Happy Mothers Day

Hello Friends!

Happy Mothers Day to all of you who read this...whether you are a mommy with children you are holding in your arms, a mommy whose arms are aching to hold the child you've lost, or a mommy who hasn't had a child but will one day....Happy Mothers Day! You all mean so much to me, thank you for being friends :)

Love and prayers to all of you! :)

Children are so amazing...

At the time that Mateo, Ian and Anthony passed away Manuel was about 27th months old, which may seem young to many, but Manuel has always been wise beyond his years and I truly believe he has known the boys from the beginning and will ALWAYS remember them. I had always heard people say that children see things and hear things that adults don't because we don't "allow" ourselves to, but I never REALLY believed it until I experienced it...This story that I am about to share always puts a smile on my face, through an incredibly difficult time...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 10:18 AM, EDT
I have no doubt that my two nephews are already little angels in Heaven...
I have a little story to share about something that just happened that makes me know, those two boys are already angels...(and I'm aware this sounds SOOO far fetched and like I'm making it up, but I swear to goodness, that this JUST happened)...

I am sitting in our kitchen typing an e-mail and Manuel (my son, the boys cousin) is sitting behind me on his tricycle. I hear him talking but I'm not fully paying attention and then I stop to listen and this is what happened...

I hear Manuel say "Don't cry babies, don't cry." And I said, "Manuel, who are you talking to?" And he said, "The babies." And he just said, "Why babies, why? Are you coming back? Don't cry" I know, this seems like it's from a movie or something, but I swear, it just happened.

To my angels Anthony and Mateo,
Please watch over your brother Ian, give him the strength to pull through this!! He needs you right now and so do your mommy and daddy!!!! Love, Aunt Christina
I'm going to call Mike for an update on Ian in a bit, I just wanted to share this story with everyone to give my family and Mike's family strength and hope that our boys are already God's angels! :)

I posted this mere hours before Ian passed away. Our family thinks that the Mateo and Anthony did come back (like Manuel asked them if they were going to) and they got their brother Ian, and took him Home with them.

Happy 3rd Birthday Mateo, Ian and Anthony

*I have to say, thank you SO much for all of your kind comments of support and love these past few days. It means the world to know that friends (who've I've never met in real life-except for you, Heather. I do remember you from high school) care about my family! :)) Thank you!*

3 years ago today from Caringbridge...

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 2:49 PM, EDT

Amy is in labor, full labor. The boys are coming, and I'm hoping and praying that they'll be okay. I'm leaving work now to go to the hospital. I'll keep you posted as soon as I can!
PLEASE PRAY!!!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 9:12 PM, EDT

It is with a very sad heart that I have to tell all of you that Heaven earned two angels today. Mateo Joseph and Anthony Michael went to be with Jesus. Mateo went as soon as he was born and Anthony passed a short time later after Mommy and Nonna got to hold him, in his Aunt Christina's arms. To my nephews who I never knew you will be loved and missed more then you will ever know!
Ian Vincent was the last to make his entrance at 3:40pm, weighing a little over 1 lb. He is fighting for his life in the NICU with a million and one people cheering him on! Please say millions of prayers for Ian. This time is SOOO critical, and although the odds are greatly stacked against him, you can tell he's a fighter and we hope and PRAY for the best!
Amy and Mike are AMAZING! What wonderfully strong, great parents they are! They are officially mommy and daddy to two angels and one strong little fighter.
Please keep the prayers and support coming as these next weeks are crucial for healing and for Ian's recovery.
I love you baby boys!
And here is my post from Caringbridge from a few moments ago...
Friday, May 6, 2011 9:21 AM, CDT

Happy 3rd Birthday!
3 little boys, 3 years old, 3 years gone
Today, Mateo, Ian and Anthony are celebrating their 3rd birthday, and I'm sure it's a beautiful celebration in Heaven. I wish we could be there celebrating with them, but we'll all be together one day and what an amazing celebration that will be!!! :)

Mateo, Ian and Anthony,
I am sending all my love to you three in Heaven. NOT A SINGLE DAY goes by that I don't think about the 3 of you. I love you and miss you SO much, as does your mommy, Daddy, little brother, little sister, and entire family! Happy Birthday sweet boys!
Love,
Zia Christina

If you could take a few minutes to pray for Amy and Mike today, that would be wonderful! Time passes, but that doesn't mean that their hearts are healed or that their pain is any less. Please pray for them!
Thank you! :)

Tomorrow....

