Children's Corrective Surgery Society

Letter from Gladys Jeannette, Mother of Maria Angelita

My name is Gladys Jeannette Romero Lopez and I live in the city of Acaponeta, in the state of Nayarit in Mexico.  I have 2 daughters, one by the name of Guadalupe and the little one is Maria Angelita Cosio and she was born on August 7^th, 2001 with a cleft palate.  When I was going to have my baby, I started having pain on the Monday before and I told my husband that I wasn’t feeling good and he took me to a nurse in San Felipe.  The nurse said that she was going to check me out and then told me that, yes; I was going to have my baby but that it wasn’t time yet.  We went back home but later in the day we went back to see her again and we stayed there with her until about 1:00 A.M.  She then told us that she wasn’t going to be able to help me because it appeared that the baby wasn’t coming right because she couldn’t feel the baby’s head.  She said that we should go to the hospital and get help there.

We went back home and then to the hospital in Acaponeta, Nayarit.  A doctor there told me that he couldn’t feel the baby’s head and that I needed surgery.  He gave us a pass to go to the hospital in Rosamorada, Nayarit.  It was raining so hard on the way to Rosamorada that my husband was driving right behind a semi trailer because he couldn’t see the road.  All that time I kept praying, asking God that the doctors didn’t have to do the surgery because I had already had another normal childbirth before.  We arrived at Rosamorada around 3:00 in the morning and a doctor saw me right away and told me that everything was fine and asked me a lot of questions.  I was then taken to a bed and they gave me an IV solution and some medications.  I was having a lot of pain and numbness on my feet, I wanted to get out of bed but they would not let me nor would they let anybody come into the room to see me.  I was then taken to the delivery room and the doctor told me that my baby was ready to be born.  I hurried to have my baby and they told me that it was a girl but that she was born with a problem in her mouth.  He told me that she was born with a cleft lip and palate but since I didn’t know what that was I asked him again what was that problem.  He said that I was going to see it on my baby but first they had to clean her up.  While they were dressing her I kept looking over to see if I could see her but I couldn’t because they took me back to my room. 

Later they brought me back my baby and when I saw her I kept asking myself why had this happened to me.  I started crying but since my baby was sleeping I tried not to move so that I wouldn’t wake her up.  I knew that when she woke up she was going to be hungry.  The doctor told me that my baby was not going to be able to be breast-fed nor was she going to be able to take her baby bottle by herself. The doctor told me that they were going to do a surgery on the baby later and that for now they were going to make a little plate for the palate so that she could be fed.  But time went by and no doctor came back to the room and I started getting anxious.  I told a nurse that my baby was hungry because she was crying a lot.  She went and asked the doctor how was she going to feed my baby and the way the doctor explained it I knew it was going to be very hard for us to do it at home.  Nobody at the ranch was going to put a stomach tube in my baby.  In the hospital they did put a stomach tube in my baby but they hurt her because she started crying a lot.  They gave her some water with sugar but she kept spitting it out because she was having pain.  I told the doctor that I was going to pull it out because she was in pain. 

 The doctor said that since nobody was going to be able to feed her at the ranch he was going to transfer her to another hospital in Tepic.  That I was going to stay in the hospital where I was and I said no, that if my baby was leaving I would go with her.  They would not release me without seen the gynecologist and he wasn’t coming until 3:00PM.  When he came-in he released me and they gave me some syringes that I was going to use to feed my baby. 

When I left the hospital I felt that I was alone, that nobody was supporting me or giving me strength to keep fighting for my daughter.  My mother wasn’t there with me when I went into the hospital but she arrived when I was leaving.  I hugged her and needed her support and I remember that she told me not to cry, that if it was God’s desire, there was nothing we could do.  But now, thank God, the doctors already have said that they were going to do the surgery.  They gave us a pass to go the General Hospital in Tepic, Nayarit.  Once there the pediatrician asked me how I was feeding my baby and I told him that she had a stomach tube but that she threw everything out and then I started feeding her with a syringe.  He told a nurse to bring some milk and then with a syringe gave some milk to my baby.  The nurse told the doctor that the baby wanted to vomit but he said that she was choking and asked me to feed her myself.  She finished all the milk and the doctor asked me to get the air out of the baby’s stomach and she started burping and moving her head sideways.  The doctor asked me how old was she and I told him that she was born that same morning.  He said that she was very strong for being so little.  Those words gave me a lot of hope that my baby could have her surgery.  He told me that it wasn’t time yet but that we should go and see other doctors and he gave us the appointment dates. 

