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GREENSBORO — Red and green gift bags sit near a bed in The Women’s Hospital, but what those bags hold don’t compare to what Pfc. Adrian Welch had curled up in his lap Friday.

It was his son Maxwell Adrian Welch — the baby he traveled from Iraq to see born on Christmas Eve.

“It’s a heck of a present. It’s the best one I ever got by far,” the father said.

“It doesn’t matter what day it was to me, but it does make it extra special for it to be Christmas.”

Adrian Welch and his wife, Tyson Welch, welcomed Maxwell at 3:11 p.m. Thursday. Maxwell was 6 pounds, 12 ounces and 20 1/4 inches long.

Uncertainty riddled Tyson Welch’s entire pregnancy. She is a pre-cervical cancer survivor who did not know if she would carry the baby for a full term. She went into preterm labor twice.

“They really didn’t think I’d make it past 34 or 35 weeks,” she said. She carried the baby until three days before his due date.

“Just with him being gone to Iraq and everything, of course it’s been harder.”

The couple are also raising Tyson Welch’s 9-year-old son, Tyler.

Adrian Welch was deployed to Iraq in September and did not know if he would be present to see the birth.

He landed in the United States on Monday after a four-day trek that took him to Kuwait, Germany, Atlanta and, eventually, Piedmont Triad International Airport.

Tyson Welch, 27, felt a rush of emotion when she met him behind the security gate.

“It was more overwhelming than anything,” she said. “As soon as I saw him, I just started crying.”

Adrian Welch, 29, was more than happy to be home — to be away from combat and an extremely different culture and to be able focus on his wife and child.

“Being away is bad enough. ... So to come home and have the time be right and have the baby here, healthy... it’s just incredible,” Adrian Welch said.

The baby was named after Adrian Welch’s paternal grandfather, Maxwell Larcom Welch.

The World War II veteran went missing in action shortly after the Battle of the Bulge at Christmastime 65 years ago. He was a prisoner of war until the war ended in 1945, when he was released near Frankfurt, Germany.

Adrian Welch never met his grandfather, but he appreciates his valor in a time of peril.

“When we go over there, we’re upset because we have to be over there for a year, but we have somewhat OK conditions,” he said.

“Here’s a guy who served his country basically in enemy hands for a year. He deserves to be honored for that,” he said as baby Max slept in his lap, wearing a bright red “My 1st Christmas” outfit.

It was a gift from his grandmother, Mary Anne Welch, who stood near the hospital room door Friday afternoon, smiling down on the young family.

“I’m just proud,” she said. “That’s what Christmas is about.”

The family will soon be divided again, because Adrian Welch will leave for Iraq on Jan. 6.

“It’s going to make going back in a week and a half that much harder,” he said of his son’s arrival.

“But other than that, I’m really not going to think about that until it’s time to go. I’m really just going to enjoy this time that I have with him now.”

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7090 or dioni.wise@news-record.com