Savannah’s Birth Story

Savannah Rachel entered the world on August 29th at 4:58 am. She weighed 8 pounds 13.5 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Monday, August 28th, we went in for my 40 week doctor’s appointment. I was overdue by 2 days and my midwife was very surprised because she was sure I would go into labor that previous week. With Hurricane Harvey, my husband’s unit had a high possibility of leaving to go help (perks of being a medevac unit). It kicked us into high gear and we talked to the midwife about possibly inducing, because there was no way we wanted him to miss the birth of our first baby if we could help it! She immediately understood and went to go see when we could get scheduled in. She came back and said “tonight?” and we took it.

It was a bit like an ‘oh my gosh is this really happening’ moment at the thought of having our baby so soon and having a date on it. She checked me and I was 3 cm dilated which was one more than last week, but still 50% effaced. We went home and called my mom so she could book her flight. It was such a relief to have it all planned, and we were to come back at 8 pm that day. I rested throughout the day, ate my last meals, and took a short bath thinking this is the last time I am going to spend with this bump. It was bittersweet, but I was so ready for her to be here!

We drove back to the hospital, with our bags that had been packed for about a month now in tow, and checked in with the hospital to make sure that time was still good. They told us we could come in at 7 which worked out perfectly because that’s about when we were going to arrive anyways. We went straight to the labor and delivery floor, carrying all of our bags and a pillow. I was so nervous and just soaking everything in. We got to a room and my mom arrived not too long after. The plan was to rest some and we got the IV started and baby monitor put on. At around 10 everything was ready and they could start the pitocin to begin the contractions. My nurse Mary was the most amazing gift ever and I’ll forever remember how sweet and helpful she was. But, she did mentally prepare us to be here for 2-3 days because inductions can sometimes take that long.

The pitocin acted quickly and I started feeling contractions like I’ve never felt before. She would bump it up a level every 30 minutes and we just had to wait until they were consistently 2-3 minutes apart before the doctor would come in to break my water. I tried to sleep during all of this, but sleeping while having contractions isn’t very doable! I was at 4 cm dilated which was a good sign, but with how much pain I was in, I was feeling like it was more than that. Mary came back in just to check on baby’s heartbeat because the dang monitor kept sliding around and it was hard to get a read on the contractions as well. My mom stepped out into the hall at this same time, and James was asleep on the couch bed. All of a sudden I felt a pop and a release of fluid, and I said “Mary… I think my water just broke.” She was a little shocked, but checked the fluid with a strip and confirmed it did break and helped me out of bed to clean up because I was still wearing the clothes I came in. We changed me into a robe and I got back in bed still waiting for the contractions to pick up.

My mom came over to my left, and J on my right, and they both grabbed my legs and she had me grab underneath my thighs. She told me to take a deep breath in and push when I felt my next contraction. I said “ok now” and began to push. I felt so much pain, but it wasn’t how I was expecting. I could feel some pressure down there and soon I was told they could see her hair and that just encouraged me to push more. J was right next to me encouraging me and telling me to breathe and push. He was the only person I was listening to and could hear, so I am so thankful he did that. The doctor told me her head was coming out, but when I would push I would stop some and she would go back in. I didn’t realize, so I just focused on pushing and breathing and soon her entire head was out! I am so shocked it didn’t really hurt, the part that was the weirdest was her shoulders or midsection. Within 6 minutes of pushing, my baby girl was here and put on my chest!

I immediately start crying and just look down at this perfect little baby I made. There will never be words to describe that feeling, it’s so overwhelming and I felt so much love for her; more than I had before. I held her while they stitched me up and I just remember seeing a lot of blood and felt some pain, but I didn’t care because my baby was here. They let her stay on me for skin to skin for a good while, before the pediatrics team came in to clean her off more and get her measurements. J got to hold her for the first time after that and the way he looked at her was just so beautiful to me. Mary told me later and throughout the clean up process how this doesn’t just happen. With me being a first time mom and this being an induction, a labor that quick isn’t normal. She was telling everyone who came in and out, she was just in so much shock! Every fifteen minutes, Mary had to come in and press down on my stomach which was so painful but when you are holding your new baby in your arms, nothing else matters.

Everything settled down and we were assigned a room that we would be staying in. Mary’s shift ended and a new nurse came to take over. We were getting ready to help me up so I could use the bathroom and she was called out so she had to leave suddenly. We waited almost an hour, and thankfully a pediatric nurse came in to check on Savannah, and I asked her to get the nurse back. lol She was a very scatterbrained nurse, but I was ready to go and get into our room. I was wheel chaired up there and we immediately ordered breakfast. We hadn’t ate since about 6 the night before, so we were pretty much starving. I don’t want to make this post too long with going into the post delivery portion, but it has been rough. I am so thankful to our Heavenly Father for this most beautiful gift and to have been chosen to be her mother. Baby Savannah is so loved and there will be many more updates to come.

​Thank you all for the congrats and well wishes!
(And special thanks to my mom for being my photographer even though I wasn’t the nicest at some moments!)