Pismo Adventure with a Surprise Ending

To celebrate my 30th birthday and our 4th anniversary, Ben planned a little getaway for the two of us to Pismo Beach. We left early last Saturday morning and headed up to a great hotel right on Pismo Beach - the Seaventure Hotel. We spent the day relaxing and wandering around the beach and the local town. On Sunday, we did more of the same....we went to Morro Bay in the morning, the beach during the day, McClintock's for dinner, and then to see Transformers in the evening. All in all it was a nice, relaxing weekend. After the movie, we went back to the hotel to get ready for bed and our drive back the next morning. Just as we were getting ready to go to bed our peaceful, relaxing weekend came to a screeching end.

At 10:45 pm on Sunday, Riley decided to let his presence be known. He gave one final kick and the next thing we knew my water had broken. Remember now, we had just hit the 29 week mark and still had over 10 weeks to go. Once we realized that my water had broken, we rushed downstairs, asked the receptionist at the front desk where the nearest hospital was and made a mad dash for the car. Thankfully, as Ben was driving we were able to reach a family friend who happened to be an ob/gyn in San Luis Obispo (which is 15 miles away). She told us which hospital to go to (the one the hotel told us about ended up not even having an ob unit and would have been useless) and we turned around and drove the 15 miles to SLO. Once we arrived at the hospital (11:30 pm) we were given a room and I was checked out by the nurse. My water had definitely broke and I was 3 centimeters dilated but I was not in active labor. The doctor came and the plan was to see if we could suppress labor for a couple of days to give our baby a little more time to develop. I was given magnesium sulfate to help stop labor and was also given a steroid shot to help our baby develop his lungs. At 2:45 am, I was still 3 centimeters dilated and was starting to feel mild contractions. At 3:00 am, after some more intense contractions, we found out that I was fully dilated and ready to go!! They called the doctor and at 3:10 am on July 9th, Riley Maxwell Deneen entered our world kicking and screaming at 2 lbs 13 oz and 14 3/4 inches!!!

Since getting to this point was a long journey, it is not the least surprising that this part would not be any easier. Since Riley decided he had to come out and play 10 weeks early, he is going to have to be in the NICU for the next couple of months. So, for the next 3 to 4 weeks, Ben and I will be making San Luis Obispo our home as Riley spends time in the Sierra Vista Hospital neonatal intensive care unit. We are hoping that Riley will be stable enough after that time to be transferred to a hospital closer to home.

Riley is 4 days old today and is doing really well. The doctor gave him his first A+ today!! He's off his ventilator and breathing on his own. He has also started taking a little bit of breast milk each day. He is also incredibly feisty and loves to kick and stretch out his hands and legs.

Here are a couple of pictures of our beautiful little boy (the first picture is when he was 1 day old and the others are from today-isn't it incredible how different he looks in only 3 days???)

Ben, Riley, and I would also like to thank everyone for their well wishes. We appreciate all of your support and are thankful that we have such great family and friends.