HOLDEN (AP) – A soldier who returned from Iraq in time to see the birth of his son this week says his wife is the real hero for running the household while pregnant with their third child as he served thousands of miles away in the war zone.

Sgt. Brett Johnson, who has been in Iraq since January, learned of his wife’s pregnancy when she sent him a pair of small red sneakers.

“I found out about two weeks after he left that I was pregnant,” Jessica Johnson said Wednesday while her husband was visiting their newborn in the hospital nursery.

Her husband returned home on Saturday. The timing of the two-week trip home was good. The couple’s third son, Rowan Kerry Johnson, was born three days later.

“It timed out perfectly,” she said. “It could not have been more perfect.”

After Johnson was deployed to Iraq, his wife got busy. Jessica Johnson sold their house in Hudson and bought a new one for the growing family in Holden. Despite her pregnancy, she managed the move while continuing to work as an emergency room nurse.

The couple has kept the long-distance marriage vibrant via e-mail, she said.

After seeing the new home and the birth of his perfectly healthy baby, Brett Johnson reiterated that his wife is the hero of his family.

“I think it’s better than I deserve,” he said. “She did a great job.”

Johnson is a Marine Corps reservist who has served for the last two years as a Maine Army National Guard soldier with Brewer-based B Company, 3rd Battalion of the 172nd Mountain Infantry. B Company was deployed in January to perform an 18-month security mission in Iraq.

Until he returns to Iraq next week, Brett Johnson said he plans to “lay as low as possible and enjoy my wife and three sons.”

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