Happy Mother's Day

Sophia and me in New York. August, 2011. Photo taken by Jose Rosa.

Since today is Mother’s Day, I want to share how I became aware that I was going to be a mother. I have to say that my children will have quite fascinating stories to tell their children. The things that happen to me are priceless. My babies certainly know how to announce themselves spectacularly.

My first pregnancy was extremely unexpected. I was twenty-two years old and in no way thinking about becoming a mommy. To this day, my husband and I are not even sure how I got pregnant in the first place. The crucial thing is that I did.

I initially noticed that something was different about me. I am a pretty healthy person because I do a lot of exercise and eat well. I go to the gym, run, dance Zumba and practice Yoga. At the time, I habitually went to the gym and practiced Yoga. Despite my healthy-self, I started to feel a tremendous fatigue every time I walked around the university. Suddenly, my weight went up about five pounds, which is not normal for me. My weight usually is remarkably stable. I also began to feel incredibly tired during the mornings, which was unusual after waking up at five in the morning all of my life. My boobs became large too. Definitely, something was amiss with me. I suspected that my period was not going to come. Of course, I waited, and it did not come. Then, I let three days passed to make sure it was not a scare. The period did not dare itself to come. I called one of my best friends, who I will call Jevine here, and asked her to accompany me to Walgreens to buy a pregnancy test. We went to the store and bought it. Then, I took the test in the bathroom (yes, the Walgreens' bathroom), and the test turn out surrealistically positive.

My second pregnancy, which is now, was in some way planned. My husband and I decided we wanted another child. Sophia asks for a baby brother or sister like crazy on a daily basis. She is going to be five-years-old in a week and a half. What is more important, we were thrilled about becoming parents again. 

Sophia and me at El Morro, San Juan. She was two-years-old. Photo taken by Jendar Morales.

The story about how baby number two made its grand entrance goes like this. I stopped taking birth control pills only two months ago. Doctors argue that getting pregnant after stopping birth control takes between six months and one year in the majority of cases. Therefore, we thought that it would take time for it to happen. I, however, was taking my prenatal vitamins, eating healthy and doing exercise as always. When my period arrived on March, we were a little disappointed, but it was expected not to happen that fast. I had been on the pill for four years.

On May 3, 2012, I was about to watch the second episode of the new show The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet. I had taken NightQuil around 11:00 PM because I was very congested and sick. In fact, everyone in my house was sick with a cold. At 12:30 PM, I found myself passed out in the sofa. I did not even remember what I was doing there. I felt terrible. Everything was moving. I had this profound sense and desire to go to sleep again. The problem was that the feeling was too profound for my liking. My hands also felt numb. I practically had to crawl upstairs since I was exceedingly dizzy. I went to sleep in my bed, but something was WRONG. I did not feel my hands, and my feet were starting to feel the same way. I went to the bathroom to splash cold water on my face to see if the feeling of terrible drunkenness would disappear. It did not. It was getting worse. I knew that the medicine had done something to me so I try to puke it, but it did not work.

I awoke my husband because I had started to shake uncontrollably. I told him that I felt like I was not going to awake if I went to sleep. My face was beginning to feel funny too, and not in a good way. We decided to go immediately to the emergency room. When we arrived, a male nurse seated me down. He told me that I was hyperventilating and that I needed to calm myself. Then, he took my vitals, and took me to another nurse who asked numerous questions that I was almost not able to answer because my mind was not working properly. Then, I was transferred to a room. Another nurse came in a revised my heart with a machine and took four vials of blood. A doctor came in to check my senses. I was not able to follow up her finger that well.

After they let me rest for awhile and the blood results came in, the doctor told me that everything was OK. I just had an adverse reaction to the NightQuill. I better stay away from it. Never again I will take that medicine. I could go home. This was around 2:00 AM in the morning. I was waiting for the nurse to take off the IV, but she did not come. Nobody come. Why was I stuck in there? Everything was fine now. Right?

Finally, another doctor, the head doctor, came to my room at 3:00 AM. What now? He was smirking. The conversation was like this:

Doctor: Are you spinning a little? (still smirking)

Me: Well, no. I feel so much better now.

Doctor: I am going to prescribe you Benadryl.

Me (interrupting him): I am scare to take stuff like after what happened with the NightQuill.

Doctor:  You are going to need it because you are extremely congested and can start puking. (He was smiling now)

I stared at him with confusion. Why a cold will make me puke? I waited him to answer my confusion.

Doctor: Yes, because, congratulations, you are pregnant!

At this moment, my husband who was almost asleep in his chair gave a sudden jump, and he started to pay attention to the doctor with his eyes looking that of owls.

Me (with eyes wide open): What?!

The doctor began to talk about the adverse reaction the NightQuill caused me, and the medicines I would need, but I was not paying attention.

I interrupted him: WAIT! Did you say I was PREGNANT?!

Doctor (smiling): Yes…

During this conversation, my husband and I could not stop looking at each other in disbelief and amusement. After the doctor left the room, the only word we could say was WOW. We told Sophia that she was going to have a baby brother or sister. She widely opened her big brown eyes and got very excited. The nurse entered the room again, congratulated us, and asked since when we were trying. We told her that I left the pill two months ago. She said that it took her more than six months getting pregnant with her second child, and that it took between six months and a year in most cases. In our case, that was FAST.

That is how I knew I was going to have baby number two. We are immensely happy and excited.

I wish a happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and expectant mothers out there.