American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U. S. Military History

B
IRTH
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esides being a SEAL, I was also a husband. And after I came
home, Taya and I decided to try and start a family.
Things went pretty well. She got pregnant about the first time we
kissed without protection. And her pregnancy was near-perfect. It
was the childbirth that got complicated.
For some reason, my wife had a problem with a low platelet
count. Unfortunately, the problem wasn’t discovered until too late,
and because of that she couldn’t get an epidural or other painkiller
when it came time to give birth. So, she had to give birth naturally,
without any training or preparation.
Our son was eight pounds, not a particularly small kid.
You learn a lot about a woman when she’s under duress. I got
bitched to high heaven. (She claims she didn’t, but I know better.
And who are you going to believe, a SEAL? Or a SEAL’s wife?)
Taya was in labor for sixteen hours. Toward the end, they

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decided they could give her laughing gas to ease the pain. But
before they did, they warned me of everything that could happen to
my son, no matter how distant the possibility.
I didn’t feel I had much of a choice. She was in tremendous
pain. She needed relief. I told them to go ahead, though in the back
of my mind I was worried that my boy would come out messed up.
Then the doctor told me my son was so big, he couldn’t quite
squeeze through the birth canal. They wanted to put a suction thing
on his head to help him get out. Meanwhile, Taya was passing out
cold between contractions.
“Okay,” I said, not really understanding.
The doctor looked at me. “He may come out like a 
Conehead.”
Oh great,
I thought. 
My child is not only 
going to be
....
up from the gas but he’s going to be a Conehead.
“Goddamnit, just get him out of there,” I told him. “You’re killing
my wife. Do it!”
My boy came out just fine. But I have to say, I was a case the
whole time. It was the most hopeless feeling in the world, seeing my
wife in excruciating pain, without anything I could do.
I was a hell of a lot more nervous watching her give birth than I
ever was in combat.
Taya:
It was a very emotional time, with tremendous highs
and lows. Both of our families were in town for the birth.

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We were all very happy, and yet, at the same time, we
knew Chris would be leaving soon for Iraq.
That part sucked.
Chris had trouble handling the baby’s crying at first,
and that stressed me as well—you can handle war but
you can’t handle a few days of crying?
Most people don’t deal too well with that. Chris
certainly wasn’t one of the exceptions.
I knew taking care of our son was all going to be on
me for the next several months while he was away. More
importantly, I knew that all the newness and magic was
also going to be with me. I was nervous about how I
would handle it, and sad that all the memories of our
beautiful son would be mine alone as opposed to shared
memories we could look back on together.
At the same time, I was angry he was leaving and
terrified he wouldn’t make it back. I also loved him like
crazy.