I was in a Filipino restaurant today around lunchtime, waiting for the take-out order I made earlier. The big TV in one corner was showing Karen Davila’s show “Wondermom” on The Filipino Channel. What hooked me to watching was their feature on a baby named Raphael Iñigo, a namesake of my baby.

Raphael Iñigo was a “blue baby” when he was born. That means he has a congenital heart problem. On his eighth day of life, he had to be operated on his heart. At the end of the operation, Raphael Iñigo started bleeding from everywhere – from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Two liters of blood came out. The surgeon have then decided to tell the parents that the baby had enough of the surgery, that prognosis was very poor.

But Raphael Iñigo survived the operation. And today, he is about 2 or 3 years old ( I am not sure coz it was not mentioned on tv). But as I saw him, he looked very well like an ordinary toddler. He was laughing and playing around, and he does not look like he had that much ordeal when he was born.

According to host Karen Davila, his name’s meaning actually defines his character. Raphael means “God-healed” and Iñigo means “strong-willed.”

When we chose Iñigo as our baby’s name, we didn’t know that this was one of the its meaning. I think we chose the right name.  Iñigos are the brave ones.