When Chris returned home, he noticed that his wife was acting strange around him, as if something was bothering her. And when he found out the reason, he was at a loss for words.
He couldn't believe that she was even capable of hiding this from him.
She Couldn't Bring Herself To Tell Him The Truth
There were days when Chris's wife Natasha thought about telling him the truth.
“I emailed him, and I told him to call me as soon as he gets a chance, but then I thought about it for a few minutes, and I was like, ‘You know, this isn’t how I want to tell him, in an email.’”
A Few People Knew About It
She went on to say, “I found out about a week after he left. I didn’t believe it."
She only told a few people about it, who all agreed that she shouldn't mention it to her husband.
She Was Worried
Chris was initially scheduled to be in South Korea for five months, but with the tension rising between the U.S. and North Korea, he had to stay there for a few more weeks.
“As soon as we started having trouble with North Korea, I became worried,” Natasha told NBC.
A Difficult Time
“He was telling me goodbye. At that point, I was extremely emotional. I wanted to tell him, I wanted to freak out,” she continued.
"But I kept my calm and waited, just a little longer."
June 23, 2017
On June 23, 2017, the family was reunited after six months. It was an emotional moment for all of them.
"My heart was racing," Natasha said. "I stood back and let the kids run to him. I hung back for a minute, and then he reached into me to give me a hug, and then I dropped the sign. He just stood there in shock. He didn't know what was going on."
She Was Pregnant
Natasha was seven months pregnant! Chris was in complete shock. He couldn't believe his eyes!
"There were a lot of thoughts going through my mind. The first was confusion, then I thought she was joking with me, so I poked it to make sure it was real," he said.
“Welcome Home Baby Daddy"
"When it was real, I was extremely confused, so I asked, 'Is that real?' to be sure, then hugged her because it was the only thing I could think to do," he continued.
Natasha's sign read, "Welcome Home, Baby Daddy." But how did she manage to hide this from her husband for so long?
She Got Creative
To hide her pregnancy, Natasha had to stop facetiming her husband. So instead, she used email and Facebook to keep in touch with him.
She hid her stomach with objects or people in photos and sometimes even held beer for the camera so that no one would suspect that she was pregnant.
She Wanted To Surprise Him
“I found out about a week after he left. I didn’t believe it,” she told ABC News.
"I took the pregnancy test again, and I was like, 'Oh no way.'" She decided not to tell her husband about it over the phone and surprise him on the day of his arrival.
He Was Shocked
"I can't believe she was able to keep the secret for as long as she did because we tell each other everything, so I know it was really hard for her," said Chris.
"I'm sure every day she wanted to just tell me, but I'm really happy she waited because it was an awesome homecoming surprise." But there were still more surprises in store for him.
His Story Went Viral
Chris couldn't wait to share the good news with his friends and family on social media, but he didn't expect that his story would go viral.
This beautiful story touched the hearts of thousands of people from all around the world. And soon, the couple was also answering questions for news channels and magazines.
A Baby Girl
“I have three kids already now, so a fourth will just add on to the excitement and craziness!” Chris wrote on Facebook.
A few weeks later, the couple threw a gender reveal party, and when they popped balloons filled with pink confetti, everyone found out that they were having a baby girl.
A Family Of Six
On September 2, 2017, Natasha and Chris welcomed their daughter Anara Rose.
The couple wrote that the girl “completed our family of six.”
He Loved The Surprise
Chris wasn't upset with his wife for not telling him about her pregnancy sooner.
“It was an awesome surprise to find out that way. Finding out in email or over the phone, that’s easy, but since she saved it, it was special,” he told ABC News.