*Please don't feel like you have to comment on my post these next few days...this is my on-line journal of sorts, so at times things might get pretty personal, but it's just whatever is on my heart at the moment. For another day I felt the desire to post my Caringbridge entries from the day, 3 years ago. Again, this is not for pity or sympathy, just feelings on my heart at the moment. Thank you! :))

Please continue to be in prayer for my sister, her family and our entire family...

Monday, May 5, 2008 6:15 AM, EDT

I did hear from Mike again last night, and Amy's contractions had started to space out a little bit. This was around 12:30am when he text me. I haven't heard anything since then, so let's hope and pray that no news is good news. Things were VERY uncertain and scary last night, so hopefully I'll get some much needed good news this morning when I call (usually around 9:30am). I'll post as soon as I hear something!
Keep the prayers coming! Amy was right, things can change SO quickly, so pray that God allows the boys to stay in for as long as possible!

Monday, May 5, 2008 9:33 AM, EDT

Okay, so I just got off the phone with Mike, after Amy's doctor (her high risk OB-Dr. Alger) came in to check things out. Here are a few key points...
1) They don't know why this is all happening, but due to the high amounts of blood she lost last Sunday (when this all began) and last night, they are discussing giving her a blood transfusion! Please pray that if that is what happens, everything will go smoothly. It is pretty scary and unexpected!
2) They were going to start giving the babies steroids on Thursday (23 weeks and 5 days, standard protocol) to help get their lungs stronger in the event they do come early, however, they are discussing starting the steroids today. It won't hurt anything, it's just a matter of whether or not it will help either!
3) They can't increase her magnesium (one of the meds helping prevent labor) unless the levels of magnesium in her blood come down. Her body has reached it's "quota" for magnesium. However, they may look into increasing her pills (not sure what med that is), if possible.
4) She appears to be about 2cm dilated, which is an increase from the 1cm she held steady at all last week. But like my wonderful brother-in-law said to me, "Well, if she only dilates one cm a week, we'll be in good shape." Good point Mike, let's hope that's the case!!!
Things are very uncertain at this point, and Amy is doing well, but it's just an emotional rollercoaster for her (and Mike too), as you can imagine. PRAY, PRAY, and PRAY! I'll post more after my visit, if there is anything pertinent to say.
Thank you for following their story and a HUGE thanks for the prayers!!!!! :)

Monday, May 5, 2008 8:40 PM, EDT

**Amy is 23 weeks and 2 days**
First off, I just want to apologize if my entries come across choppy, confusing, etc. Sometimes its hard to get all the information out correctly! :) Okay, with that out of the way, on to the important stuff...
I went and visited with Amy after work. And I must say, she looked GREAT! Much better then she has looked and much more "with it." (love ya Ames! :) Things are still up and down. When I first got there, she hadn't had any contractions in the prior hour and a half, however, over the course of two hours (while I was there) they started becoming more regular. Amy said, "It's just hard!" And I cant even begin to imagine how truly hard it is...emotionally, mentally, physically. But her and Mike are strong, have a great marriage, and will get through this, with hopefully 3 healthy sons! :)
Her blood levels came back up, so as of tonight, she does not need a transfusion.
The neonatalogist (sp?) came and spoke to Mike and Amy today. She presented them with some very scary figures and statistics, HOWEVER, there were two "on the bright side" points...even if the babies are born before 24 weeks they WILL try and save them! "If they are big enough for their smallest tube, they will actively try to save them." God PLEASE let them be big enough for their smallest pieces of equipment. If they aren't, they will "comfort and care" for them until they pass (but let's not even think about that!!!!!) As for their sizes...the neonatalologist said according to their last full ultrasound (at 22 weeks) all 3 boys were the size of singletons (meaning if she was just pregnant with each of them seperately at exactly 23 weeks and 2 days) which is AWESOME since multiples tend to "run small" (for lack of a better term).
One day is good news, one day is bad news, so all we can do is PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, and let God take care of the rest!
Thank you everyone for you kind words and encouragement. I know it means the world to Amy and Mike, as it does to our entire family!

