At 28 weeks pregnant, Kaya Williams thought she was having a normal pregnancy. But, after a scan showed that her baby was suffering from a possible heart abnormality, Williams decided to seek a second opinion. At a prenatal appointment, she learned her baby’s heart didn’t sound normal.
That’s when the 23-year-old suddenly found herself being rushed to The Women’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial, surrounded by specialists urgently preparing for a high-risk birth.
“I kept hearing doctors come in and out, telling me they were worried about the baby’s heart,” Williams said. “I was panicking. I didn’t know if it would be me or my baby, or both of us. It was the scariest moment of my life.”
On January 28, 2025, at just 28 weeks and one day, Williams underwent an emergency C-section.
(Jackson Health System)
“As soon as the baby came out, they told me she went into cardiac arrest,” she said. “The team spent more than 20 minutes stabilizing her tiny heart.”
Her newborn daughter, Aryanna Armani Bateman, barely weighed two pounds. She was diagnosed with complete heart block, a rare condition where the heart’s electrical signals can’t travel normally. She also had a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) — a hole in the heart — that required surgical closure.
Later that day, pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons implanted an external pacemaker, a life-saving procedure not typically performed on a premature baby.
After the procedure, Aryanna was cared for in the Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Holtz Children’s Hospital, Florida’s largest and highest-rated NICU. The team monitored her heart, supported her fragile lungs, and guided her through multiple surgeries, including the placement of an internal pacemaker.
“Aryanna faced a serious cardiac condition, and she faced it at an extremely premature age,” said Steven Fishberger, MD, program director of pediatric electrophysiology at Holtz Children’s. “Usually, the internal pacemaker is meant for adults, but our team adapted it for premature babies, and the surgery was a success.
What made Aryanna’s survival possible was the immediate recognition of her condition, the rapid coordination between our fetal, surgical, and NICU teams, and her own remarkable resilience.”
Williams still remembers how gentle and honest Dr. Fishberger was during the hardest conversations.
“The day before her surgery, Dr. Fishberger told me he didn’t know if she would survive,” she said. “But the next morning, when he walked into the room smiling, I knew she made it. He was so proud of her.”
Aryanna spent four months and four days in the NICU, fighting several different challenges. However, despite the obstacles, every milestone mattered: opening her eyes, moving her hands, graduating from the incubator, taking her first bottle, and being held by mom for the first time.
“It was the end of April when I first held her,” Williams said. “She had so many cords; she wasn’t ready to be held for such a long time. But one of our NICU nurses, Melissa, came in and said, ‘You’re going to hold your baby today.’ I will never forget that moment.”
By the time Aryanna was discharged on June 5, 2025, she had grown into a strong, 10-pound baby girl.
Today, she continues to thrive at home. She sees her cardiologist regularly, and her pacemaker will be adjusted as she grows, with routine battery changes every few years.
To her mother, every moment feels like a gift.
“She’s a warrior and a miracle all in one,” Williams said. “Jackson saved her life. The doctors, the nurses, the caseworkers — they didn’t just care for her. They cared for me, and they gave my daughter a future.”