Melissimplistic

"Every child is gifted. They just unwrap their packages at different times." -- unknown "A journey begins with a single step" --unknown "Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful." -- Annette Funicello "Memories are like sand castles, only by putting them on a safe place can you prevent them from washing away." -- unknown

Semana Santa 2009 - San Juan - Pelican Eyes Roger Jose - Birth to 03/09 Cumpleaños de Marcella - Mayo 2007 Cumpleaños de Mama - Mayo 2007 Graduacion Kinder Montessori - Junio 2007 Mudanza de Mimi - Agosto 2007

HI! I am the mom of three wonderful children. Marcella my oldest is almost 10 years old. Isabella my second one is 7 years old and was born with Spina Bifida. My youngest Roger is 3 years old. It's been a long journey with both our two girls. But Isabella's journey has been especially exhausting and stressful. It seems as if everything in our family has been a struggle with continual trips for doctors appointments, surgeries, and therapies. Having to travel by myself sometimes and leaving my family behind has been especially painful. But at the end of each journey I realize that although sometimes difficult, it was worth every single step. Isabellas is definitely and inspiration to everyone she meets. When Isabella was 4 years old, we decided to have a third child, Roger. He is now our 3 year old. So this blog is about sharing the joy, hope, and challenges of my life with three kids, one with special needs. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy some random facts about me: ...

Roger came to no surprise to our lives. I always new I wanted to have another baby, I just didn't know when. On October 2007 we found out I was pregnant. We were a little worried about having another baby because of the spina bifida. Non of my children have been surprises, the three of them have been so wanted and planned...but Roger was so meticulously planned due to our experience with Maria Isabella. I had prepared myself for many years taking 5mg daily doses of folic acid, and we had had a doctor's check up appointment before getting pregnant to make sure everything was ok with me. Most people reacted happy and optimist but some people thought we were such risk takers. I didn't care what people thought though. I didn't care whether the baby was going to be a girl or a boy, all I asked for was to have a healthy baby. At 13 weeks gestational age we had an ultrasound done which ruled out down syndrome, spina bifida and other disorders. This was right before Christmas. ...

Isabella's story began since she was in the womb. When she was 4 month's old gestational age, she was diagnosed with a severe case of spina bifida, at T9-T10 level. She was also diagnosed with kyphosis, hydrocephalus, Chiari II malformation, and club foot. All those terms seemed so frightening and unknown at that time. At that point we did not count with any kind of support. In fact, our OB-GYN seemed reluctant to offer options or to refer us with other doctors. So my family and I began this journey on ourselves. Me began investigating and we learned many things about spina bifida and its options. We then changed to our current OB-GYN Walter Mendieta. Dr. Mendieta was such a blessing during these difficult time. The fisrt time we met him, he was very caring, but what I like best about him was his faith in God. We began investigating options with Dr. Mendieta. There was an option of operating her when she was still inside my womb. The surgery was being carried out at a research ...

Marcella was born in Ft. Benning, Georgia on April 30, 2001 at the Martin Army Community Hospital. My husband Roger was serving in the US Army at that time. Mita, popo, and mimi traveled to Ft. Benning to be present during her birth. Popo stayed for one week. Mita stayed for one month, and mimi stayed for two months. Family also came to Ft. Benning just to meet her when she was one month old. Mimi was the last one to leave. Afterwards it was just the three of us, Roger, Marcella, and me. Then we decided to move to Nicaragua. So when Marcella was around 4 months old Mita came to Ft. Benning just to take her to Nicaragua so we could pack everything up. That was Marcella's first airplane trip. I was sad because she had left, I really missed her. A Packing company came to our house to pack everything for us. Everything was put in a container and was taken to Miami. Then we hired someone to clean the house to make sure we passed the house inspection. We had to live at a hotel for a few ...