6.22.2011

Blessings from heaven..




There is nothing like a healthy newborn baby, especially if they come extra early, to remind you of all you are grateful for and to immediately put life in perspective.

Bear Benjamin Paul Buehner
Born June 3rd (4 weeks early), around 1:30 p.m ( it happened so fast that I honestly don't know what the exact time was, probably should find out : ))
5 lbs 18.5 inches long

Here's the story:

This pregnancy was fairly easy, except for lots of contractions and a couple hours of hospital time on a few different days to stop the contractions and monitor the baby, other than that everything was fine.
Ben and I planned a mini staycation here in Park City over Memorial Day weekend and had a fun night with a couple of our dear friends. Monday the 30th, I woke up feeling a bit off. I just felt weird and had a bit of anxiety. I called home to check on Coco and she was fine. Then I realized that my baby hadn't been wiggling around as much as he normal was. I monitored his movements through out the rest of the day and something just wasn't feeling right. When we got home later that night I called my awesome doctor and she said I should head to the hospital and just get hooked up to the monitors and make sure everything was ok. I took her advice and drove myself to the hospital at 10:00 p.m. that night. He looked fine on the monitors and they sent me home 2 hours later. I had an ultrasound at my doctors office the next morning and again he looked fine. My fluid was a little low but not low enough for them to be too concerned. I still felt a little off and knew this baby was just acting different. The next 2 days were similar, just light movement and felt off. Looking back I'm sure my intuition was in high gear because in 2 days I had all the loose ends finished up and was pretty much ready to welcome this new baby if he showed up early. On Friday morning, the 3rd, he was not moving at all unless I really poked him. I had a regular doctors appointment that afternoon but called to see if I could come in earlier. My doctor suggested I just head down to the hospital and get monitored again. I took a little bit of time that morning and put a baby bag and my hospital bag together to keep in the car just in case. I headed down the canyon around 10:30 a.m., called Ben on my way and just told him I was going to stop by the hospital before I went to the office to make sure everything was ok with the babes.
I got to the hospital and was hooked up to the monitor by 11:30 a.m., I had only been hooked up for 2 minutes when I had a contraction (that I hardly even felt) and the babies heart rate dropped to the floor and recovered very slowly. I was on the phone with Ben telling him that everything seemed fine etc when the nurse literally came running back into the room with the IV kit in hand. She said, is that your husband on the phone? I said yes, she said tell him to get in the car and get down here asap because you will most likely be having this baby within the hour if not sooner!
That was a bit of a shock to say the least! Ben was totally in shock and said to me "just tell her its to early to have this baby" I had to make it very clear that he needed to get in the car asap get down here. They were not messing around and said this little babes was in trouble and needed to come out via emergency c-section. My doctor was in Park City as well so she and Ben were chasing each other down the canyon running people off the road to get to the hospital in Salt Lake. They arrived within minutes of each other and we were in the operating room 5 minutes later. It was pretty surreal, we barely had time to tell anyone we were even in the hospital. Ben was able to get ahold of my parents right before we entered the OR and I had been texting a few close friends and trying to stay calm. I was just praying that our babes would be healthy and at least 5 lbs. I made Ben say it with me over and over, healthy and 5 lbs, healthy and 5 lbs. They had him out 20 minutes after entering the OR and he was healthy and 5 lbs exactly. Prayers answered.

He was breathing on his own and looked great, Ben was able to hold him for a few minutes before the NICU team took him away to double check that everything was ok.

The whole experience was so surreal and SO different from our experience when Coco was born. Bear spent the next 2 1/2 days in the NICU. His lungs were a bit premature and they needed to push some air through them to expand the lower section, he needed to be under the lights as well. The nurses and doctor in the NICU are amazing people and we felt very blessed to have a healthy baby that just needed a bit of TLC. There were 43 babies in the NICU when we were there, its pretty amazing to see the 2-3 pound little babies and all they can do for them. They made our little 5 pounder look like a big bully!

I was disappointed by having to have a c-section but I would have done anything to have a healthy baby so a c-section is minor in the scheme of things.

Bear and I spent 4 days in the hospital and were able to come home together on the 7th. He weighed 4 lbs 8 oz when we brought him home. Coco said he looked like a baby bird, Ben said he looked like a frog. He actually looks like an angel. We are so grateful to have him home and feel like a real family.


Lesson: don't doubt your intuition, your angels are sending you nudges all the time all we have to do is listen.

Life is beautiful.