For our dear Esperanza

Today I wanted to create a page in rememberance of our beloved Esperanza...the twin of Phoenix who lived 5 months in-utero before his spirit left his developing body and returned to heaven. I thought the best way to remember would be to include the e-mail I sent out the day we found out about his death. **please note that at the time we were told it was a girl. Weeks later the amniocentesis report indicated that it was a boy. If your life was changed or affected by his life I encourage you to write comments on this page so that others can be encouraged by your story.

February 26, 2007

This was the morning…the morning that we’d know whether to buy pink or blue…GI Joe or Barbie…and all those “important“ things. The ultrasound was normal…the baby was healthy and everything looked healthy. We got a great shot of his “third arm” confirming that it was a boy…everything was looking great…until she noticed the second heartbeat. Something was obviously wrong and as she left the room to get the doctor she quickly announced that we were having twins. Shocked and not sure what to think we sat there quietly trying to take it in. Immediately we began to understand that there was a problem with the second one as everything about it looked different. They started to point out the problems…fluid in the brain, a hole in the heart... the doctor quickly counseled us that there was a problem and sent us off to a specialist to have further testing done.

After another hour of ultrasound work the specialist counseled us there indeed was a very severe problem with the second baby. Baby “A” was healthy and weighed 16 ounces…baby “B” weighed a mere 4 ounces and was severely underdeveloped in many ways. She suggested an amniocentesis done on both babies to confirm the problem. They think that the problem with baby “b” is a chromosome condition. Most of the things that the doctor told us were confusing as she threw in words of “operation to end baby “B”s heartbeat in order to prevent problems with baby “A”. She also talked about possible blood thinning problems with me if we allowed baby “B” to continue living…as well as increased risk of premature delivery if both babies continued to develop. Both Hamlet and I were very strong on the fact that in no way would be abort this baby…and that whatever happens…whether it be problems for our healthy baby or to my own body or life; it was and is God’s plan. It will have to be God’s hands that take our little one’s life from earth…not our own. These lives…this two precious little souls were created and designed by God and each of them has a purpose and significance…even if they never take their first breath.

We covet your prayers for these little lives as well as the health of my body through this pregnancy. These children are God’s and we recognize that we are merely stewards of them for the time God gives them to us…however long that may be.

“Blessed be your name God…you give and you take away and our hearts will choose to say “Blessed be your name”.”

We will keep you posted on the news of these two special souls.

To the Glory of God,

Anita and Hamlet Opazo

March 3, 2007

God is faithful. He knew that we would never choose to abort our special baby…even to the risk of the other baby’s life as well as my own. We prayed that God would either make her a miracle baby and heal her completely; or that He would take her quietly, and in a way that would not harm either my body or the health of our baby boy.

God took our beloved daughter “Esperanza Opazo” to be with him. We will look forward to meeting her in heaven.

We had an appointment with a specialist on Friday to talk about our options and where to go from here, as well as to answer any questions that we have about the condition she had. She was diagnosed with “Triploidy”; where she had an entire extra set of chromosomes. She had multiple abnormalities including fluid where there should be brain mass, club feet, severely small body parts, and severe problems with her heart. The longest surviving baby with this condition lived to 10 months. The doctor did not expect her to live to term and cautioned us about the risks involved. Thankfully he supported our desire to NOT perform the selective reduction which would have stopped her heart.

He wanted to see the babies and understand what he was working with so he sent us for an ultrasound. Looking at the images on the ultrasound we began to understand quickly that there was a problem. He regretfully informed us that there was no heartbeat...sometime between Monday and Friday her heart had stopped. It was a very sad moment for us as we realized that our baby girl was gone. At the same time we thanked God that He made that decision for us and that we were not asked to make it. We believe that it really was the best timing for it as this will allow our healthy baby boy a much stronger chance of going full term in my womb instead coming prematurely. It also takes away much of the risk that was thought to be possible to me.

It has been a difficult week; but both Hamlet and I agree we would do it all over again as we were given the gift of meeting our baby girl …seeing her heart beat and watching her kick and move as well as having ultrasound photos of her silhouette. We thank God that the ultrasound was this week and that not next…when we would have been told about only a body of a second baby.

We named her “Esperanza” because in Spanish that not only means “hope”, but literally to be in the “state of waiting”.

Thank you all for your prayers, your e-mails and your words of encouragement. It meant so much to us to know that people all over the world were interceding on our babies behalf. Please pray with us that this healthy boy would grow to love God passionately and would go all over the world…even to the dangerous places…to share the love of God with people that don’t know Him.

We send you all our love.

Hamlet and Anita Opazo