Pregnancy is one of the most joyful experiences for couples who have worked hard to have their own child. Pregnancy, however, is not without risks for some women, as one woman in Virginia discovered. When Dana Griffin-Graves of Dinwiddie learned she was 5 months pregnant in 2015, she surprised her husband, Arkell, by baking buns with the baby’s ultrasound image next to it.
“There’s some stuff in the oven, too,” she told her husband. “What’s in the oven?” Arkell inquired. He stood up, turned around, and exclaimed, “You’re pregnant!” when he opened the oven and saw what was inside. For 17 years, this couple had been trying for a child. Arkell was overcome with happiness. His elation was captured on camera, including his astonishment, speechlessness, joy, and tears.
Graves later posted the video “Buns in the oven” to YouTube, where it quickly went viral. Doctors later warned Graves that the unborn child could cost her life, and the 41-year-old was admitted to the intensive care unit with near-fatal high blood pressure. “The doctor told me, ‘You’re going to die if you keep carrying this baby,'” Graves told PEOPLE.
Graves, on the other hand, insisted on carrying the baby until he had the best chance of survival.
At 24 weeks, she gave birth to a son named Kaleb via cesarean section. “She refused to proceed with the delivery until they could actually care for him in the neonatal intensive care unit. “I’m telling you, just looking at my wife, it was the most selfless thing I’ve ever seen someone do,” Arkell said. Doctors told Graves the next day that Kaleb would not survive because he weighed only 13 ounces (369 grams), but he did.
Kaleb has been dubbed a miracle baby by hospital staff since then. During his 143-day hospital stay, he underwent heart surgery, had fluid removed from his brain, and was intubated due to chronic lung disease. “It was like music the first time I heard him cry. “Everyone sees and recognizes that he is a miracle,” Graves said. “God is great. He’s nothing short of a miracle. “Kaleb is nothing short of a miracle,” Arkell told WRIC.
In 2017, the couple posted on their Facebook page, Arkell & Dana’s Baby Bun, that they were “torn” about how to celebrate Kaleb’s second birthday because of the difficulties he would face. However, because of the joy he brought to the family, it was decided to celebrate his birthday to the fullest. “I was torn about how to celebrate #TeamKaleb’s birthday, thinking about some of the challenges he faces,” Graves wrote. (I didn’t want to throw a party because he isn’t walking or eating.)”
“But then I focused on the obstacles he’s overcome, the numerous surgeries, the eliminated medications, how he continues to surprise us everyday. We decided that every year, his birthday would be celebrated to the fullest because he has brought so much joy to all of us!” Kaleb spent his birthday at the pumpkin patch. He’ll get a Power Wheel car to help with his mobility, peer interaction, and cognitive development. He will receive the car in time for Christmas.