Ethan Joey Delgado

Joey was diagnosed at 19 weeks with a rare bengin tumor in his liver and an enlarged heart.  We had the expectation that God would heal our Joey and we would share the miracle with others but God had another plan.

My most memorable moment is his birth.  Once I gave birth to him, the room was so silent and the silence which probably was less than a minute felt like eternity.  All I heard was my mom say "Oh, look how tiny he is". 

The first thing I noticed was his full lips which stood out on his little face because it is a family trait on my side.  He had one eye open as if wanting to peek at the face of his parents.  Joe and I held Joey all night.

We clearly saw the area where his heart was and could clearly see that his heart could not work so hard anymore so his little heart failed.

He was the tinest, peaceful, beautiful sleeping baby I ever saw.  As I held him all night his face seem to relax and he looked so peacefully.

Joe and I dressed him into the clothes we bought him and wrapped him around his royal blue Mets blanket. 

He came so silently into the world and left so silently.

I miss him so much....

2-12-08

In reading and sharing other testimonies of parents of stillborn children I can honestly say that God truly gave Ethan a peaceful birth.  My doctor told me that his birth was beautiful: he perfectly came out of my womb and his placenta too.  I guess as a witness to births she has seen the best and the worst. 

I know in my heart that Ethan's heart stopped beating before Friday 2-1-08 because I did not feel his movement for several days but I didn't think anything of it because he spent a whole day one day without moving and we rushed to the hospital and he was perfectly fine. 

My last ultrasound on Jan. 25 Joey was not his usual self which was bouncing all over the place and giving the technician a hard time.  He was perfectly still but his heart was beating strong.  The technician had to give him a hard budge to get him to move which he did.  My body also started going into low fevers and sweating probably that Sunday which was every night as if my body was fighting something.

I know that Joey's appearance could have been different since his heart stop beatng and he remained in my womb for several days.  Overall, Ethan looked great.  He was so warm when I held him.  My womb was his shelter.

Even my induced labor was not so physically painful but more emotionally painful than anything else.  I was induced at 9am and my mom and husband stayed with me the entire time which I am thankful.  I finally gave birth to Ethan at 4:16. 

 All we could do was just pray over Ethan and cry.

Since Joey was meant to depart from us and be with the Lord, I am ever so thankful that he passed peacefully in my womb.