Savannah is here!
Born September 13th 2009.
3:56 a.m.
2lbs. 1oz.
13 1/2 inches long
I know many of you have been waiting for her birth story. Sorry it has taken me so long to post but I know you all understand how busy things have been for us. It all started on Labor Day. I had to go in to the hospital to be monitored for a little while because I was having a few things happen that just didnt seem right. We spent a couple hours there, saw the on call doctor, he checked me, I had and ultrasound, and then he sent me home. He said that everything was fine and my cervix was still closed. Well I still felt uneasy but went home anyway. They had told me that since I had been checked that I should expect some spotting in the next day or two. Well Wednesday morning I woke up to bright red spotting. I was told to expect this but I still didn't feel right about it. So I called my doctor and was told to come in for an ultrasound. My mom drove me there and Daniel met me there. I went in and had the ultrasound and the ultrasound tech said " Oh Shawna!" and had this horrible look on her face. She proceeds to tell me that I am 4 centimeters dialated and the only thing keeping Savannah in is my cerclage. Of course I start to panic because she is acting like I was gonna be delivering her that day. Well Doc Dupre comes in and talks to us and says that I need to go to the hospital and get put on magnesium and put on my head in the bed to see if we can stop labor. He didnt want me getting up at all so I was taken by ambulance just across the street. They had my L&D room ready waiting on me when I got there and all the nurses got to work very quickly on me. Of course I am a hard stick and it took them 6 times, even with the anesthisist, to get my I.V. in. Well they fixed my bed to where I was practically on my head and got the magnesium started. I was also put on antibiotics and was given a steroid shot to help develop Savannah's lungs (I got another one 24 hours later. They told us that not going into labor for 48 hours from the first steroid shot was crucial). I was absolutely paniced by this time. Daniel too. It was all happening so fast. Well soon things started to calm down some. The magnesium appeared to be working. I wasnt having any contractions. So on Friday they decided to take me off of the magnesium and give me terbutaline to prevent contractions. I was also given a nerve pill as this medication can make you very jittery. Throughout all of this I was having severe back pain which we thought was from the position I was laying in. So they would give me staydol and phenergan pretty frequently. Friday happened to be my birthday so my mom invited some people and we had a little party. We had cake and the doc and my nurses joined in. Things were still going ok. Well Saturday morning when I woke up my back was hurting alot and I just didnt feel good so they gave me Lortab which didnt help. By early afternoon my stomach was hurting too and I was in tears. They kept telling me the monitor wasnt picking up any contractions and that I was probably hurting from constipation. I told them I was having contractions but this was my first child and they didnt believe me. SO they gave me staydol and phenergan and it knocked me out for an hour but as soon as I woke up I was in tears. Well sometime that evening I told my nurse I didnt feel right and when she went to check me there was blood every where. Luckily Dr. Dupre was on call all weekend so he came in to examine me and I was 5 centimeters dialated. He told us he no longer thought we could hold off weeks but more like days or hours. They started me back on magnesium, a double dose, and things progressed really fast from there. Daniel called my parents and told them that they needed to come. I was still holding out hope that the magnesium would work and I started to panic when I saw them come in and get the baby bed ready. ( I later found out that they had the incubator placed right outside my door but Daniel threatened everyone to not tell me it was there.) I cannot even describe to you the feelings I was having at this point. It's all still a blur. So by the time my parents got there I was is full on labor. And I had complete back labor. Horrible Horrible Horrible pain. At some point my grandparents and Carol Leah got there but I don't remember much about that. I just remember the agonizing pain. Everyone said they could hear me yelling down the hall. I could not even cry it hurt so bad. Plus they ran out of Staydol so I had nothing to even take the edge off. They had to run to the pharmacy just to get some. By the time the anesthesiologist got there I was 8 centimeters and was told I could no longer have an epidural, it was to late, so they gave me a spinal. Finally relief! (I later found out that the pain was intensified because my bag of water was bulging through and the cerclage was ripping). I was so exhausted by this point that I fell asleep while he was taking the cerclage out and had to be woken up to push. I had to push more than I thought I would with her. She was coming out sunny side up and had to be pushed back in twice. Finally at 3:56 am she made her appearance. She made several little tiny cries that sounded like a kitten. Daniel cut the cord (which he was so hoping he would get to do) and they wisked her off to another part of the room to examine and work on her. Daniel went over with her and so did my mom (she was in there too). So they could see everything that was going on with her. I was frantically trying to read faces to see what was going on. In the meantime my doctor could not get my uterus to stop bleeding..turns out part of the placenta was left behind and once removed, finally stopped. Finally my mom looked over and gave me a thumbs up to let me know she was ok. They got me fixed up and soon after they wheeled her by me so that I could see her (for a few seconds) before they took her to the nicu. I remember everyone that was there came in the room soon after and I found out how much she weighed and how long she was. I then found out that she would be transferred to the NICU at Baptist south. They came and got me about and hour later and wheeled me to the NICU so that I could see her before they took her. That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. And it was only the beginning of a series of hardest things I have ever had to do. Knowing that she was leaving and going to another hospital and I had to stay at that hospital was horrible. Words can't describe the feelings. Daniel left soon after getting me settled in to my room to go see her. My dad went with him. I demanded to get out of the hospital the next morning even though legally I should have been there 48hours after the birth but my doc let me go cause he knew I would call with any problems. So Monday morning we left Baptist East and drove straight to Baptist south. So that is Savannah's birth story...I will add another blog of her life so far at Baptist south soon! Please continue to pray for our sweet strong girl!





This next one is another view to show us she is a girl. She is gonna love me flashing her girly parts everywhere. lol




