Expecting Mom Survives COVID, Baby Delivered Early While In ICU
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A local woman is thankful to be alive after contracting COVID-19 while pregnant.
Diana Arazua embraces the moments she with her three-month-old son Sergio, singing the ABC's to him as he's cradled in her arms. Holding him is an act of love that Arazua doesn't take for granted.
"They were preparing for the worst," she said.
At seven months pregnant, she got sick with COVID-19. Arazua tried going to the emergency room multiple before turning to UC Davis Hospital where she was immediately rushed into a room and put on oxygen.
After just one day, she was transferred to the ICU where her health began declining quickly.
"I was so afraid. I didn't know what to expect," she said.
Arazua was intubated and connected to a ventilator. Shortly after, her baby's heart rate dropped, forcing doctors to perform an emergency C-section to save them both.
"It's just sad because I wasn't able to experience his birth. It's like we are knocking on death's doors or something," she said.
Born at just 33 weeks, baby Sergio was put on a ventilator for respiratory failure, but he tested negative for the virus. Arazua, who at the time was still fighting for her life in the ICU, wasn't able to hold her newborn son for two weeks.
"We didn't expect it would get that bad and I met him over Zoom," she said.
Now healthy and back home after 30 days in the hospital, she reflects on life.
"It wasn't our time to go, we have a purpose to be here still," she said.
Arazua is beyond grateful for the team that saved them. She said she still has some lingering symptoms, but overall she and Sergio are doing well.
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