Maria Sibajene, a soon-to-be mom of twins learned something was off while at a checkup in February.
“I had chest pain and a little bit of difficulty breathing,” Sibajene said. “And after they did the tests and everything, they found that I had fluid in my heart and part of my lungs.”
It was a condition called pericarditis, triggered by inflammation from COVID-19.
“At the time I’m thinking, ‘Are my baby's going to be okay? Are they going to survive this?’ I wasn't really thinking about myself,” Sibajene said.
Sibajene was transferred to Dignity Health Chandler Regional Medical Center and assigned to a team of heart experts,
A week later, Sibajene and her husband welcomed their daughters, through an emergency c-section at 33 weeks.
“I think is when I really started to think ‘Oh my God’, I could actually could have died,” Sibajene said.
Now at home and almost three months old, Amariah and Nariah are Sibajene's biggest blessings.
“Nariah means promise of God. And that's really what I was like, ‘You're not going to die.’ Nothing's going to happen to you. You're my promise,” Sibajene said.
Sibajene is still on medication for her heart and says she owes this Mother's Day to her team of doctors and her support system.
“I have my mom who flew in all the way from Zambia, she's here to support me,” Sibajene said “So I'm really, really happy to have my first Mother's Day with my mother, as a mother. So it's a triple win for us."
