A special tribute to the person who literally brought Elle out to this world… Dra. Regina Villar-Rivera.

Last year Dra Gigi Villar-Rivera literally brought out to life our healthy baby Elle Marie. She may not know it but if I were to guess the five people I will meet in heaven, I would say without a blink of an eye that one would be her.

Dra. Gigi is in all aspect our guardian angel. She took good care of me and Elle for more than nine months. She made sure that my early signs of pre-eclampsia were well taken cared of. She patiently explained to me everything about pregnancy from the most trivial to the technical. She would just smile at my bloopers and I guess contemplate in silence why I became her brother’s friend. (hehehe) She never hesitated to answer my calls beyond “business hours” and made sure that her "secretary-Mon" was always available in her absence.

Aside from the fact that she has the smile that could calm a “worrier” in me, she gave medical profession a different twist with her personalized service. I trust her so much with my life that I would go all the way to Ospital ng Muntinlupa just to see her and it really calms me. I remembered that I was rushed to Makati Medical Center (due to erroneous findings) and was required to see a resident OB. It took hours to convince me to stay and be examined by another OB and the first thing I did after release was see Dra Gigi.

After I gave birth to Elle Marie, I thanked Dra Gigi through text for taking good care of me and Elle and she replied that she was just doing her job. I replied back that I don't feel like she was just doing her job rather I felt loved and cared for…

If all doctors were like her, hospitals would only have smiling patients...

I love Dra Gigi... I know that she will never forget me and my bloopers especially the ultimate blooper while I was on labor… Amidst the pain and stress, I literally stopped "pushing and holding my breath" and asked Dra Gigi whether Elle’s nose will get distorted if it goes through my thight .… I have always dreamed of a baby with Noy’s nose!!! For months I would wake up in the middle of the night and hold Noy's nose (oh how I love his nose-- and everything about him hehe!)! She just smiled and said… "Ella don’t worry it will not get distorted… "

Groggy and all, the only things i could remember after giving birth to Elle were two voices. Elle's cry and Dra Gigi's comforting words... "O ella, matangos ilong ng baby mo!". oh how comforting...