Dad Corporal Daniel Gonzalez, US Marine Corps, is in Iraq, hence the need for the close up. Father and son met for the first time via a video link.
As shutters clicked and flashes flashed mom and dad chatted via satellite about their first born, who managed to snooze through the talk of his vital statistics. This kind of video link, valued at a thousand dollars an hour, is provided free to military families by a non-profit group.
The organization is called freedomcalls.org. Darla Weaver of Grand View Hospital says, "We were contacted by the Marine Corps early in Mrs Gonzalez's pregnancy asking if we would consider working with them to set up this connection so that he could see his baby when it was born."
The hope is that father and son will meet face to face this spring. In the meantime the one time childhood sweethearts marvel long distance.
Mom, Ixmucane Gonzalez says, "We're both very happy. We're both like, 'I can't believe we are parents.'"
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