For 15 years, Chris and Janae Martinez carried the silent weight of infertility. They longed for the simple joys of parenthood—the first cries, the tiny fingers wrapped around theirs, the love they had waited so long to give.
Then, on a cold February night, everything changed.
Chris, a firefighter in Belen, New Mexico, was working his shift when an alarm rang at his station’s Safe Haven Baby Box. A newborn had been placed inside—waiting for a new beginning.
Little did Chris know, that baby would become his son.
A long road to fatherhood
Infertility is a journey that so many parents walk, often in silence. For Chris and Janae, those 15 years were filled with longing and heartbreak.
“I just remember the feeling of not knowing if we’ll ever become parents, or not knowing if I would ever become a mom, because that’s all you dream about, is just being parents and being a mom,” Janae tells KOB4.
Just weeks before that February night, the couple completed their certification to become foster parents for the State of New Mexico. Then, fate stepped in.
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Meeting their son
Chris was one of the first to retrieve the baby, later named Mikel. Wrapped in a towel, his umbilical cord still attached, he was so small, so fragile.
“I knew the moment I saw him that I wanted to be his dad,” Chris shared with TODAY.com. “It was like he was meant to be ours.”
Mikel was rushed to the hospital, where doctors treated him for pneumonia and hypothermia. For the next month, Chris and Janae never left his side in the neonatal intensive unit (NICU). They fed him, held him, and whispered promises of love. But they also lived in uncertainty—not knowing if they would be the ones to take him home.
Then, after weeks of waiting, they got the call that changed their lives.
A family at last
On March 10, 2024, Chris and Janae officially became Mikel’s parents. Today, Mikel is a thriving 13-month-old who loves pulling socks out of drawers, dancing, and giving endless “besos” to his mom and dad.
“He’s almost about to walk!” Chris said proudly.
And as they watch their son grow, Chris and Janae never forget the woman who made this possible.
“What she did for Mikel was so brave and selfless,” Janae said. “We want her to know that we are going to give Mikel the best life—the life he deserves.”
For every parent still waiting
For parents walking the long road of infertility, Chris and Janae’s story is proof that sometimes, love finds you in the most unexpected ways.
It’s a reminder that families are built in many ways—not always in the ways we first imagined, but in the ways they are meant to be.
Because sometimes, the greatest gifts come when we least expect them.
