Moms and Dads

Sarah del Rosario: Choose To Live Brightly

by Kevyn Gohu
February 17, 2025

Despite her high-risk pregnancy, painter mom Sarah del Rosario finds the strength to fight for her, her family, and her upcoming new baby.

While many experience pregnancy as a journey of waiting in joy, some moms like Sarah del Rosario go through it as a battle for their life and their babies.

No pregnancy journey is the same. There’s a lot to consider health-wise. While some change their lifestyle to become healthy enough to support the pregnancy, others have to balance managing a pre-existing issue with all the other annoying things that come with pregnancy. Removing some medicines, modifying treatments, and even dealing with the full blow of the pre-existing issues — how does Sarah handle all that when she already has two autoimmune disorders – psoriatic arthritis and autoimmune myopericarditis and an ever-growing list of other diseases? It’s all about being honest with your doctor and having a supportive family, she says.

“There are days the treatment works and there are days that it doesn’t,” Sarah shrugs. “But the good news is: the baby is safe. That’s all that matters. Oh and that I can still function normally and paint.”

Sarah del Rosario with her older son, Blake

Autoimmune Disease: A Daily Struggle

Autoimmune disorders may be invisible to the naked eye but, they can really mess up a person’s daily life. While most diseases come from foreign bodies like viruses and bacteria, Sarah’s diseases are attacks coming from her own body. Particularly, they come from her immune system. Besides being tough to diagnose, these diseases will plague a person for a lifetime. It can be discouraging and depressing but a support system, according to Sarah, helps her keep going.

“My husband was already used to numerous doctor’s check-ups every month because I was already sick before I got pregnant. It’s tough to have a wife with a lifetime incurable disease. But I am thankful that he is still by my side,” she shares. “My older son, Blake, prepares my injections and brings me milk and water whenever I need it, especially during the times that I was put on bed rest. Back then, I had surgery to repair my incompetent cervix and eliminate chances of threatened abortion.”

Pregnancy, by itself, does have some physical issues. Swollen feet, hormones bouncing all over the place, aching back, limited ways to take the weight off the joints or spine — all these worsen for someone with psoriatic arthritis. As an autoimmune disease that causes the joints to swell and hurt, the only way to keep it in check is to suppress the immune system. While there’s a wide selection of drugs that would’ve helped, her pregnancy immediately narrowed her selections.

“I can’t get injected with my usual medication because it’ll hurt my baby,” she reveals. “So my doctor and I had to work together to find substitutes. While the aching joints and painful headaches are still there, the effects have at least slowed down.”

Because of the “candy shop” of medicines she’s had to take over the years, there have been fears of them possibly being bad for her baby’s physical and cognitive development in the womb. While the medicines may have provided her higher quality of life, it wasn’t something Sarah was ready to risk her baby for. Swapping them out, she adds, helped her realize the value in the little things.

“I was still on medication that may cause teratogenic effects on my baby when I got pregnant,” she reveals. “So, I was really scared. When we grow, we tend to forget to be thankful for these little things — having complete fingers, complete arms, and legs… But the joy was indescribable when I had a congenital anomaly scan and the perinatologist counted my son’s little fingers. I guess having a new life in your womb makes you go back and be thankful for everything.”

Sarah del Rosario with her husband and son

Finding the strength

But the thing about high-risk pregnancies is they always come with multiple issues since hormones are involved. APAS, Hypothyroidism, Asthma, Diabetes, and even cervical nerve damage — the list of issues can seem never-ending and frustrating. However, Sarah reveals the source of her strength that helps her power through all that: listening to her upcoming son’s movements and heartbeats. In fact, it’s what helps her “tolerate the pain” from her other disorders.

“As long as I can feel my little Noah’s movements, I feel like I can do it all,” she shares. “Besides, I chose to live my life to the fullest. Just because I’m in a difficult situation doesn’t mean I should be a difficult, irritable, and exhausted person.”

But there are days when the pain and negative thoughts become more disruptive. While some find peace from the depression in a good book or a high-quality, undisturbed nap, Sarah finds it in her painting. It keeps the negative thoughts away, she reveals. Plus, her paintings often help other babies and mothers who are in dire need of complex medical procedures.

“Though if I have to be honest, if I stopped painting, I’ll definitely lose my mind,” she laughs. “It’s all I think about. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned is that I have to choose my battles. Stress management is a must-have skill when you have autoimmune diseases.”

Turning the struggles and pain into beauty

Sarah del Rosario, like every mom-to-be or mom, has fears about her pregnancy journey but, that doesn’t mean remaining stoic through it all. Bravery means shedding tears on some occasions before bracing oneself to make the choice, despite the fear. “There’ll be times you won’t sleep because of the worrying,” she reveals. “But courage means moving forward even with the worries and fears.”

Her courage allowed her to remain a full-time mixed-media painter for the last four years, despite the bumps her disease has given her. Besides being her source of meditation and energy, painting has taught her to be more self-forgiving.

“Your painting doesn’t have to be perfect,” she shares while adding a gold leaf to one of her paintings. “Someone will appreciate it as long as you still put your heart into it.”

Her passion shines in her paintings, from the resins she uses to the colors she adds. It’s as if she’s sending another message, not just to the kids who benefit financially from her paintings but to her patrons and parents out there who are facing a high-risk pregnancy or any health risk in their lives.

“Hang in there. Light always comes out with 100% certainty after the end of every night.”