In less than 24 hours of that last post it would all be over...

Pour Your Heart Out: 3 years ago

It is never my intention to make myself sad on purpose (although it might appear that way on my blog from time to time). I am just a highly sensitive person (check out this article from Marie Claire. That is me to a tee!!!!) and things just stick with me longer than they might the average person. Some things seem silly and ridiculous to dwell over, but I still do, and other things are major life changes, so it's understandable why I think about them often. I think about my nephews EVERY SINGLE DAY! Not a day goes by that I don't think about them, their story, the days leading up to their birth and sadly their passing. When my sister first went into labor on April 28, 2008 I started a Caringbridge site for family and friends to follow their journey. It started out with so much hope, so much optimism, and slowly, day by day, that faded. 3 years ago today, here are my posts...

Sunday, May 4, 2008 11:29 AM, EDT
Not too much new to report this morning, and HOPEFULLY that will be the case for the next SEVERAL weeks! :) I did call Amy on our way home from church just to check in, and she was trying to get some rest, but she told me that last night her contractions started up again, so they had to give her her meds earlier then scheduled, but it helped!!! And she said they had started up today as well, but of course she is being closely monitored, and so far, so good!
If anything changes over the course of the day I'll post an update, if not, then I'll be visiting her tomorrow on my lunch break and I'm sure I'll some sort of news then.

Sunday, May 4, 2008 11:32 AM, CDT
Oh and please, please, please keep those prayers coming!!! If you belong to a church, adding Amy, Mike and the boys to your church prayer list would be AWESOME!!!! : )

Sunday, May 4, 2008 6:54 PM, EDT
Hi Everyone! I have a posting from Amy (she spoke and Mike typed it up and e-mailed it to me to post on here) Keep the prayers coming! : )
From Amy..
First of all, I want to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, cards, gifts etc over the last week. These meaningful acts have helped the week go by a little faster I also want to thank my sister for putting up this web site to keep everyone updated. Every hour brings with it ups and downs and you really can't prepare for the emotional roller coaster. We go one hour with a very few contractions and become more hopeful and literally the next hour can bring more contractions and a lot of worries. Since we arrived in the hospital last week I have been happily medicated that has it own side effects. I can’t get out of bed with out help and my vision is blurry. But I will continue to do what ever I need to, to keep the babies in side as long as possible. On Thursday they will be giving the babies a shot of steroids to strengthen their lungs just in case. But of course the longer they stay in the better. Thank You again for everything, we continue to need a lot of prayers for our boys.
With Love,
Amy

Sunday, May 4, 2008 11:30 PM, EDT
Storming Heaven for prayers...
Mike just text me (because he couldn't talk and thankfully it woke me up when my phone beeped!)...
Amy started bleeding heavy again and having contractions!! We need prayers and LOTS of them. They can't up her meds anymore, so hopefully the medicine she is currently on will do it's job, STOP the bleeding and the contractions! The babies MUST hang in there for another 6 days in order to give them any sort of fighting chance at surviving! As info becomes available to me (when Mike has a few seconds to talk or text), I will post it on there!
PLEASE God hear our prayers! We need these boys in our lives! They are already a part of our family. Please God!


Little did I know that in less then 48 hours of this post 3 years ago my nephews would be born, Mateo and Ian would be called Home and Ian's fight for life would begin (he didn't pass until the next day). My gosh I miss them! What I wouldn't give to turn back time and have Amy carry them full term, and instead of this being SUCH a sad time for our family, we would be celebrating a fun 3rd birthday for 3 little boys! UGH!!! My heart hurts! My heart hurts a million times over my sister and her husband. I can't imagine losing one child, nonetheless all 3 at once :(

A beautiful drawing a friend gave my sister after the boys passing

Pictures Galore!

