High-risk pregnancy gives doctor new perspective at Sharp Mary Birch
Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns
San Diego, Calif.
At Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns in San Diego, Nick Saade, M.D., saw the patient experience from a different perspective — as a husband and expectant father. The emergency medicine physician affiliated with Sharp Memorial Hospital turned to trusted colleagues when his wife, Arriel, developed preeclampsia during her second trimester.
“We went through things I had little or no experience with,” said Saade. “Fortunately, we had an incredible team at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns to guide us.”
When Arriel’s symptoms worsened in December 2025, she was admitted and underwent a cesarean section that evening. Their son, Leo, was born seven weeks prematurely and taken to the neonatal intensive care unit.
“It was scary. But because I’m a doctor, I have a sixth sense about when things are going wrong, and I wasn’t getting any of those signals from the team in the NICU. I began to realize that they weren’t worried, so I didn’t need to be. They explained what was happening and that it was very routine,” Saade said. ““This was the field of medicine I had the least amount of experience with. I was in awe of how great the Sharp Mary Birch team is.”
Thanks to the care provided by their medical team, both Arriel and Leo made strong recoveries. Reflecting on the experience, Saade expressed gratitude for the team’s professionalism and said the journey ultimately made him a better doctor for his own patients.