SW News: When Catholic doctor couple Hima and Felix discovered they were pregnant in 2021 with their second child after several years, they were ecstatic. Dr. Hima, an Urgent Care pediatrician, and her husband, a cardiologist, live in Florida with their elder daughter Mary Grace. Although blood tests showed the baby was fine, nothing prepared them for the results of the 12th-week scan.

During the scan, when the technician turned the screen away from Dr. Hima and said that her OBGYN would talk to her, she immediately knew something was wrong. She tried to calm her mind thinking that most problems such as heart defects, clubfoot, or cleft palate could be surgically corrected. Although she believed God could fix anything, being a doctor, she prayed, “Please God, don’t let it be anencephaly.” (Anencephaly is one of the severe defects the baby can have in utero that is incompatible with life where the skull does not develop appropriately.)

Her doctor told them that their baby had anencephaly and that it wouldn’t live long. The couple was heartbroken to hear the news. The doctor suggested terminating the pregnancy, but Dr. Hima, who always considered herself prolife, adamantly refused despite the risks associated with carrying the baby to term. That same day, the couple decided to open the card from the blood tests that revealed the gender. It was a girl, and she was named Evangeline Hope. Recalling the time of her pregnancy, Dr. Hima said, “It was sheer grace from God and full acceptance of His will that gave us the strength to go through this.”

Members of the Jesus Youth (an international Catholic Movement), of which Dr. Hima was a part of, through their prayerful words and constant support helped her accept God’s will and trust Him wholeheartedly. “My community members would talk to her whenever they met me and surrounded us with so much joy and grace. This made my journey so much easier,” said Dr. Hima. She had a lot of complications during the delivery and Evangeline was not born alive. Several community members, a priest and God parents were present at the hospital to meet baby Evangeline and they had a beautiful time of prayer and praise.

“I feel closer to Jesus after going through all this because I see just how much God loves me and how He chose me to bear her. I feel it’s a great honor. She is a perpetual adorer for our family to bring us to sainthood in a way no other situation could ever bring us to,” Dr. Hima said to SW News.

Considering the fact that so many people opt to abort unborn children diagnosed with genetic anomalies or fatal defects, she says that whether healthy or sick, every baby was a precious gift from God. Taking care of children with special needs or disabilities is like “taking care of the wounded Christ” and they help us reach a “deeper state of sanctity than accomplishing anything else in life.”

The couple is currently expecting their third child, Gabriel, due this October.