A Florida widow has given birth to a son whom she describes as a “miracle,” as she believes the baby was conceived after her husband’s death.
Mari Kuhlman welcomed her son, Raphael Patrick, on July 18, nine months after her husband, Nate Kuhlman, died in a water-skiing accident on Oct. 31, according to the Tampa Bay Times, the National Catholic Register and WTRF-TV.
The couple had married just days before, on Oct. 28, and traveled to St. Lucia for their honeymoon, where Nate went out water-skiing and drowned after falling. Mari told the Tampa Bay Times that bystanders tried to revive him but were unsuccessful, and Nate was declared dead.
Mari, 23, said that after Nate’s death, she and his family prayed for a miracle. She told the National Catholic Register that during her prayers, the thought crossed her mind, “What if God answers this in another way — that I’m pregnant?”
About a month later, on Thanksgiving Day, Mari found out she was pregnant with Nate’s child. She said she took a pregnancy test after she had missed a period and was surprised by the results.
“This has to be a miracle,” she recalled telling Nate’s family, with whom she had been staying at the time, per The Tampa Bay Times.
“I was so overjoyed that God would give us this gift of new life,” she added to the National Catholic Register. “I was wishing Nathaniel was here with me, but there is overwhelming joy. I could feel his joy. He already knew [about the pregnancy], but I was just finding out.”
Mari had been using the Flo app to track her menstrual cycle, and it showed that she had ovulated days before her wedding to Nate, per the Tampa Bay Times. Derek Wildman, a professor at the University of South Florida who teaches reproductive biology, told the outlet that once an ovary releases an egg, “You only have a day or two, tops, when you can get pregnant.”
“Maybe [Mari’s] math was off [regarding her ovulation date]?” the professor continued. “Or maybe, it’s very rare, but possible, that an egg dropped from the second ovary.”
Wildman also pointed out that sperm can live longer inside the female reproductive tract. “She could have conceived a child up to five days after [Nate] died,” he said.
Mari announced the news of her pregnancyon Instagram on Jan. 14 — what would have been her husband’s 24th birthday — sharing a photo of an ultrasound image and a onesie below her husband’s grave.
“Happy birthday my angel. … Clearly God had a plan bigger than anything we could have ever imagined. He answered our prayers, and prayers of those around the world, just in a different way than we had expected,” she wrote in the post.
Mari also noted that she planned to name the boy Raphael after her late husband’s favorite archangel.
A few months later, Mari announced her baby’s arrival on July 18 with a photo of family members holding the newborn.
“Nate, our son is here!” she captioned the post. “I cannot believe it, thank you for carrying me through one of the hardest days of my life! But the reward of holding our son in my arms was obviously so worth it!”
“I know you’ll be praying for him, for us each and every day, and he will know without a doubt how much his father loves him! We’ll feel your love in the sunshine, in the rain, in the breeze and the butterflies we see,” she added.
Mari told the Tampa Bay Times that her son has inherited traits from both parents, including her eyes and her late husband’s ears. A month after his birth, Raphael was baptized in the same church where Nate’s funeral took place, per the outlet.
“Everything in this life is a gift. Raphael Patrick, you are truly the glory of God!” Mari wrote in a post commemorating the event. “[I] cannot wait to see who you become.”
