“If God can give children to barren women in the Bible, He can do it to me, too!”
These are the words of 36-year old Arnee Lacerna who has been married for eight years to 36-year old engineer, Erwin. After the healthy birth of their first son, Ethan, the couple didn’t expect to encounter difficulties with a second pregnancy. However, after two miscarriages in a span of a year, the couple was dumbfounded. Their consultations with their doctors during both miscarriages gave them the go signal to try again, but they wondered why they couldn’t push through with a healthy pregnancy.
The couple knew something was wrong with Arnee. On the third miscarriage, they decided to consult another perinatologist, and that’s when they found out the real cause of the miscarriages.
“There are top five causes of miscarriage, according to my doctor,” Arnee explains, “In my case, I have three out of those five.” They discovered that she has an immunological problem, which means that her blood is incompatible with her husband’s, rejecting the part of the baby that comes from him. She was also diagnosed with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome or APAS, which hinders the oxygen from flowing properly to the baby. Lastly, Arnee also has elevated natural killer cells, which is good for patients with cancer, but deadly for pregnant women because the cells treat the fetus as a foreign body and attack it.
With their marriage strongly rooted in Jesus, the couple’s faith remained steadfast. They were thankful to finally find out the causes of the miscarriages, and relieved that there are treatments for them. “I admit I was scared because not everyone who undergoes these treatments has favorable results,” Arnee reveals, “But we chose to trust God as I went through the tests.”
When Arnee became pregnant again, she continued undergoing various blood tests and treatments. The entire ordeal was a spiritual and emotional roller coaster for the couple. Aside from being physically taxing on Arnee, it was also a financial challenge for them.
While pregnant, Arnee had to be on bed rest for two months because of the threat of another miscarriage. She also had to deal with problems in her amniotic fluid and blood sugar. A daily injection of inhonep was also administered to her.
The experience brought Arnee and Erwin closer to God, individually, and as a couple. Together, they would pray every day, declaring God’s promises in their life.
“We could have questioned God why He allowed these complications, why He allowed three miscarriages to happen because they don’t seem to fit in His promise of blessings,” Arnee shares, “But we realized God didn’t promise a storm-free life. He promised us a storm-proof one.”
Spurred by encouragement and prayers from their friends and family at Victory U-Belt, the couple didn’t feel alone as they underwent challenge after challenge. “Our friends, families, ninongs and ninangs–they stormed heaven’s gates for us,” Arnee shares, “They made us strong when our faith was shaken. As a result, we experienced joy and peace amidst the pain.”
Finally, last June 22, on a beautiful Wednesday morning, Arnee gave birth to a healthy baby boy. They named him Arthur Mateo, meaning “courageous, noble; a gift from God.”
“When I heard him cry for the first time, I cried!” Arnee exclaims, “When they placed him on my chest, it felt amazing!” Now parents to two healthy boys, Arnee and Erwin couldn’t contain their praises. After all the faith-testing years they went through, they are now claiming God’s promises to them. Those years were the most difficult for them, but there were also the best because they experienced God’s comfort, peace and faithfulness firsthand.
“We turned to the Bible to be reminded of all His promises,” Arnee says, “We held on to Matthew 9:29 which says, ‘According to your faith, let it be done to you.’”
Looking at their little bundles of joy, Erwin and Arnee are reminded, not of the difficulties, but the fulfillment of His promises. “God is our promise-keeper, faithful Father, and healer. He created us to be overcomers,” Arnee declares. “As we remain in Him, we will experience the fullness of his unconditional love. We didn’t deserve these blessings, but He gave them to us anyway, simply because He loves us so much.”
Every morning, she wakes up early to go to the market with her long grocery lists for the day. To protect her daughter and all the other people she meets and sees every day, she makes sure to follow all safety and sanitation measures implemented by the government. She does what she can to protect herself, but she also sees God’s hand at work in keeping her safe.