The Joy Of Being A Father Again

It has been a little over two weeks since my youngest daughter Lucia was born. It is only now that I got the chance to sit down and write about that beautiful experience since it has been quite hectic for me (we just opened A Christmas Carol The Musical).

Lucia is truly God’s gift to us, the reason why I said this is because we all thought Sofia was going to be our last child. A few months after Sofia was born, my wife Ayen underwent a procedure where an IUD (intrauterine contraceptive device) was inserted in her uterus. It was supposed to work for five years but I guess it only worked for three. We found out Ayen was pregnant when we were in Osaka, Japan during our family vacation last April. She initially told me she could be pregnant cause she was starting to feel nauseous, so I immediately bought a home pregnancy test kit from a drugstore in Osaka, it’s a good thing I can read Japanese, and within a few minutes after taking the test the result came out positive. We were both shocked since we knew she had the IUD and it was supposed to be safe. We later found out that the chance of her getting pregnant was 1 in 2000. You should have seen the face of her OB-GYN Dr. Martin Manahan who was equally shocked when we saw him. He then gave Ayen the necessary shots, vitamins she could take to keep her and our baby healthy. We found out we were having a girl on her 11^th week after doing the Panorama test, which is advisable for women to take when they are in their mid-40’s. Panorama is a noninvasive prenatal screening test (NIPT) that shows your baby’s risk for genetic disorders in the first trimester and in the process also reveals the gender of the baby.

Ayen continued working on her TV series Ikaw Lang Ang Iibigin on ABS-CBN until her fourth month of pregnancy. In her last trimester we found out that Ayen had placenta previa, which is a problem during pregnancy where in the placenta grows in the lowest part of the womb (uterus) and covers all or part of the opening to the cervix. Dr. Manahan told us that the only option was to undergo a Cesarian section. She was apprehensive at first but we took it as God’s way of telling us we can hit two birds with one stone, deliver the baby in the least complicated way possible and go through ligation at the same time. We chose the date on when Ayen was going to deliver, which was November 30 at 1pm. We were all set on that day, but I guess Lucia wanted to come out earlier, so on the morning of November 27 Ayen started to bleed, we braved through morning traffic and rushed to Makati Medical Center and went straight to the Dr. Constantino P. Manahan (CPM) Operating Room-Delivery Room Pavilion where Dr. Manahan was waiting for us. I thought the process was going to be longer since they had to do a C-section, but a few minutes after Ayen was wheeled in, I was led to the Delivery Room and and to my shock I saw Dr. Manahan cutting Ayen open since our baby was in distress already. Soon after Lucia was born at 10:18AM.

I could not contain my joy as I saw my Lucia come out and heard her cry for the first time. It was love at first sight. I asked the doctors if I could hold her and when they put her in my arms, the connection was instant. Ayen and I are extremely blessed to have Lucia who we know has a great purpose in life.

We are so in love with her along with her siblings Mariella, Hasan, Angia and Sofia. We are grateful to God for guiding the hands of our doctors and for taking care of Ayen and Lucia the whole 37 weeks. I never thought that I would have four girls and now that I have my quarto Marias, all I can say is that I am one proud papa. The joy of being a father again at my age has given me a new lease in life and something to look forward to as the years go by.