DENVER (AP) — When Katie Medley gave birth to healthy baby boy at University of Colorado Hospital, her husband Caleb, wounded in Colorado's theater shooting, lay in a medically induced coma one floor below her.
Hugo Jackson Medley was born at 7:11 a.m. Tuesday, at 18.5 inches long and weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces, friends said. Both mother and baby were doing great, hospital spokesman Dan Weaver said.
Caleb Medley, an aspiring comic, has undergone three surgeries since Friday's shooting during a showing of the new Batman movie at a multiplex in nearby Aurora that left 12 people dead and dozens injured. Katie Medley wasn't injured.
Caleb Medley is on a ventilator but is starting to breathe on his own and can squeeze people's hands, family friend Michael West said. His heart rate shot up to 130 beats per minute whenever anyone talked about the coming baby, who was named before his birth, he said.
"He is showing signs of improvement," said West, who is leading an online effort to raise money for the young family, which doesn't have health insurance.
Katie Medley and Hugo visited Caleb Medley in the intensive care unit Tuesday.
West said Katie Medley had already been scheduled to be induced and deliver her baby on Monday before the shooting but she changed hospitals in order to be close to her husband.
The couple went to the midnight showing of the "The Dark Knight Rises" as a last date before becoming parents. Katie Medley's father, David Sanchez, said his daughter and son-in-law had been waiting for a year to watch the premiere of the movie.
Katie Medley hasn't spoken publicly about the shooting but Sanchez spoke about the couple's ordeal outside the courthouse where the shooting suspect made his first court appearance Monday.
Since then, donations to the family have shot up to over $100,000.
People from around the country and world have been offering their encouragement and prayers on a Facebook page set up to follow Caleb Medley's progress.
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Online:
http://www.calebmedley.com/help