When we went to see the new doctor he didn’t even bother to see the baby and sent us to see another doctor.  We went to see this other doctor but she was out on vacation.  We had to go the following day and then the doctor told us that it was hereditary.  I kept thinking if there was somebody on my side of the family that was born with that problem and I told the doctor no and then Maria Angelita’s father started thinking and said that he had a grandfather that had cleft lip.

The doctor explained to us the procedures for the different surgeries.  First it was going to be the lip and the last one was going to be the nose when she turned 17 years old.  We didn’t know how expensive the surgeries were going to be.  I was very frustrated because I was the only one helping my daughter all day and I would cry all night.

One day a lady told my husband that there was a clinic here in Rosarito, Baja California that did surgeries for the same kind of problem that my baby had.  She gave him the address in Rosarito and that we needed to take some pictures of the baby to them.  We went right away to get the pictures and then went to Rosarito.  At the clinic we did all the paperwork and then they asked us for a phone number where they could call us to let us know when the appointment was going to be.  The call came in on October 16^th, that we had to go and pick up the papers because she was scheduled for surgery on the 17^th. .  They explained to us the whole procedure and what we needed to take with us.  I was very scared to go by myself because everywhere I go I would go with my husband.  I asked my husband to go in my place and for him to take the baby but every time I saw my baby she would give me the strength I needed.  I could see in her eyes all the willingness to live, and her eyelids were like the sun’s rays and they would give me the desire I needed to keep fighting for my daughter.  Even with the problem in her little mouth, to me, she was the prettiest girl in this world.

When I crossed the U.S. border, my baby was asleep and we waited at the Burger King until a man came in and asked for Maria Angelita Cosio.  He took us to the clinic where we met Rita and told us to wait while she went to pick up Mary.  At the clinic they measured, weighted and asked me some questions about the baby.  When Mary came in she went with the doctor with me and the doctor told me that the surgery wasn’t dangerous.  I didn’t ask any questions because my mind was blank, I could only think about what they were about to do to my daughter.  I kissed my daughter goodbye and gave her to the nurse.  About one half hour later they called me and told me that my baby was ready and awake, they were giving her water to drink.

It was very emotional when I saw my baby and knowing that everything turned out well.  We were there at the hospital until the evening when she was released and Mary took us to her house.  Mary treated us very good and the following day took us for a post-op check up and got an appointment for November 2nd. 

On November 6^th, we went back to Nayarit and thank God Angelita never got sick, she only had a little bit of flu.  Time has gone by, and now on the 8^th of May we received a phone call letting us know that my baby had an appointment and thank God she had her surgery on May 22^nd, 2002.  Everything turned out well, thank God.

I am very thankful to all of you because without the help of all these good and beautiful people.  I don’t know what I would have done without your help.  Every time I see a healthy child or a pregnant mother I ask God that everything turn out well for them.

I don’t know how to thank all these people that have a beautiful heart and feelings.  I ask God to give them health, life and happiness so that they keep helping us, the thousands of people that need your help.  I cannot say thanks just like that, but I said it from the bottom of my heart.  I hope that many mothers that have gone through this problem don’t feel sorry for their sons because of the way they were born.  We should all thank God for letting our children leave and ask Him to give us a lot of patience.

I thank all of you that helped me and are still helping other people.

I wish that we all were like them that fight to cure the ill babies.

Thanks a lot and that God bless all of you always.      

 Gladys Jeannette Romero Lopez.

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