The Shannon Family: Savannah Sue's Birth Story

Savannah's official due date was on November 27th, which happened to fall on Thanksgiving this year, and since that was the case John and I decided to be induced on Friday November 21st, 2014. I was torn whether I wanted to be induced a week before my due date or to let labor come on naturally on its own. I ultimately decided on being induced for 3 main reasons...

1. I wanted my doctor to deliver little Savannah because she is an amazing doctor.

2. Because I was incredibly uncomfortable and tired. I was anemic just like with my other two pregnancies and was having to take 2 iron pills a day. Even that didn't seem like enough because I was still quite tired. I felt ginormous and gained the most weight with this pregnancy, nearly 50 lbs! Needless to say I out grew my pregnancy clothes a few times.
I'm going to be honest here... I'm not one who really enjoys being pregnant due to the extra weight gain, the extreme fatigue, the iron deficiency, and the intense pain I had in my pelvis and lower back. Don't get me wrong I loved feeling my babies kicking and moving about inside of my belly, And I'm blessed to be able to create and sustain a precious baby inside of me. I just don't enjoy the extra aches and pains that come along with pregnancy and only being able to take Tylenol to alleviate it. The last few months of my pregnancy I had a lot of pain in my lower back and pelvis. At times almost unbearable. As well as a high heart rate on occasion. My resting heart rate would be in the 140's! My doctor said that it could have been due to a heart murmur. I never went in to get it checked out so I don't really know for sure what it was caused from. But despite all of the pain and discomfort my precious little babies made it all worth it.

3. Since we live about 45 minutes away from the hospital I was to deliver at. I didn't want to deliver my baby in the car or on the side of the road in case labor came on too quickly.

Now on to the day when Savannah was placed in our loving arms. Before John and I made our trip to the hospital I asked John to give me a priesthood blessing which gave me comfort and peace of mind to know that the Lord was with us on the journey we were about to embark upon. John and I arrived at the hospital at 12:30 pm on Friday November 21st. We checked in and got situated in our room and the nurse placed the I.V.(which took 3 attempts, 2 nurses and one very sore arm!) and then started up the Pitocin. I was doing pretty well at the beginning until the contractions started to get more intense. When I was dilated to about 4 cm. I then asked for the epidural. The epidural helped alleviate a lot of the pain from the contractions and I mostly felt pressure upon contractions and not pain. My doctor increased my pitocin twice over a 3 hour time period. At around 5 pm I started feeling a lot of pelvic pain with each contraction even with the epidural. I'm pretty sue that the epidural wasn't really working at that point because the pain in my pelvis was almost unbearable. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me a hefty dose of medication which did help some. I just couldn't believe the amount of pain in my pelvis still. I pushed through 4 or 5 contractions and then her head emerged but her shoulder was stuck behind my pubic bone! The doctor and nurse laid my bed down flat to try and give her more room, and the nurse had to push down really hard on my belly during a contraction to help her out while my doctor rotated her shoulder. The pelvic pain was so intense because she was stuck behind my pubic bone, but all I could do was push through it. When she did finally emerge she wasn't breathing and looked pale. John and I were terrified and were fighting to hold back the tears! And it didn't help seeing the worried look on the nurse's face when our baby was having a hard time which worried us even more. The nurse started to rub her back vigorously to stimulate her and she let out a weak cry and then was quiet again. Again my nurse stimulated her and she finally got her breathing and crying normally after what seemed like an eternity. John and I had never been so scared before in our lives and we definitely weren't prepared for that. We were so relived that she came through it safely aside from a popped blood vessel in her right eye from a traumatic delivery. She was born at 5:53 pm, weighing in at 8 lbs. 1 oz., and 20 inches long. Savannah was my biggest baby so far. Mallory my first born weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz., and Aubrey my second daughter weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. My doctor said that it was a good thing that I was induced a week early since she had gotten stuck. She would have gained more weight over that week which could have caused more complications. I guess my frame is too small for larger babies.

Savannah was covered in vernix, had dark brown hair, deep blue eyes, and I was smitten with her the moment I laid eyes on her. She had been my constant companion for 9 months and my heart was linked with hers from the very beginning. That's just how it is between a mother and her babies.

My recovery with this labor and delivery has been difficult due to the shoulder dystocia. The day I delivered baby Savannah and the day after I was incredibly sore, especially my abdominal muscles and tailbone. I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach repeatedly and my pelvis was still hurting pretty bad. I became very nauseated from the amount of pain I was in and had to take anti-nausea medication several times while I was at the hospital. It took awhile for the pelvic pain to completely dissipate, and I'm happy that the pain is becoming a distant memory now.