Life couldn’t get much better for bride-to-be Jessica Guedes, 30, and her future groom Flavio Goncalvez, 31. The Brazilian couple not only were about to wed the love of their life, but they were expecting a baby together, too.
They planned out their wedding and dreamed of baby names. They shopped for baby gear and wrote vows. Jessica opted to wear a gorgeous white gown with a matching veil while Flavio, a firefighter lieutenant, looked dapper in his groom attire.
On the day of their wedding, Jessica wasn’t feeling the best. She smiled for pictures and looked absolutely radiant, simply stunning, in her gown.
But while en route to the ceremony in the limo, Jessica — a nurse — complained of being dizzy and suddenly was overcome with surprising gut-wrenching pain.
She had no idea what was happening to her.
Her supporters thought she was just nervous about the impending nuptials. Flavio was standing at the altar before friends and family when he received crushing news. Jessica had passed out not long before she was supposed to walk down the alley to him and was being rushed to the hospital.
She was six months pregnant on their wedding day and had suddenly developed pre-eclampsia, which led to internal bleeding and a stroke. Pre-clampsia is a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system, most often the liver and kidneys, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Preeclampsia can develop without any symptoms. High blood pressure may develop slowly, or it may suddenly strike. Other symptoms include headaches, vision changes, upper abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting, and shortness of breath. Flavio instantly morphed into emergency responder the second he saw his wife-to-be suffering symptoms from a condition that would become fatal.
“I opened the car door and she was lying down but regained consciousness to talk to me. I said to her, ‘Baby, I’m here.’ She replied that everything was fine, but that she had severe pain in the back of her neck. At that moment, I became a rescuer, as I have been for seven years with the fire department. I took her out of the limo, started first aid and asked for help from my firefighter friends who were there as guests.”
Doctors were able to keep Jessica alive long enough to deliver the baby by emergency cesarean section. Baby Sophia was born 11 weeks early and arrived in the most heartbreaking way — with a strong mother who passed away shortly after she was born and a father in complete shock over how his world was turned upside down in a matter of minutes.
Sophia was born weighing 2.05 pounds and measuring 13.5 inches long.
Dad Flavio doted upon his brand new baby girl all while mourning the loss of his beautiful bride-to-be Jessica. He was captured on camera singing to Sophia while cradling her as she received extra medical care in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
Now, he must focus on raising Sophia as a single dad and making sure his baby girl knows how amazing of a person her mother was.
“Jessica was a really cheerful person who loved life, an enlightened and strong being of light. I was so looking forward to becoming her husband and becoming a father. I will be strong and I will not weaken in the face of adversity. The love of my life taught me how to respect and treat a woman well so that I could learn how to take care of our daughter.”
Baby Sophia is expected to remain in the hospital for at least two months, growing stronger and developing under the care of the medical team. Still, Flavio remains dumbfounded by how what was supposed to be the happiest day of his life marrying his love suddenly became a day filled with grief and torment.
The only light of hope and promise to emerge from that day is the miraculous birth of his daughter.
“I still can’t believe this has happened. It seems like I’m in a sad movie, and you cry, cry, cry, but leave the movie theater knowing it was just a movie. However, in my case, the movie will never be over….”
Watch the video below and see how quickly a day filled with hope and promise could turn to desperation and sorrow so quickly. See the beautiful Baby Sophia who was tragically left without her gorgeous and compassionate mother, but with an adoring single father to raise her instead.
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