ELEVEN BEAUTIFUL YEARS!

Savannah at Unique Creations...acting like a typical pre-teen~ Gotta have the pose down.

Her buds. Some old and some new, but all treasures to her.

11 years later and I have a little lady to give me great hugs!

4th annual splatter piece! These have always been so much fun and they have great sentimental value!

It is truly hard to grasp the fact that eleven years ago I would bring into the world such a person that would change my life and my perspective on life as much as she has. At 3 a.m. on 9/25/98 I awoke for what seemed no reason at all. I was calm and silent and then all of the sudden I felt (and swear I heard) a POP! I jumped out of bed and was frantic in what was happening. My water had broken and because I went to the health department for very limited prenatal visits, I was less than prepared for what was to come. My water was not "leaking" but was rushing out. I can still see myself frantically rushing around in my nightgown thinking "Oh my goodness, what do I do". Thankfully loved ones were near enough to attend to me and get me where I needed to be at that time...St. Mary's hospital. I got settled into my room with great hospitality by the attending dr.'s and nurses and rode the waves of contractions as long as I possibly could. When I reached the appropriate mark of dialation I opted for the epidural. At this point it was easy, breezy, but I was still terribly frightened of what would be coming so soon. Once I was ready to push complications began to arise because of the fact that Savannah was so large in comparison with my small young, frame. She was stuck for 2 hours and needless to say I would have to undergo extensive cutting to allow her to pass through. I took me several weeks to recoop from that. I was also given more heavy drugs during this time becuase of what was going on and lost a lot of blood. Finally at 3:48 p.m. she appeared. Even though I wasn't exactly "with it" at the time, I remember the nurses taking her to the table and as they carried her thinking "wow, I cannot believe I made such a beautiful, healthy baby!" I was truly shoked! It wasn't until a few hours later in a dim and calm room that I was able to really hold her and smell her and be 100% truly thankful for her. I remember the days leading up to her birth and the first few days afterward as such a fantasy world. The weather so crisp and bright and feeling like the world was in the palm of my hands. Every year in September when the weather mimics those days it pulls me helplessly back to that time that would be the final mark on the end of my innocense. I had at that moment passed it to my daughter and my daughter will, by my guidance, keep it for a very long time to come. She has brought me more blessings and tests of virtue than I could have ever imagined and in my case especially, was a true and wonderful gift from God. Happy birthday to my sweet Savannah, my sunshine!

Oh- I struggled with her name for a while and I always loved the name Savannah from the movie Savannah Smiles. I finally went with my gut because every time I pictured my little girl in my head, she was always smiling.

xoxo

Shana