Jan 8, 2009 9:07 pm US/Mountain
Deputies Help Rescue Suffocating Kiowa Newborn

Reporting
Stan Bush
KIOWA, Colo. (CBS4) ―
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A photo taken of the emergency crews assisting after Serenity's birth.
CBS
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A photo taken of the emergency crews assisting after Serenity's birth.
CBS
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A photo taken of the emergency crews assisting after Serenity's birth.
CBS
A mother on Colorado's eastern plains who gave birth on her living room floor credits Elbert County sheriff's deputies with saving her child's life.
Deputies Tony Schiefelbein and Bonner Cardova arrived at Lea Stringer's house just as she was giving birth in her Kiowa home. Ken Brown, the baby's father, had called for help when he came home and found his wife going into labor early.
Brown said the officers couldn't have gotten there soon enough.
"When it's your wife on the ground and your baby's on the couch and they are trying to rescussitate her, it was really scary," Brown said.
Serenity Stringer was turning blue and suffocating after delivery.
"There wasn't a hesitation in their mind on what to do. They just dropped down and went to work," Brown said.
They tried to clear Serenity's airway with a turkey baster. When that didn't work, they performed CPR for 5 desperate minutes. Paramedics arrived soon after.
"We were very lucky that they knew what they were doing," Lea said.
Today the family is breathing easy. Serenity Rayne Stringer -- now only 2 days old -- may have already weathered the biggest storm of her young life. She's recovering at Children's Hospital in Aurora.
Lea says her baby could be released from Children's in a few days, and after that one of the first stops the little one will make is to visit the sheriff's deputies who helped bring her into the world.
"Without them it would have been way worse," she said.
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