On 4/11/2012 Savannah Lee King was born. Our due date wasn't until the 17th but the doctor had told us to expect our little one at any time. The day before I had had my weekly checkup and I had been 90% effaced, and was almost dilated to 4 centimeters. Carter went to work early that morning completely unaware that today was the day. I woke up around 10am with what I describe as a ballooning effect happening to my stomach. (Little did I know it was called a contraction.) My mom called me to find out if anything had changed over night and if she should take off work. I told her about the "ballooning" effect of my stomach and how it was happening quite frequently. Of course my mom being who she is starts to panic and exclaims "Your having contractions, I'd bet money!" I didn't want to believe her since my so called contractions didn't hurt at all! I didn't want to get my hopes up so I told her she was overreacting. She told me to get my things ready for the day, they were coming to get me so she could keep an eye on me. So with makeup bag and clothes in hand I got into the car and prepared to spend a long day with my mom as she threw a thousand questions my way. My dad and Emma were the ones who picked me up so I was spared the 20 questions game for a moment longer. Of course the moment I walked into the house that all changed. Of course at this point I had been "ballooning" every 4 to 5 minutes. I walked in and my stomach started to contract and my mom of course is freaking out exclaiming "Anna! How long has this been happening? How often? Well of course it doesn't hurt, mine didn't either at first! We are taking you to the hospital now!" I of course being who I am told her before I went anywhere I wanted a shower and needed to do my Makeup! After that was all said and done, I texted Carter and his parents to let them know I was headed to the hospital to find out if this little girl was on her way! Carter met us at the house and was the one who drove me to the hospital with my family right behind us. When we first got there, I explained my symptoms to the nurse. She set me up in a room so they could check me before admitting me. They measured my contractions for about an hour. They were inconsistent but frequent enough that the doctor wanted them to continue to monitor me for another hour. During the 2nd hour things really picked up and it was official that I was going to stay. This is where things get a little hectic and frankly a little fuzzy for me. The Doctor was going to come in and break my water but before that had happened I really needed to go to the bathroom. My mom had been in the bathroom when the doctor came into the room so they wouldn't wait and just let me go before he broke my water. Seriously during this entire process I remember thinking I just need to pee! The doctor broke my water and this was when I started to feel the contractions. I was in so much pain I couldn't even speak. Not to mention they had now given me oxygen and I had to keep the stupid thing on my face. No one would tell me why I had to have it on only that it was important. Of course now at this point I am feeling the pain, and crying because I am scared that they have given me oxygen and the stupid thing kept falling off my face! Meanwhile I still really had to go to the bathroom! Now the nurses were being very pushy about needing to draw some of my blood and how urgent it was to get a monitor in me, and I still needed an IV. So on one arm a nurse is taking blood, while on the other arm a nurse is trying to put in an IV and failing so she had to try 2 times. Also they are sticking a monitor in me. Oh and lets not forget the oxygen mask that keeps falling off of my face. I was so frustrated with the mask, in absolute pain because I can really feel the contractions now, lets not forget I still needed to pee, and absolutely scared to death that I cannot stop crying. At one point I heard a nurse whisper something about an emergency c section. I just wanted to be told what was going on! Later I found out that the babies heart beat had dropped when they broke my water, hence the oxygen. After all the chaos of the nurses poking me with needles and being very hush hush, They finally were able to give me an Epidural. At some point I recall Jared giving me a blessing though I don't remember when. My memory of it all is very fuzzy. After the epidural things calmed down, but not for long. The doctor came in to inform me I was at a 7. However because the babies heartbeat had dropped so low he wanted to go get some pitocin to speed this up. The doctor left to go get the pitocin and the nurse measured me again. In one contraction I went from a 7 to an 8. By the time the doctor had returned, I was ready to start pushing. I recall my mom and Carter counting to ten 3 times. In 3 pushes, our little girl was finally here! For the first 20 or so minutes of her life she remained nameless since Carter and I had not yet had a moment to decide on her name. When we finally did it was kind of incredible how we both thought she looked like a Savannah. So Savannah it was. Savannah Lee King. Born at 2:40pm, only 4 hours after having arrived at the hospital. 6lbs 9oz, 19 1/2 inches long. Our little Miracle was finally here :)
