Ali Vardaro didn\u2019t feel like herself.<\/p>\n
At first, the symptoms were easy to explain away.<\/p>\n
Swelling, blurred vision, nerve pain in her hand and exhaustion she couldn\u2019t shake. She was pregnant after all, and pregnancy comes with changes.<\/p>\n
But deep down, something didn\u2019t feel right.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept wondering if I was just being dramatic,\u201d Ali recalled. \u201cOr if this was just what pregnancy was supposed to feel like.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Ali and her husband Matt were visiting from Boston to celebrate their babymoon. They had plans to relax, enjoy the great weather, go for a few hikes and Matt wanted to play a little golf.<\/p>\n
That was the plan until Ali reached a breaking point. In the early morning hours of New Year\u2019s Eve, the couple made a decision that would change everything: they went to the hospital.<\/p>\n
That choice, listening to her body and speaking up, likely saved two lives.<\/p>\n
A sudden turn<\/strong><\/p>\n Ali and Matt arrived at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n Initial tests raised immediate concerns, including abnormal cardiac markers, and clinicians recognized that this was more than a routine pregnancy complication.<\/p>\n The stakes were high. Ali was just 28 weeks pregnant.<\/p>\n Within hours, the decision was made to transfer Ali to HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center, where advanced cardiac, obstetric and neonatal teams could work side by side.<\/p>\n Imaging revealed a severe heart valve infection causing dangerous leakage, a rare and life-threatening situation, especially during pregnancy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe chaos of it all truly felt like an out of body experience,\u201d Matt said. \u201cOne minute we were on vacation. The next, we were talking about heart surgery and delivering our daughter months early.\u201d<\/p>\n Calm in the chaos<\/strong><\/p>\n As the medical plan came together, one thing stood out to Ali and Matt, the steady reassurance from the team guiding them through each decision.<\/p>\n Neonatologist Dr. Ashish Patel met with them early on to talk through what a premature delivery could mean.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember him sitting close and speaking so calmly,\u201d Matt said. \u201cHe told us, \u2018Your baby is going to be okay.\u2019 We needed to hear that.\u201d<\/p>\n Cardiologist Dr. Christina S. Reuss was among the physicians evaluating Ali\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a rapidly evolving situation,\u201d Reuss said. \u201cThe only way to manage something this complex is through close collaboration and constant communication across teams.\u201d<\/p>\n While Ali was early in the third trimester, everyone agreed, delivering the baby was the safest path forward for both mother and child.<\/p>\n Within 24 hours of arriving at Shea, Ali delivered their daughter, Emilia, via C-section.<\/p>\n Before being separated for the care they each urgently needed, Ali was able to hold Emilia skin to skin \u2014 a quiet, powerful moment amid the chaos.<\/p>\n \u201cThat moment meant everything,\u201d Ali says. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what was coming next, but I knew she was here. She was real. And she was fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n Soon after delivery, Ali underwent open-heart surgery to repair the damage caused by the infection later traced to bacteria likely introduced during a routine dental cleaning weeks earlier.<\/p>\n While Ali was in surgery, Emilia was cared for in the NICU by a specialized neonatal team experienced in supporting babies born very early.<\/p>\n The journey continues<\/strong><\/p>\n Today, Ali is healing. Emilia weighing 2 pounds, 9 ounces at birth is now up to 4 pounds four ounces. She\u2019s still in the NICU but is making progress every day.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s doing incredibly well,\u201d Ali said of Emilia. \u201cAnd I\u2019m doing better every day. We wouldn\u2019t be here without every single person who refused to give up on us.\u201d<\/p>\n Matt agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cThis wasn\u2019t one hero,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was dozens of people showing up for us at every step. That\u2019s what saved our family.\u201d<\/p>\n Bill Baer is a spokesman for HonorHealth.<\/p>\n A message for other women<\/strong><\/p>\n Ali hopes sharing their story encourages other women to trust themselves, especially when something feels off.<\/p>\n \u201cI keep thinking about how close I was to brushing it off,\u201d Ali says. \u201cIf there\u2019s one thing I hope other women take from this, it\u2019s that you know your body. If something feels wrong, say something. Push. Ask again.\u201d<\/p>\n Matt puts it simply.<\/p>\n \u201cThe expertise mattered,\u201d he says. \u201cBut so did the humanity. We weren\u2019t just patients. We were partners in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ali Vardaro didn\u2019t feel like herself. At first, the symptoms were easy to explain away. Swelling, blurred vision,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":160874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,75008,272326,272327,27770,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-639512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-honorhealth","12":"tag-honorhealth-scottsdale-osborn-medical-center","13":"tag-honorhealth-scottsdale-shea-medical-center","14":"tag-mom","15":"tag-phoenix","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116190082838308026","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}