Our Daughter, Savannah Hope
Welcome to Our Daughter, Savannah's page. Our precious baby girl was born on March 15, 1999. She was diagnosed at 18 weeks gestation with a large occipital encephalocele. As her parents we were faced with the hardest decision of our lives. We had decided early on 'as long as she continued to fight to be with us, that no matter what, we would be here for her, we longed very much to see our little angel', just to have a few minutes with her. And nobody could change our mind about whether it would have been better if we had or we should have done what THEY thought was right. They didn't know how much she loved her parents, about how she would kick and roll when her daddy would talk to her. Or how she would put her little feet in her Mommy's ribs and cause her discomfort. At 3 pounds and 12 ounces and 15 1/4" long Savannah wasn't a big baby by average sizes, but she was OUR baby. And we still miss her very much.
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Savannah's Mommy
When I first thought I was pregnant I was very nervous. I went out and bought a home pregnancy test. I took it and it was positive. Savannah's daddy had just bought a computer and I told him that this was the last thing he would be able to buy for the next eighteen years. He looked at me strange and I said "We're pregnant!" We were both nervous and unsure how happy we should get, we already had one miscarriage and one tubule. I went to the Doctor and he did an ultrasound, our baby was where she should be, and safe. For the next three months we held our breath. We were afraid of another miscarriage. At the end of the first trimester, we had a sense of peace and calm. We heard our baby's heartbeat and we were elated. Then at 18 weeks our world fell apart. We were told that our baby had a birth defect called encephalocele. We were sent to a specialist 120 miles away and it was confirmed. Savannah's daddy was at school from Oct. to Dec. During this time he could not be with me for all the appointments. We had to get her heartrate checked every week in case she died inside of me and I didn't know it. They told me that she would be a late miscarriage or a stillbirth. She proved them all wrong. All her movements were bitter sweet. We had tried to treasure each moment. Sometimes we would laugh and other times we would cry. In the mornings before the alarm clock would go off Savannah would be kicking her daddy awake. She would keep me awake at night, she had her days and nights mixed up. She always kept one foot in my ribs, I miss those times. Our little girl was not able to swallow the fluid in the sac so it kept building up. At 37 weeks it was difficult for me to breathe and I could only eat a few bites at a time. So we decided she needed to come before the 40th week. One of our Doctors said it would be better to induce labor, we agreed at first until she told us that Savannah would more than likely die in the birth canal.It was then I decided to have the C-section, I couldn't live with the thought that I have killed my little girl before she could meet us. We found another Doctor who treated us as a whole. On March 15, 1999 Savannah was born. She lived for around 43 minutes in her Daddy's arms and by my shoulder. We made memories for the next few hours that would last us a lifetime. Savannah taught us more than we thought possible. I still long to hold her in my arms. I will miss her dearly and will never forget her. She is my precious angel.I Love You Savannah Hope!
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Savannah's Daddy
When Savannah was born I was 25 years old. I was away at school when we found out there was something wrong. My whole world seemed to crumble around me, I wondered what I had done to deserve this. After many weeks of pondering the situation I discovered that this was a blessing not a burden. My wife and I spent many hours surfing the web for information about encephaloceles, often times not finding out anymore than we already knew. We hoped throughout the time Savannah was being carried that the Doctors had been wrong or there was something else that could be done. But during this time we had to accept that we would only see our baby girl for only a just a few moments and we would have to make the most of it. March 15 was a day of laughs, cries, and a lot of unknowns. I believe the hardest thing I had done up to that point was to tell both our parents that our little girl had passed away. I also remember the joy I felt when I finally got to see and hold my precious girl in my arms after a rather arduous 9 months. I look at her pictures everyday and tell her good morning and good night, but the feelings of longing do not pass easily.My little Peanut.
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Savannah's Daddy
We planted this flower bed in Memory of our little angel. The stone with the word 'hope' was given to us by one of Savannah's grandmothers'.
Click here to go to the next page
Click here to go to the Daddy page
Click here to go to our picture page
Please sign our guestbook
The burning candle is for rememberance of all our angels.
In memory of Hope Christine---Click here---To view her site
We would like to say thanks to GranGran's Angel Graphics for the graphics.
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