Thiago's Tumultuous Beginning

From his Godmother and Aunt's perspective

November 5th, 2008

Gosh, where do I start?! This past week has been the most trying week of my entire life and yet the most touching. I cannot contain myself, and I feel I have the divine duty to share my experience to anyone who will listen. Last Wednesday, Oct. 29th, exactly one week from today, I received a phone call from my 6 mo. (24 weeks) pregnant sister, Aixa, sobbing because during a routine doctor’s appointment it was discovered that she was suffering from severe preeclampsia, a disease that occurs in some women during pregnancy when the placenta dies and releases toxins into the woman’s body posing a serious threat to both mother and baby. The doctor told her the baby will have to be delivered in the next 48 hours; Delivery of the baby, or bad placenta, is the only cure for preeclampsia. My nerves escalated and my heart raced out of control at the sound of my sobbing sister and upon hearing the horrific news. After a few seconds when I was just about to burst, I felt my heart do one deep palpitation and a vibration flowed from my heart down through the rest of my body and all my nerves went away - an uncanny peace followed and I uttered the words, “he’s going to be o.k.” I went to my room and prayed for Aixa and the baby, sent an e-mail to family and friends to inform them of the situation and to request prayers. I then rushed off to the hospital.

The doctor explained that the pregnancy will be induced – C-section was going to be avoided at all costs due to the risk it posed to Aixa’s life and the high possibility of not being able to have children in the future. Aixa’s liver was inflamed from the preeclampsia, her blood pressure was extremely high and she had low platelets in her blood. The doctor was adamant that the baby will not survive the labor and delivery due to his size (less than 1 lb) and fragile state. Even if for some miracle he did survive, his lungs were too underdeveloped and his health was too poor to be able to survive in the real world. There was very little amniotic fluid and the baby was receiving very little blood, oxygen and nutrition from the dead placenta. It was likely the baby would be dead before labor even began. However, my family and I had the unyielding hope and faith in God that he could survive and beat the tremendous odds. My sister was put on magnesium for her high blood pressure and given other drugs which seemed to stabilize her condition for the moment – preeclampsia only gets worse as time goes on. Because she was doing a little better David and Aixa decided they would hold off on the induction to be able to receive divine guidance on what they should do. The next day Aixa woke up very swollen and the doctors said they really should focus on her health because the baby’s chances for survival were so slim and she was only going to get sicker. They decided to proceed with the induction knowing the baby will not survive. Through out all this (a couple of days) whenever Aixa would get a sonogram (every couple of hours) the baby’s heart was still beating strong.

On Sunday, after 5 days of an emotional rollercoaster to say the least, Aixa felt something coming down, when I looked, it was a puddle of blood. I called the nurses, minutes later, the room was filled with doctors. My sister’s blood pressure shot up, she began sobbing, shivering and hyperventilating. Within a few minutes, another gush of blood came down with at least 30 massive blood clots. My nerves escalated as the notion that my sister may not make it crossed my mind. She was rushed to a labor and delivery room where they made her sign a consent to perform an emergency C-section. Upon arrival to her new room, the doctor confirmed that the bleeding was not active and that they will hold off on the c-section. At this point she was only 1 ½ cm dialated, they were waiting until she was 5 cm to deliver. I asked the nurse in the room , if at this snail’s pace in which the induction was taking place, wouldn’t it be better if they just do the c-section now when her body is somewhat calm than to wait for her to get worse and then do it. She said yes, but that it was also a possibility that she could all of a sudden dialate 3cm. I prayed for that to happen with all my heart and one hour later exactly that occurred. My godson and nephew, Thiago Gabriel Torres, was born still in the sack completely unscathed by the labor and delivery and alive! It’s been 3 days and Thiago currently resides in an incubator in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital and is doing well considering the critical condition he is in! A true miracle baby thank you to the grace of God!

There is no telling where he will be in the next couple of months, or even if he’ll make it, but all that has occurred is testament enough of the power of God and I am grateful to have experienced it.

Aixa is also doing well and will most likely be discharged from the hospital today.