Matteo's story

I am very blessed! I have a wonderful husband, who although worries about how to support us financially, has given into my desire to have more children. It is not just the money. I have a serious health issue that would prevent most people from having children.

(It is called Factor IV Leiden. It is a blood clot disorder. Pretty much it is the opposite of Hemophilia....instead of bleeding when I get a cut or injury, my blood is thicker and forms clots that can move to the lungs, heart or brain resulting in death. I shook hands with death when I was pregnant with my 3rd child, Tui. I was 9 weeks when I started to feel short of breath and a stabbing pain in my right rib cage. I thought it was indigestion or asthma, so I decided to go to bed. I woke up the next morning feeling worse and then I coughed up some blood. A very good friend of mine told me to go to the hospital...I was completely ready to go to church and just put up with the pain. Good thing I listened to her. In the ER, nurses and an intern asked me all the normal questions and thought it was probably a pulled muscle or a chest cold. Then a very smart Dr. actually read my medical history that showed that I had Factor IV...he sent me straight up to intensive care. By the time they had me all hooked up to tubes and oxygen masks, I could not breath...at all. I was scared, but mostly oblivious to how much trouble I was in. Throughout the night I was monitored and given blood thinners to break up the clots. In the morning, the Dr. came in to talk to me. He asked me why I went to bed. He said that 99 percent of all people who go to bed with a blood clot in their lung would be dead within hours...and I had 3 very large ones in my right lung. He could not give me one good reason why I was alive. He also told me that I had gone through so much trauma that I would most definitely miscarry...people with my disorder usually miscarry anyhow. One more painful experience I had to prepare for. Well 4 years later, my son Tui is happy and healthy and I have to be on blood thinner while I am pregnant...unless I get another clot anywhere in my body and then I will be on it for life.

So, when I got pregnant ( we did not know if it was a boy or a girl), I went right to the Dr. who put me on blood thinner ( Heparin). It is not very expensive, but I have to inject myself twice a day for 12 months. My belly was a beautiful blue, green, yellow and purple work of art!( because of the Factor IV, I bruise easily). Other than the blood clot disorder, I have very easy pregnancies! I got sick a few times in the first 3 months, but nothing bad. We actually kept this pregnancy a secret for the first 4 months because there were so many people who were worried about me getting another clot. But after 3 kids already, I was really starting to show by then.

As I previously posted, I was able to go home to my sisters wedding. I drove 2 days there and 2 days back with my 3 kids and me 5 months pregnant.

( side story... It is inevitable that I always forget something when I go on a trip. I made sure we all had our passports since we were going into Canada, phone charger, camera, cloths...everything. I got 4 hours away when I all of a sudden pulled into a gas station...bawling! My kids thought I was loosing it. I did forget something...something that could mean life or death...for me and my baby...my blood thinner. I called Anthony, frantic!( He couldn't be there because he had just started a new job.) He calmed me down and said he would take care of it. He shipped it to my parents house, but customs wouldn't release it to me. Luckily I have a wonderful brother who threatened to sue them if I died.)

After the trip to Canada, things slowed down. Summer was hot and I run a daycare in my home, but I managed to make it through. We had a ward camp out toward the end of my pregnancy. I think I had 4 weeks left. We had so much fun! We camped...I even slept on the ground...That part I would not suggest, but I love to camp. There was also a gigantic inflatable slide ( about 20 feet high or so) that was the hit of the camp out. My kids loved it...and so did I. Yes...I even went down it...I figured all the bumping might speed things up. No luck!

Two weeks before my due date, a friend of mine brought me the mother load of zucchini and cantaloupe. I told Sydney that she could help me chop them and freeze them. and it's a good thing we did. By 11 am, I was starting to feel my contractions at a regular pace ( I had been having them for a couple of weeks, but I have had to be induced with 2 of my children, so I just assumed I would have to be with this one). I called the parents of the daycare kids and asked them to come and get their kids asap. Anthony was off work at 3:30, so I figured I could hold out till then. Sydney and I kept busy chopping and freezing, but I could tell she was worried. Once Anthony got home, we all jumped in the van and we dropped the kids off at a friend's house then continued on to the hospital. I have a high pain tolerance level, so when I come strolling up to the maternity ward at 5:00, nobody thinks I am in real labor. Haha...I fool them all! They got me all dressed and checked me...I was dilated to six. I know from my other deliveries that this one will be just as fast. Sure enough, by the time they get me hooked up to IV's and I refuse and epidural, I am at an eight. My back was hurting a ton...so I layed on my side a bit...pushing in that position is not fun!!!! But it still only took two pushes for our little baby to join us. I was so happy when they told me it was a boy...I actually cried! He was perfect!

We struggled naming him. We have such a diversity of cultural backgrounds...Italian, Tongan, Canadian, Irish...We wanted to incorporate some of them along with family names. After one whole month we named him Matteo ( Italian meaning gift from God) Glen-Carlo ( my grandfather and Anthony's great grand father's names). We nicknamed him Teo ( Tongan meaning gift from God). It was a perfect name for our little gift!

We love our children so much and are eternally grateful to a Heavenly Father who has kept me safe and preserved those little angels so that we could be a family!

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