Both times we heard and saw the baby's heart beating away. I had more bleeding episodes throughout the pregnancy and the doctors always attributed it to being on anticoagulation drugs and a sensitive cervix.
We found out we were having another girl about 16 weeks into the pregnancy. We were excited to be having another girl (I think Jude really wanted a girl), but we really just wanted to be able to bring home a living, healthy baby. We finally told the kids about the pregnancy 20 weeks into it, and of course it was public knowledge after that. It took a couple of months, or so, but we finally decided on the name Savannah Rae. Savannah, because it seemed like such a happy name, and we all needed some happiness. Rae after Jude's dear sister Raegan and also because Savannah would be our "Rainbow Baby." A "Rainbow Baby,' is the understanding that the beauty of a rainbow does not negate the ravages of the storm. When a rainbow appears, it doesn't mean the storm never happened or that the family is not still dealing with its aftermath. What it means is that something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst...of the darkness and clouds. Storm clouds may still hover, but the rainbow provides a counter balance of color, energy and hope.
On July 14th very unexpectedly, my water broke at around 9 PM at just over 37 weeks. Our other 4 children were born on or shortly after their due dates, and my water had never broken on its own. The OB insisted I go to the hospital and be checked, even though I wasn't contracting yet. I was concerned that the baby wasn't moving as much, but as soon as they hooked up monitors at the hospital, the baby was moving a lot. The nurse even commented on her activity, and I thought, oh no another very active child. The nurse checked the leaking fluid, and sure enough, it was amniotic fluid, and I was dilated to 2cm.
We got settled into a birthing suite sometime between 10 and 11 PM. There was still not much contracting, so they decided to augment the labor with pitocin. By the time the pitocin got going it was about 2 AM. After the pitocin started, the contractions became unbearable very quickly, so the epidural was given between 2:30 and 3 AM. I was dilated to 4cm at that time. Shortly after 3 I was dilated to 7cm and the nurse noticed more blood than usual, so she consulted with the charge nurse. They decided the bleeding was a result of fast dilation. A short time later, I felt very light-headed and just not right, but attributed it to anxiety. The nurse came in just minutes later and noticed that Iwas fully dilated and hemorrhaging. They determined my placenta had abrupted and the baby was getting little to no oxygen, so her heart rate was plummeting. There was no time to wait for the OB or set up the bed, so the nurse had me push once. Savannah came shooting out at 3:53 AM, and luckily the nurse caught her. Savannah was very purple and not breathing, so they called in the NICU. After some c-pap and suctioning out 6-8 oz of blood from her stomach and lungs, she perked right up. They weighed and measured her, and to our surprise, she was a tiny 4lbs 10oz and only 17 inches long.
I was still losing a lot of blood, so about 5 nurses were adding another IV line, doing uterine massage and administering a blood clotting injection. The OB arrived just in time to deliver the placenta and no he didn't give us a discount for not having to deliver the baby. After the placenta delivered, the bleeding was controlled easily once the placenta delivered.
As if the delivery wasn't enough drama, Jude decided to have an insulin reaction during all of the excitement. It took a couple of nurses to give him orange juice and keep him from passing out. The nurses thought we would have made a great ER episode.
Minutes after all of the trauma was ending, they handed me the most beautiful, teeny tiny, wrapped up little miracle. Then all of the medical team left us to care for this tiny creature. I was astonished that they could just leave her with us, since she was so tiny and had such a traumatic entrance, but she was amazingly strong and healthy. She only lost 4 oz in the hospital and has been consistently growing ever since.
Life is such a miracle! God is great and we are grateful for the Lord's hand in our lives!
