“We had talked about getting engaged before our son was born, and one day I thought, ‘What better place than the delivery room?’”
A new dad from Illinois turned one life-changing moment into two when he proposed to his girlfriend just minutes after she gave birth to their first child.
“It was kind of a random idea, honestly,” Denzel Kimbrough, 30, tells TODAY.com of his plan. “We had talked about getting engaged before our son was born, and one day I thought, ‘What better place than the delivery room?’”
While new mom Challis Bell was having her vitals checked, nurses at Advocate Christ Medical Center dressed her newborn son, Ace, in a onesie that read, “Mommy, will you marry Daddy?”
In a video shared on Instagram, a nurse carries Ace over to his mother. Bell, still dazed from labor, squints to read the words printed on his outfit.
“What? What does that say? she asks.
Then Bell turns her head, and there is Kimbrough — her boyfriend of three years — kneeling beside her hospital bed, a small box in his hand. Her mouth falls open, and after a brief moment of realization, she gasps an exhausted but elated, “Oh my God. Yes.”
“I was completely shocked. We knew we were going to get engaged, but that was a big surprise!” Bell tells TODAY.
While Bell described the proposal as “perfect,” reactions on Instagram were mixed, particularly regarding the timing. As one person wrote, “This is *really* sweet BUT— DONT PROPOSE TO ME AFTER IVE JUST DONE THE HARDEST PHYSICAL THING EVEEEEERRR.”
- “I delivered hundreds of babies and I so find this moment so phenomenally wonderful for this beautiful family.”
- “For me, I enjoyed having two separate special moments. These are two very different milestones.”
- “Couldn’t he have waited and made it a special day for her. It feels like he’s piggy backing off the joyous moment of the baby’s birth. Two different events.”
- “I’m crying! Congratulations!!!! What a heartwarming family moment.”
- “In the past I’ve found these cute but after giving birth it’s a no from me.”
Everybody has their own opinion,” Kimbrough tells TODAY. “Some people might say, ‘Oh, I would’ve proposed before,’ or ‘I would’ve just waited until after.’ But I just felt like it was the perfect opportunity for us.”
“I wanted to make that day the best day of her life,” he added.
And he did.
“It was perfect,” Bell says. “We can’t control other people’s opinions, but I”m definitely happy to see that we’ve gotten more congratulations, blessings, and positivity coming our way than negativity. Everybody’s different — we’re just focused on the love.”