Hello Friends! :)

As Mother Day approaches I ask you to please think about and pray for all of those women who want to be mommies and aren't (yet) and all those mommies whose arms and hearts are empty for the children they've lost. I can't imagine your pain, so I won't pretend to, but I will be praying for all of you!


On a MUCH lighter note (pardon the horrible segue)...I'm blogging during my lunch break because I just had to post some pictures! :) I hope you all are having a great week! Life is going well for the Gomez family! :) We are just working, working, working, playing, playing and enjoying the beautiful weather MD has been experiencing (when we aren't working! ;))

My nephews 3rd birthday is on Friday so I am looking forward to releasing balloons with Manuel, Mia and Manny in their honor. Manuel "remembers" them (he was at the hospital with us when they were born and passed away so although he never saw them, we talk about them often and he (along with Mia) will always know their cousins! :)) Friday morning is a Mothers Day breakfast at Manuel's school so I am really looking forward to that and whatever super adorable made-from-the-heart craft comes along with it! :) Spring is always a busy time of year and I love it! I hope you all are enjoying your week! :)

And for good measure...(in NO order! :)) pictures that my cousin took while she was visiting over Easter weekend)

 That smiles screams "I'M ORNERY!" and yes, she is! ;)

 Relaxing in their jammies after dying eggs

 Manuel was really in to dying eggs this year (and yes, Mia is on the stove...PARENTING: FAIL! :))

 Mia and Mommy (yes, she has a black eye. I don't think I ever told the story but quick version: she is SO nosey and wouldn't take a nap at Linnie's because there were visitors. When she gets tired, she gets clumsy and she fell and hit her face! :(

 Stealing her brothers roll (she is her mothers daughter! ;))

 She was dancing (notice the video in the background...my child who primarily listens to Contemporary Christian would only dance to a rap song! :))

My big boy being so meticulous in his egg dying :)

My sister, Amy and her husband Mike

Hang in there as I promise to be posting lots of adorable pics soon (yes, FROM EASTER! :)), but I'm still super busy at work and don't have much time for blogging! (Yes, this is the same job that I was in jeopardy of losing about 2 weeks ago. When I was told that I would be staying as a full-time employee I was also told that I would be taking on more responsibilities (which of course I was fine with and completely grateful for!) So needless to say while I'm doing my "old job" and learning how to fund the entire companies loans, it's been VERY busy! :)) But I promise I'll be back! I still read all of my favorites and comment as often as I can! :)

But I have to write today to please ask for your prayers for my sister and BIL. May is a month of very sad anniversaries for my sister and her husband and they could really use prayers all month long...

May is the month that my BIL's mom died. She died in a house fire many years ago (I'd guess about 15 or so years ago, although I'm certain of the exact year). May is also the month, on May 13th 1996, my sisters best friend, Michele, died of cancer at the age of 18. When my sister and Mike met they decided that they would get married in May to take May from a historically sad month to a month with a little bit of happiness in it. They married on May 7th, 2006. Unfortunately the mind set of trying to make May a "happy month" would change two years later when on May 6, 2008 my sister gave birth to my nephews Mateo, Ian and Anthony. Mateo was born sleeping and Anthony passed away shortly after birth in my arms, and the next day, May 7th, my sisters second wedding anniversary Ian passed away. Fast forward one year and on May 15, 2009 our dad died at the age of 59, a very sudden death. That is A LOT of sadness in one month for my sister and her husband. Although it all happened in different years that is loss of parents, children, and a best friend all in the same month. Sometimes I can't even begin to wrap my brain around all of it! :( Please pray for them. Pray for their hearts to be comforted. Although NOTHING will EVER take away their pain of losing our dad, Mike's mom, Amy's best friend and their 3 little boys, I just pray that they have a teeny tiny bit of peace.

Thank you friends! :)