Emma's Heart-A Journey of Faith, Hope and Miracles

By Keassy Fernandez

Emma's Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, and Miracles is a story of a baby who was diagnosed with congenital heart disease a few days after she was born. She was a heart hero for five and a half months and then lost the battle against CHD but became a heart angel in heaven and in her family's hearts. Her journey tested their faith so many times, but in that journey, they learned how to keep hope in difficult moments, and they witnessed many unexplainable events, which could only be considered miracles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098063214

Book preview

1

A Big Surprise

I always remembered telling myself that whenever I had children, I wished that God would give me girls. I dreamed of having two or three girls because I thought that I would be a good mom for them. On March 8, 2018, I found out that I was pregnant with my second child. Our heavenly Father had already given me the wonderful gift of being a mom to my firstborn named Mia Isabella Cesar. She was born on September 22, 2017.

When Mia was only five months old, I found out that I was three months pregnant with my second child. Oh, what a surprise that was! I must admit, I was a bit frightened since it had been so soon since I had my first baby via C-section. Now I realized that my second child would be delivered via another C-section.

I was at work when my doctor called me to tell me unexpected news, so I ran to the bathroom to take that phone call. My coworker was the first to know as I couldn’t hide the awe that I felt when I came out of the bathroom. I could not believe that after being on birth control and having only one ovary, I was able to get pregnant so quickly. I felt happiness, shock, and nervousness all at the same time.

After that call, I phoned my husband Jovany to let him know that I needed to talk to him. He noticed that I was very nervous and asked me to just let him know over the phone what was wrong. I insisted that we talk personally, but he could not wait. Feeling the pressure, I told him that we were expecting a child once more. My husband could not believe what I was saying and at first thought that I was playing some sort of joke on him. However, when he noticed that I was serious, he said, Wow, we are really having another baby?

On April 17, I went to the doctor with my husband, sister, and my mother for an ultrasound and to find out the gender of the baby. I wished with all my heart that I would have another girl. When the radiologist finished with the ultrasound, she turned to us and said, Yup, it’s a girl!

I was so immensely happy that I would have another princess in my life. My husband saw it coming because I kept telling him that I had a feeling that I was carrying a girl. We decided that we would call this angel Emma Michelle Cesar. I gave her that name because of Prophet Joseph Smith’s wife, Emma.

As the months passed, I was so grateful to know that I would have my second little girl, and I did not have to buy anything blue. Emma would be able to use all her sister’s things; plus, we did not have to change anything in the nursery. She certainly made life easier for us in that aspect.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I asked my husband if he wanted a boy. To my surprise, he said that he was happy with another baby girl. We had our maternity pictures taken at a sunflower field. That was an amazing day.

During the maternity session, a random wild deer decided to walk up to me, and I got an opportunity to feed him a doughnut that our photographer had in hand. As I fed it, she swiftly snapped a picture which truly captured the moment. I wondered later why that deer walked up to me, and it did not seem to be afraid of me or did anything to harm me. My photographer told me that maybe it knew that I was pregnant. I later found out by researching that the deer in many traditions is associated with kindness, softness, femininity, grace, and gentleness. Furthermore, it’s an animal that’s connected to the Gods and the sacred.

My pregnancy was very normal. I went to my regular checkups, my ultrasounds, my sugar tests, and nothing ever came back positive. Emma’s due date was set for September 9, 2018, but since it needed to be another C-section, the doctor set the surgery for September 4 because a C-section is usually scheduled at thirty-nine weeks. The only thing that concerned me was that two weeks before the scheduled C-section, I was experiencing intense pain. I felt severe contractions, but my baby was not ready to come. The doctors kept checking to see if I was dilating but I was not. We could not do anything else but wait, and the only thing that I could take to calm the pain down was a little Tylenol. I felt so miserable for two weeks. I wanted it to be over, and I counted day by day for the arrival of my child.

My doctor put me on bed rest for two weeks as the pain was so severe that I could not even walk. I remember just twisting in pain, crying, and no one could do anything about it. I asked my doctor why she could not deliver Emma sooner, but she said that if nothing was wrong with the baby, then they must wait because her brain was still developing the last few weeks of pregnancy. They told me that they could not deliver her just because I was miserable. I always thought that was a bit cruel, but the things that moms would do for their children is unimaginable.

2

Welcome to the World

Finally, September 4 arrived! My husband took me to the hospital at around 6:30 a.m. I was so anxious and excited about Emma’s arrival. The nurses helped me get prepared, put IVs on me, and then I was ready for an epidural. Being my second epidural in such short time, I remembered vividly how it felt. The anesthesiologist looked at me as if I already knew the drill and told me to relax as I laid down.

The operating room was cold and bright. I looked up and I could see huge lights shining back at me. A few minutes later, the doctor put a nasal cannula on my nostrils, and then she let my husband come into the room. I felt completely numb from my waist down. I could not see or feel what they were doing to me, but I knew that soon enough, I would be holding my precious child.

I heard the doctor saying that I had a lot of fluid inside, and then I realized that she was having some trouble getting the baby out. Emma seemed to be twisted inside of me. After a few minutes that seemed like an hour to me, the doctor got her out, and I heard Emma’s cry for the first time. She was born at 9:16 a.m. Little did I know, my life would completely change from then. It is so important to cherish each minute of life. I would do anything now to hear her cry like that day again.

Jovany followed as the nurses took Emma to another room next to the operating room to clean her and weigh her. I had a strange sensation, as if something was wrong. I noticed that they were taking too long with her before bringing her back for me to hold her for the first time. My husband told me afterward that because the doctor had taken a little longer in getting Emma out of my belly, she had swallowed a little bit of amniotic fluid. About 10 minutes later, they brought her