let anyone touch his baby and waited until his wife had the chance first.

Life on hold

After Gould's emergency C-section, doctors handed Rosenberger a perfectly healthy newborn son whom the couple later named Archer. However, his joy instantly turned into terror when he saw his wife suffer a sudden cardiac arrest. Gould was then diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy, a rare pregnancy-related heart failure, and was rushed into intensive care. Her condition had deteriorated so much that no one was allowed to interact with her. "Hearing doctors not being able to give me a straight answer that she would be okay was debilitating," Rosenberger said. 

His silent promise

Faced with the overwhelming uncertainty, Rosenberger realized that he had no control over the medical outcome. So, he chose to control what he could. Determined to protect the motherhood milestones his wife had dreamed of through the years the couple suffered with infertility and pregnancy loss, he made a vow. Well, the new father barred anyone from touching Archer before Gould could. "I had a moment of clarity and realized that all these special moments she had fantasized over were stolen from her," he recalled. Moreover, to make his son feel closer to his wife, he wrapped him in Gould's sweatshirt. 

That said, as soon as doctors determined that Gould was stable enough for visitors, Rosenberger moved to reunite her with their son despite her unconscious state. He insisted he place Archer directly onto his wife's chest, allowing the newborn to experience vital skin-to-skin contact. After getting the nod from the staff at last, Rosenberg entered the ICU and reunited his son and wife.

'He protected me'

Two days later, Gould finally woke up from the coma, gripped by the fear that their son hadn't survived. But that fear vanished quickly when Rosenberger stepped in with their healthy son and securely placed him into her arms, fulfilling the vow he made. Nonetheless, it wasn't until months later that she learned how her husband protected her role as a mother. "At my most vulnerable, he protected me," Gould reflected, noting that this experience forged a lasting strength in their marriage.

An unfortunate reality

Nonetheless, the incident sheds light on a rather concerning rising trend within the U.S.A. While the global pregnancy-related death rates have dropped over 25 years, the maternal mortality rate in the country has more than doubled during the same period of time. The deaths during this window have climbed sharply from 7.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1987 to a staggering 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021, according to the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health Community Care Initiative (AIM CCI).

'What an awesome husband'

That said, people in the comment section of the detailed post by Casey Gould (@caseygouldrosenberger) were left in awe of her husband's gesture. @aat0311 commented, "Him making sure you’re the first to hold your baby is just wow. I lost it. I’m speechless." Meanwhile, @audrey10612 wrote, "As a nurse, I would've cried about you and your husband's story at the nurses' station. What an awesome husband."

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