When Carrie Jakubowski woke up from her hysterectomy, she wasn’t expecting to be greeted by over 100 messages from her husband, Paul.
The 41-year-old teacher told PEOPLE that her first sensation upon waking was relief. “I felt lighter, no pain, no panic,” she says.
Her surgeon checked in briefly, confirming that the surgery went well and explaining why she had been in so much pain. After about an hour in the recovery area, Carrie was moved to a discharge room, where she fell asleep again—only to wake up to her husband right by her side.
“I burst into tears with maybe every emotion at once,” she recalls. “He looked like he had been through it too, so I kept reassuring him that I was okay.”
On the way home, Carrie finally asked for her phone—and discovered nearly 170 new messages. Over 100 of them were from Paul, each filled with encouragement, love, and little updates that helped ease her anxiety.
It wasn’t just the quantity of texts that amazed her, but also their content. Paul had taken her beloved Paddington Bear on a daylong adventure—visiting a diner, a local museum, and more—snapping photos and sending messages so Carrie would wake up to something playful and heartwarming.
“Paul is naturally sweet and silly,” Carrie says. “What started as a way to cheer me up also kept him grounded when he was nervous.”
She shared a video of the texts on TikTok, captioned: “A drag path but it’s 115 texts from my husband taking my stuffed Paddington bear around town while I had my hysterectomy so I had something silly to wake up to.” The response, she says, has been overwhelming.
“I think people see this as a silly but deeply devoted display of love,” Carrie explains. “It’s proof that the person you care about is thinking of you. It reminds people it’s okay to want that.”
Carrie met Paul on a dating app in 2021, when she was a newly divorced mom. They quickly fell in love and married in December 2023. She praises him for being a “natural bonus father figure” for her daughter and for consistently showing that he chooses their family every day.
Two weeks after the surgery, Paul continues to support her recovery. “I’m a type A personality, so having Paul remind me to slow down and let him care for me has been its own journey,” she says. “There’s a lot of talk about men stepping up for their partners, but not as much about women learning to trust them enough to do it. It’s its own thing.”
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