Savannah Joy Case!



Savannah 2007



Today is Savannah's 5th Birthday!  Time has gone by WAY too fast.  As I am writing this I am cuddling with Savannah (at least I am at this point... but I write slow, so I am sure that she wont last), who unfortunately is sick :(  It's not fair being sick on your birthday.  But because she is sick she has gotten to watch a few movies...

Since it is Savannah's birthday I thought I would share her story today.  As with Brooklyn, I can not remember the day I found out that I was pregnant with her, but I am sure that I was very happy, and excited!  My due date for Savannah was October 3rd, 2005.  And we looked forward to meeting our new little bundle of "Joy". 



One of Savannah's great faces



This pregnancy started out like all the rest... throwing up!  I lost my standered 20 lbs., but I stilled loved being pregnant (I know I'm weird).  Every thing was going well until the 9th of April.  It was a normal Saturday.  We had Mindy and Tony over for dinner.  I got up to go to the bathroom and only made it into the kitchen before I went a warm rush of fluid going down my legs.  I could not believe I had peed my pants!  I didn't know what to do.  I quickly went into the bathroom to try and clean myself up as best I could knowing that I would have to walk past our friends to go and get dry clothes.



Savannah around 3 months old



It was then that I discovered that it was blood going down my legs and not pee (really not any better, but still a relief that I hadn't peed my pants).  The rest of the night is a blur.  I got cleaned up and Josh took me to the hospital.  We left Tony and Mindy with our three kids hoping that Josh mom would be able to come soon and relieve them.  It was a long night in the ER.  I wasn't far enough along to go up to labor and delivery.  We left the hospital with no answers, but to follow up with my OBGYN on Monday.



Savannah



Monday brought answers that the hospital should have been able to give me.  I had placenta privia...  meaning the placenta was over the cervix and would be able to bleed.  This causes major problems and could mean lots of bed rest and hospital stays, and a c-section.  But because it was early in the pregnancy there was still a chance that the placenta could move...  OK not really the placenta moving, but the uterus growing and stretching would move the placenta away from the cervix.  But we would have to wait and see... and I needed bed rest to begin with!



I love her smile!



Now bed rest might sound like a fun idea...  if I didn't have three kids...  and the youngest was only 19 months at the time...  But we made it work.  We lowered the railing on Brooklyn's crib and taught her how to climb in and out of bed.  Lucky for us Brooklyn was my first (and only) child that didn't really like to be cuddled to sleep.  Starting at about three months old Brooklyn would want to be laid down in bed to go to sleep on her own...  this continued as she got older...  So at 19 months it would work for me to walk with her up to bed and have her lay her self down for a nap.  And so started Brooklyn climbing.

Complete bed rest lasted for two weeks (and I have to admit that I would get up some... probably more than I was suppose to, but come on I had three kids to take care of and I am not good about asking for help).  Then I had partial bed rest for the next couple of weeks.  After that I was able to return to normal activity levels, but I wasn't really suppose to lift too much.



Goofing off!



The rest of the pregnancy went by fast, with no stresses.  We learned somewhere around 20 weeks that we were going to have a girl.  We also learned that the placenta had moved with the growing uterus and was no longer over the cervix.  This meant a lot less likely chances of more bleeding.  But because I did bleed during the pregnancy I had to see the doctor A LOT!!!  Starting at 30 weeks I had to have two stress test a week, two ultra sounds a week, and see the doctor once a week.  This meant that I was at the doctors office A LOT!!!  Sometimes three days a week.  Thank goodness we have lot of family in town and they were able to help watch the older kids.



With having ultra sounds twice a week we knew what way baby was facing...  And Baby was a swimmer!  Towards the end of the pregnancy Dr. B (Dr. Bianco for those who have missed my other baby stories) started to get concerned about the fact that baby did not have her head down.  And at 36 weeks he suggested we go to the hospital and have her turned so that I wouldn't need to have a c-section.  We set up to have to have baby turned at 37 weeks.



Savannah loves her baths



Josh and I got to the hospital bright and early that morning.  And the nurse started to get things ready for inversion (turning the baby).  One of the things that they do is another ultra sound... And low and behold...  Baby has turned all on her own!  Yay!  So we went home!



Four days later Josh and I are watching some TV  when there is MASSIVE movement in my belly!  When we go back to Dr. B's for our next appointment (four days later) baby is breach again :(  At this point we deiced to wait until Dr. B could induce to try and turn baby.  That way she can't flip again.  And so we are scheduled to go to the hospital early on the 28th.



New Years Eve 2005



The 28th comes and Josh and I get to the hospital for inversion with the hope that baby has turned on her own.  A quick check with the ultra sound revealed that baby has not turned :(  Lucky for me Dr. B was able to get baby to turn doing an inversion...  It was Very painful!  In fact I think I hurt more the day after from the inversion than from giving birth... but I didn't have to have a c-section.



Because baby had been sitting on her butt and not her head, I was not ready to have a baby...  So Josh and I spent a rather long day in the hospital waiting for my body to get the idea that it should have a baby...  After a couple of doses of meds my body started to get the idea, and Dr. B was able to break my water around 4:15 pm.  He told me it would still be a couple of hours before I had the baby.  He had another minor procedure to do in the hospital that should take 45 minutes and then he would come back and check on me...



Halloween 2009



I'll save you the details of the next hour, because things went so fast it is a blur for me.  I remember that they put me on O2 because baby's heart rate started dropping with each contraction.  They also turned the IV fluids way up to help the baby out.  Our kind nurse kept paging Dr. B that things were moving fast and that he should come, but he was tied up with the other procedure.  Baby came SO fast that only Josh and I and ONE nurse were in the room when baby started to come.  The nurse yelled for the Dr. in the hall (Dr. Hammond... I still remember the nurse yelling for her) to come and help.  Dr. Hammond came in to the room in time to deliver the body (head was already out) and remove the cord from around baby's neck (the reason why her heart rate was dropping with each contraction).

Savannah Joy Case came into the world at 5:22 pm.  Dr, B got there in time to deliver the placenta...  Savannah weighed in at 6 lbs. 6 oz.  She was 20 and 3/4 inches long.  She had a little light brown hair (very little) and big blue eyes (that were brown by 2 months old).  Josh Jr. was in the middle of a soccer game when we called to tell the kids.



Thermopolis 2008



Savannah is a very sweet sensitive little girl.  She has always been concerned for others, and wants people to be happy.  To night she got to "stay up as late as she wanted too".  We watched Peter Pan II - Return to Neverland.  We ate popcorn and had soda (I was happy to see her eat) and she said it was just like going to the movies, and that it was the best night ever :)  I agree!