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At five months gestation, Sierra Yoder went to the doctor for a routine ultrasound to find out how her baby was growing and whether she was having her second little boy or her first little girl. She was told her baby was a boy, but she also learned that her son had an encephalocele, which meant part of his brain was growing outside of his skull. Doctors advised Yoder and her husband Dustin to abort the baby.
Believing there was zero chance their son would survive, the parents decided to abort. But then as the appointment approached, Sierra Yoder changed her mind.
“The night before the procedure, I told Dustin I couldn’t do it,” Sierra Yoder told The Washington Post. “He had a big sigh of relief. He was very happy.”
Doctors continued to tell the couple that their son would die at birth and he may not even take a single breath. They said he would be “a shell.” But Sierra Yoder decided her son wasn’t going to have the outcome that the doctors said he would.
They headed for the hospital to deliver the baby they had named Bentley, but without any car seat or plan to bring him home. They were excited to meet their son even if it was only to say goodbye. Then, to their delight and surprise, Bentley was born kicking and screaming.
“He was perfect,” Sierra Yoder said. “It really didn’t matter how long we had. We were just thankful we got to hold him.”
Unsure how many minutes or hours they had with him, the couple and their family members took turns holding him for thirty-six hours. Doctors finally told them they could take Bentley home.
So they did, armed with information on hospice care and funerals. But even with his struggles, including a respiratory infection that led to a hospitalization and breathing machine, Bentley continued to live and grow.
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