3-foot woman delivers healthy baby

New mother weighed 37 pounds before getting pregnant

	Roy and Eloysa Vasquez show off their new son, Timothy Abraham Vasquez, at Packard Children's Hospital in Stanford, Calif., in January.
AP

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updated 8:30 p.m. ET Feb. 10, 2006

TULARE, Calif. - A woman who is 3 feet tall and weighed 37 pounds before she got pregnant has given birth to her first child — a healthy boy.

Eloysa Vasquez, who uses a wheelchair and had two miscarriages, suffers from Type 3 osteogenesis imperfecta, a disorder that makes bones soft and brittle.

Vasquez gained 20 pounds during pregnancy and delivered the 3 pound, 7 ounce baby on Jan. 24 at Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

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“We just took one day at a time. We had a lot of people praying for us. We just believed ... and here we have our son,” Vasquez, 38, of Tulare, told The Fresno Bee for a story Thursday.

Doctors said they delivered Baby Timothy by Cesarean section eight weeks before due date in order to protect the mother’s fragile health — her tiny, distorted body left little room for a fetus to grow.

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They said Timothy did not inherit his mother’s genetic condition.

Judging from her son’s long fingers and toes, Vasquez said, “I think he’s going to be a tall boy.”

Her husband, Roy, said his wife’s small stature can be deceiving: “She’s a strong lady.”

According to the university, one in only 25,000 to 50,000 births are to a mother with osteogenesis imperfecta, and even fewer involve moms with the severe Type 3 form.