My name is Patricia, I am the mom of 3 wonderful blessings who simply changed my life. In 2002, I started my family! On 01/12/2002 I got married and, to my great surprise, a month later I received big news: I was already pregnant! When I went to take the test, I wasn’t very hopeful that this was really happening to me. My sister went with me for the test and two hours later I already had the results. I didn’t have the courage to open it, so my sister did it for me!! But there were so many numbers that we didn’t understand, and we had to go back to talk to a nurse who gave me the long-awaited news. Yes, I was very much pregnant!!
Wow, it was such an overwhelming emotion that I could hardly believe it, and after hearing that, I wanted to do something special to tell my husband. I called my aunt and asked her to send a voice message telling him he was going to be a dad, but to my surprise, when I got home, he had not yet received the call. So I played it up and he kept asking me about the results, and I kept denying it, saying nothing showed up in the results. Then the phone rang and I asked him to answer it and it was so exciting he came to me crying and hugged me. We couldn’t believe it, we were starting a family so soon!!
It was 9 months of great emotion, but also many challenges; at 5 months I started having high blood pressure and almost lost my son, because my blood pressure was causing the beginning of a miscarriage. That’s when I started taking medication until the day he was born. It was all complicated, because wherever I would go to have him, I had to have my blood pressure checked to control it. I swelled up a lot and gained 26 kilos over the 38 weeks, and at 6 months I was hospitalized to take medication to hold him in, because he wanted to be born. Another scare, but God was already in control of everything!
At 38 weeks, on 10/16/2002 at 5:10 PM, Leonardo came into the world via cesarean section healthy, weighing 3.345 kg and measuring 50 centimeters. It was a magical, perfect moment in my life, I couldn’t believe I was being so blessed with this little being who changed my life. When he turned one, to my surprise, I became pregnant with my second child! Wow, I was shocked and we were going through hard times, but that didn’t get me down, because I always loved being a mother and for me it was another great blessing.
My husband was even more shocked and was terrified, but soon after he was able to celebrate and feel happy! That pregnancy went smoothly, this time I didn’t have high blood pressure and everything was wonderful. The only suspicion was gestational diabetes because the doctors thought the baby was very big, but after all the tests, everything was normal. Gustavo was a calm baby and, unlike Leo, didn’t want to be born hahahaha—I kept going back and forth to the hospital, going one day yes and one day no to do the cardiotocography, and each exam result was different. I was afraid but never lost hope that everything would turn out well; and then on 09/02/2004, I went to the doctor in the morning.
After examining me, the doctor started filling in lots of paperwork and didn’t say a word. I got anxious and then he looked up and said: Let’s do a cesarean, because he’s floating and he isn’t going to engage. Gustavo was born at 4:20 PM, weighing 4.375 kg and measuring 54 centimeters—an enormous, healthy baby. A unique moment, it felt like having my first child again!
In 2007, on 03/03/2007 at 3:10 AM, weighing 3.250 kg and measuring 47 centimeters, our little princess Esther arrived, to complete our beautiful family. It was a very smooth pregnancy, but she too was in a hurry and wanted to come at 38 weeks. My water broke and everything happened so quickly!! I got to the hospital and went straight to the operating room and soon she was born. My princess had a little issue known as severe jaundice and had to undergo phototherapy for 3 days. It felt like an eternity, and after 6 days we came home and my life was filled with joy, because I had my 3 blessings with me. Those were moments I’ll never forget, and being a mother to me is a wonderful gift from God!! I love being a mom.
See also: Luciana’s Birth Story – Two Premature Births, Two Victories
Photo: Personal Archive
