Inspiration

We just found out that the baby in my womb is a girl! We are going to name her Gianna, after Saint Gianna Beretta Molla. I have been reading up about her. I just finished a book named "Love Letters to My Husband", and "St. Gianna Molla. Wife, Mother, Doctor". The first one is a collection of the letters she wrote to her husband during their engagement, and during their marriage when he was away on business trips. It really gave me a sense of what she was like as a person, living a very similar life to many of us mothers and wives. During their marriage, all of her letters would at some point talk about their children, and this was especially touching to me because you could just tell through her words, how she loved her children so much, and was so proud of them, and how affectionate she was with them. It made her life even more tangible and real to me. She also expressed some of her very motherly concerns for her kids, which I found to be very much like my own at times. The other book was a collection of interviews with her husband about her life. It included her life before she was married, and her life after her marriage to Pietro Molla, during which, they had 4 children. She died one week after the birth of her 4th child. She was diagnosed with a tumor in her uterus when she was only 2 months along in the pregnancy, and against the doctor's advice, continued with the pregnancy, telling her husband and doctor that if there has to be a choice, save the baby. She was a doctor herself, so she knew that her chances of living were slim, but she willingly and adamantly endured the pregnancy for the well being of her child. As the loving and devoted mother that she was, the choice to sacrifice herself, knowing that she would have to leave her other 3 children behind had to be the most excruciating and painful decision of her life. But she was equally devoted and in love with the child in her womb, and knew that the only way to protect that baby's life was to be willing to give up her own. Both books were extremely inspiring and touching. She is a modern day Saint, who lived a modern day life, but with so much more love! There are so many other things I didn't mention about her, but it was her devotion to, and love of her husband and children, and of course her unwavering trust and submission to God that particularly inspired me. I really wanted to name one of my children after her, since she is a very important Saint and example in my life, one whom I consider my advocate, especially in things pertaining to marriage and motherhood, and I hope that as my little Gianna grows, she will know that St. Gianna is her advocate too.