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Pregnant bride wore bedding to the wedding

An Ohio mom-to-be was admitted to the hospital after going into labor two months early. But that didn't stop her fiancé from their plan to marry before the birth of their son. Soon the whole hospital was in wedding planning mode.
/ Source: TODAY contributor

An Ohio couple got married in a hospital last Thursday with the bride wearing a white bed sheet and expecting a baby boy, who arrived the next morning.

Cynthia Reese was admitted Monday, Nov. 5, to Akron General Medical Center on Akron, Ohio, after going into labor two months early. On Wednesday, her fiance, Michael Bof, surprised her by arranging for a judge to marry them in her hospital room before the birth of their son, Michael Frederick Bof II.

Hospital staff found out — and went into wedding planning mode.

“I think when we found out her fiance wanted to surprise her in the room, it became contagious,” said Maggie Arbaugh, nursing director at Akron General. “We got flowers. Someone thought she has to have a dress. A senior tech got a bed sheet and fashioned a fabulous wedding gown. We have to have refreshments, a reception. Each person sort of jumped on board.”

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For something blue, Melody White, the senior technician, sashayed a blue monitor belt around the white bed sheet. The groom found wedding rings at a jewelry sale in the hospital lobby. Staff got the go-ahead to permit Reese to leave her patient bed to attend her wedding in the hospital’s chapel. Traveling in a wheelchair to her ceremony, visitors took notice — clapping, fixing her hair and even playing the wedding march, as one woman already playing the piano did, at nurses’ request, after finding the song notes on her laptop.

Courtesy Mark Riggs

“I felt like I was in a freakin’ movie. I was sitting there all drugged up and people were clapping,” said the 27-year-old bride, who works at teen retailer Aeropostale. “A random lady coming to visit her family gave me a bobby pin in my hair and put in my baby’s breath (from the gift shop). I felt like Julia Roberts.”

At the end of the ceremony, hospital staff quickly asked the Admitting Office for paper, wrote “Just Married” and stuck it on the back of Reese’s wheelchair. The reception proceeded back in her hospital room decorated with balloons and a bride and groom figurine from the gift shop — and the couple shoved brownies in each other’s mouths and toasted with ginger ale.

“I was so excited,” the bride said. “I was so happy and overwhelmed and everybody pitching in and the surprise my fiance gave me. I’m about to cry right now. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

But she got more: the following morning at 10:27 a.m., Michael Frederick Bof II, weighing 4 pounds and 12 ounces, arrived two months early but just in time for his parents to get married.

Luckily little Michael is very healthy for a premie and his parents hope to be able to take him home in a few weeks.

“I wanted to get married and be like a family and have his last name,” his mom said.