Claudia's Visit

We've told you about Claudia a couple of times. How she is more friend than doctor and how she told Benay she was in trouble for having Giovanni on a day when Claudia was out of town.

She was kidding, of course, but we knew she wanted to be with us as much as we wanted her to be with us for the delivery. If we had time to think about her not being there it would have made both of us sad, but everything happened so fast and God blessed us with Clarice that we didn't, at that moment, have time to think about Claudia not being with us. We didn't think it was possible, but she became even more special to us when we were in the hospital.

The day after Giovanni's birth, Claudia surprised us with a hospital visit. After delivery, here in our city, women usually share a room with another new mother. A curtain is the only thing that separates the new moms, their babies and visitors. Because of this curtain I saw Claudia first. She saw me and smiled and I said, "Benay, you won't believe who is here."

Because of her dad being sick in another city and her being with him the previous morning, we thought we wouldn't see her while we were in the hospital. She came in and said, "Can I come in even though I'm 36 hours late?"

Giovanni was being checked out by the nurse and so Claudia went to Benay.

Here in Brasil women always hug each other when greeting, women and men hug and kiss on the check and men even hug each other when they greet. So, Claudia hugging Benay was the norm. What surprised us was that Claudia didn't let go of Benay and she started to tear up.

I'm sure it was a combination of things: being able to release being strong for her family while her dad was sick, being tired from the long trip back to our city after being with her sick dad, her father-in-law was in the hospital at the same time here in Porto Alegre, as well as missing out on Giovanni's birth and not being there for Benay. I'm sure all these things played into it but I also know that she and Benay have a special bond that is more than doctor-patient. It was special for me to be there and see that. Claudia is definitely NOT a doctor that has any kind of God complex going on.

After the nurse got through weighing and cleaning up Giovanni, Claudia got to check out her baby.

God has blessed us so much by putting Claudia in our lives.