An unexpected birth leads to an unusual wedding in Richland

When Jose Mojica and Yessica Pacheco learned their son needed to be delivered six weeks early, they canceled their wedding plans.

For both of them, the health of their child came first.

A group of Kadlec Regional Medical Center employees learned about the couple’s decision to give up on their plans and decided to do something about it.

“I was checking in on (Yessica) and she told me about having to cancel her wedding and I said, ‘Well what do you think if we could still have a wedding for you?’ and she just got so excited,” said Melanie O’Brien, the birth center manager.

A group of nurses arranged to bring food, about 20 guests, a chaplain and flowers so the couple could be married at Kadlec’s chapel Sunday afternoon.

The couple met about a year ago at the Boost Mobile store in Hermiston where Yessica works.

It took a while for them to start dating, but he finally convinced her, she said with a smile.

When they learned Yessica was pregnant with their first child, they were thrilled.

They scheduled their wedding around Yessica’s pregnancy, and guests planned to come up from California and from other areas to attend the service, which they scheduled for roughly a month and a half before their son was due.

Then Yessica developed a condition called preeclampsia. O’Brien said the relatively common condition is signified by a spike in the blood pressure of pregnant women.

Medical staff sent the couple to Kadlec’s neonatal unit to have the child. Yessica said she wasn’t worried about having the child early, because she was told he was a strong, healthy baby.

“He was worried, because he was going to be a preemie baby,” Yessica translated for Jose.

The child, Jose Armando Mojica Jr., was born last week. He is breathing on his own and healthy, O’Brien said.

While mother and child were healthy and happy, they were both in the hospital as they recovered, and the couple decided to delay the wedding.

Then O’Brien heard about it, and she and several of her staffers sprang into action.

“We thought it was the right thing to do for her,” she said. “We really wanted to help her out. She was in a tough situation, and so we were really excited to be able to offer this for her.”

They contacted businesses and volunteers for their help. Frost Me Sweet donated the cake, and Lucky Flowers donated the bouquets.

“We have connections through the community and just ask some friends, and the staff are really helpful,” O’Brien said. “Our nurses and OB techs were really helpful too ... We’ve had tremendous support from our community.”

With family and friends watching, the couple sealed their vows with the help of a hospital chaplain.

Yessica was to be discharged in the next couple of days, but her son will need to stay for a while until he can be released.

“This has a happy ending,” O’Brien said.

This story was originally published July 17, 2017 at 5:28 PM with the headline "An unexpected birth leads to an unusual wedding in Richland."