SAN ANTONIO — Over three months after giving birth, a mother was able to hold her baby for the first this time week at Methodist Children's Hospital.
When her baby was born, Flor Torres was handed a delay she was not expecting.
"She was a very, very, long-awaited girl," Torres said Thursday in Spanish.
This week, after three months and eleven days, baby Irina Casillas was introduced to mama.
"Yesterday, after so long, was my first day that I held her, that I held her in my arms," Torres said. “I hadn't had that privilege - that blessing of having her in my arms since she was born."
Irina was born with Obstructed Infradiaphragmatic Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR), a very rare heart defect that causes blood to be pumped through the body without enough oxygen.
"She had to have several surgeries done the week she was born," Torres said.
After baby Irina was born in May, she was transferred to Methodist Children’s Hospital for specialized care. 102 days after her birth, she was back in her mother’s arms.
"Thank God. Here, here she is.” Torres said. “Here you can see that she is progressing little by little, but she is moving forward, which is the important thing."
After months not knowing what to expect, Torres found herself with an extra special delivery: a child that gives light to her life.
"It's a very difficult thing to explain. I think that only people who have been through situations like this can understand the emotion,” Torres said. “This is pleasure, it is bliss. And you feel so happy. It was one of the happiest days of my life."