Chris Martinez, a New Mexico firefighter, and his wife Janae battled infertility for years. When he found an abandoned baby it was love at first sight.
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With shaky hands, Chris Martinez, a firefighter in Belen, New Mexico, dialed his wife’s phone number.
“The first thing he said was, ‘I’m crying right now,’” Janae Martinez, 39, tells TODAY.com.
Through tears, Chris, 44, explained to Janae that a newborn had been placed in the station’s Safe Haven Baby Box— a device that allows someone to safely and anonymously surrender a child, no questions asked.
He didn’t yet know it, but that baby would become his son Mikel.
Chris Martinez fell instantly in love with his son Mikel. The Martinez FamilyChris was one of the first to help Mikel, who was found on Feb. 6, wrapped in a towel with his umbilical cord still attached. There was no note. Just weeks earlier, Chris and Janae Martinez had received their certification to become foster parents.
“The timing was perfect,” Chris says. “It was meant to be.”