Savannah Jolynn was born September 27, 2011. She was a week overdue and weighed 6lbs and 7oz and was 19 and 3/4 inches long. On labor day we thought I was in labor and I had contractions that were increasing in intensity and growing closer together. Matt and I had been studying on how to have an all natural labor the Bradley way (Husband led coaching). My husband had done his best with the other two births but this time he was just amazing because he learned what I really needed during labor and delivery and it was an entirely different experience.
Anyway, we were trying to wait it out as long as possible so we could have a natural labor and we were just about ready to head out the door to go to the hospital when everything just stopped. It was around 2am when this happened and we just didn't understand how this could be false labor. Matt didn't sleep a wink because he thought it was all just going to start right back up again. Well, it never did. So after I was a week over due the doctor would not let me remain pregnant any longer and scheduled us for an induction Monday night at 6pm. I had no idea what to expect and was so disappointed that drugs were going to be involved. They started me on a drug that was to soften the cervix to prepare me for labor that would start in the morning from pitocin.
Matt slept in a chair next to me only I couldn't sleep with all the monitors that I was hooked up to, and the IV, and the cramping I was experiencing every few minutes that kept getting more uncomfortable. My mother had not attended my previous births and requested to be at this one so Matt and I agreed. We called her that morning to let her know that things were moving along very quickly. It turned out I went into labor at the start of the night. I didn't say anything because I thought they could see what my contractions looked like on the monitor and they didn't seem to think anything of it so I just dealt with it. They gave me the pitocin at 7am which was the scheduled time. Things began to progress very quickly and the pain of contractions began to get too intense for me to take. I told Matt there was no way I could handle it any longer, since I was thinking I still had hours to go, and I requested the epidural. AFTER giving me the epidural they decided to check my progress and I was already dilated to 10cm and ready to push. My mother got there just in time and my nurse said my doctor was in the parking lot. They were trying to keep me from pushing and I had to just breath through contractions.
My mother started to feel dizzy so she sat in a chair and all of a sudden she collapsed face first into the hard floor. Matt says I tried to jump off the table to run to my mom and four people were pushing me down telling me she would be ok and I had to have the baby now. They were turning me side to side because Savannah's heart rate dropped too low. My doctor came in just to catch her. At the same time a group of medical staff were surrounding my mother and I heard her try to speak and she did not sound normal at all. I heard the doctor say she hit so hard she had a seizure. She did come to and was back in a chair next to me with an ice pack. She chipped all four front teeth and was extremely bruised in her face. It was so terrifying. I thought she died. She still struggles with pain in her face 5 months later but had her teeth fixed.
Perhaps too much information, but Savannah started crying when only her head was out and then another push and she was completely born. I was so ready to hold her that I grabbed her before she was cleaned and diapered. She was perfect. She was ready to nurse immediately, but I had to wait because I was unable to deliver the placenta because it had deteriorated into pieces. The doctor had to scoop out pieces little by little and it was extremely painful even though I had an epidural only 20 minutes before. I was also bleeding so much with huge clots that I was given some shots to control it. My uterus was not contracting back very well. After that I nursed her and had no troubles at all, unlike the other two. Then they weighed her and she was 6lbs 7oz. They estimated that she had lost a pound in the womb from the placenta deteriorating. If we had tried to fight the doctor for a natural birth we would have had a still birth. So thankful we listened to my doctor. I even had a nurse later on in our stay trying to give me a hard time because I was induced that back in her day women had to wait it out. I kindly reminded her that the still birth rate was also much higher of which she agreed. I certainly have no regrets.
Everything had happened so fast that this probably all seems like a ramble. Savannah is now 5 months old today and is very happy and easy going. If you just look at her she will smile at you. She adores her daddy and will just beam when he comes home from work. Both her siblings can get her cracking up laughing. We are so glad to have her as an addition to our family.
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