When we got home, I was tired and desperately missing my children. Pedro chattered for a long time, telling me how he'd helped take care of his little brothers and sisters and how they were now sleeping with full bellies.

I went to bed with a twinge in my head and had a very restless sleep, not because of caring for the babies. In fact, they were very calm, and Alessandro was a wonderful father. He would wake up at night and help me change and feed them. But I had disjointed nightmares and a fe