Brian and Melissa are a match made in heaven. Brian is policeman and Melissa is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who until her acquired brain injury in March 2014 did family, couples and children's therapy. Not long after their fairy tale wedding in July 2013 these two had great news. They were expecting a baby boy in June 2014. Melissa's pregnancy started well enough, but eventually became problematic, and after a few months of headaches their world came crumbling down when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Before the tumor could be removed, on March 11, 2014, she had what would turn out to be a debilitating seizure. She was rushed in for emergency surgery, but she slipped into a coma, in which she remains. For 10 weeks Melissa, in a coma, struggled to keep herself and her unborn child alive. On May 22nd, 2014, against all odds, Melissa, still in a coma, gave birth to a healthy 37 week old and 5lb 9oz boy, West Nathaniel Lande. Melissa has fortunately been able to move home to Fresno, California, to live with her parents, John and lawanna Farrell, where she is steadily waking up. Brian and Melissa's family remains daily devoted to Melissa and West.Your entire donation will go to the family and will be spent on Melissa's care, present and future. With your help we can keep Team Melissa going strong. Along with you, we say, Go Melissa!! 

 Melissa Carleton, the Fresno woman who has struggled for more than two months to regain full consciousness, had her baby boy Thursday. 
 
 West Nathaniel Lande was born at 10:56 a.m. Thursday, her beaming husband Brian Lande said in a telephone interview from his wife's bedside. 
 
 West weighs 5 pounds and 9 ounces and is 19 inches long -- and he was sleeping. Mother and son were doing fine, Lande said: "I'm touching my son's cheek now and giving Melissa a little kiss." 
 
 Months of worry vanished at the baby's first loud cry. 
 
 Carleton, a Fresno marriage and family therapist, has been in a comatose state at the University of California at San Francisco for more than two months. A seizure caused brain damage on the night before she was scheduled to have surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. Doctors successfully operated, but Carleton hasn't been fully awake since. 
 
 Lande has been at Carleton's side, celebrating small victories -- a hand movement, eye openings, a grin. On Thursday, he held her hand from behind a curtain in the operating room as doctors delivered their son by Caesarean section. 
 
 Family and friends -- and strangers -- have followed the couple's story on Facebook. They have donated money in support of Carleton, a 1993 Edison High School graduate. And a San Francisco police officer is letting Lande, a Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputy, stay rent-free at an apartment near the hospital. 
 
 And as the weeks ticked by with "baby boy" growing inside Carleton, attention turned to preparing for West's birth. Baby clothes and supplies began arriving. 
 
 Doctors had told Lande the baby had a good chance if Carleton could carry him for 28 weeks. He was born full term. 
 
 RELATED STORY: Fresno rallies in support of mom-to-be, now in coma 
 
 Lande waited until Thursday to reveal his son's name -- West Nathaniel. Carleton had chosen West from a list of character names for screenplays. She has written screenplays for years, Lande said. For her son's middle name, she picked Nathaniel, the name of a favorite television character, he said. 
 
 Thursday, Lande, 32, said West's birth had a "bittersweet side to it." His son is healthy and happy but Carleton was not awake for the delivery. "I can't wait for her to wake up and move her hands and touch him," he said. 
 
 Lande swaddled West after his birth and changed his first diaper. But, Lande said, "We're going to help Melissa breast-feed and have plenty of skin-to-skin time so she can be a mom." 
 
 Carleton, 39, had relished her pregnancy -- her first -- and had been preparing for motherhood when she began having headaches. Tests found the brain tumor. 
 
 Lawanna Farrell, a Fresno nurse, said she's pretty sure her daughter understands she has given birth. "I think she's aware." 
 
 Before the Cesarean delivery Thursday, Carleton had her best day, Farrell said. "She was more awake than she has been. She reached for Brian and puckered her lips so she could kiss him." 
 
 Lande also believes Carleton knows she's a mother. "She did wake up a little bit when he came in the room and first cried," he said. "And Melissa and baby were face-to-face, and her eyes were open." 
 
 Gofundme http://www.gofundme.com/7gi63g 
 
 Send a paypal payment to helpmelissa2014@gmail.com. 
 
 Folks can also help by either preparing meals for Brian and the family, or having delivery sent out -- this can be set up through Takethemameal.com http://takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=TWRB5424. 
 
 The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6310, banderson@fresnobee.com or @beehealthwriter on Twitter. 

 By Katie Utehs 
 
 KTVU.com 
 
 A relieved father told KTVU about the flood of emotions he experienced Thursday morning when UCSF doctors delivered a baby boy from his wife who has been in a coma since March following surgery to treat a brain tumor. 
 
 The father, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Lande, told KTVU about the delivery and what's next for the treatment of his wife who is still in a coma. 
 
 Like any new father, Lande was overjoyed and overwhelmed as he held his newborn son for the first time Thursday. But his circumstances are far different from those faced by most fathers. 
 
 Until his son's successful delivery, it wasn't clear if the infant boy or his wife would survive the pregnancy. 
 
 West Nathaniel Lande weighed five pounds nine ounces at birth. 
 
 "He's got his mom's nose and his mom's ears and he's opening his eyes and looking around already," said a beaming Lande. 
 
 The Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputy is a proud father. But Brian and his wife Melissa are facing challenges unlike most new parents. 
 
 Melissa Carleton suffered a seizure following treatment for a benign brain tumor. She has been in a coma since March, yet brought her baby to full term. 
 
 "Having to worry that we really weren't going to get either, to at least know that I've got one of them now," said a relieved Lande. 
 
 Doctors delivered west via C-section at 10:56 a.m. Thursday morning. Despite the blessing of his healthy son’s arrival, the birth still brought mixed feelings for Brian. 
 
 "As happy as I am to meet my son, it is incredibly painful for Melissa not to be awake with me for this," explained Lande. 
 
 Melissa's injury to her brain is in the area that controls wakefulness, so she still may be aware of what is happening. 
 
 Before surgery she moved Brian's hand to her stomach where the baby was kicking. 
 
 "She puckered for a kiss. These are things we've waited for months to happen and she did them today," said Land. 
 
 Now that west has arrived, Brian will be balancing his new baby, Melissa's continued treatment and eventually returning to work for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department. 
 
 "I'm overwhelmed I have no idea what I need right now. I just can't see further than my nose," said Lande. 
 
 Brian told KTVU he is thankful for all of the help he has received from the community. 
 
 His wife's continued care and treatment will be expensive, but right now he's focusing on keeping Melissa and baby West together. 
 
 Lande has set up a GoFundMe.com site to raise money for Melissa's treatment. Interested parties can go there to make a donation.
– A Fresno woman gave birth to healthy baby boy this week, a development making headlines because she herself is in a coma. Melissa Carleton, 39, delivered West Nathaniel Lande via C-section with husband Brian Lande by her side, reports the Fresno Bee. Carleton was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor while pregnant, and she suffered a major seizure two months ago. Though she hasn't been conscious since, she was able to carry her baby to full term. "As happy as I am to meet my son, it is incredibly painful for Melissa not to be awake with me for this," Lande tells KTVU-TV. Still, he thinks his wife might be aware on some level. Before surgery, he says she moved his hand to her stomach and even puckered for a kiss. "She did wake up a little bit when he came in the room and first cried," he says. "And Melissa and baby were face-to-face, and her eyes were open." Doctors aren't sure whether she will fully recover. In the meantime, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family. (Click to read about another new mom who went into a coma after wisdom teeth surgery.)