Logan Scott Chapman

LOGAN SCOTT CHAPMAN

The relieved daddy.

The grateful mommy.

The happy couple with baby #4!

Logan's oldest sister/Mom #2, Haley.

Logan's other sister/ Mom #3, Maleia.

Logan's older brother/playmate/tormentor, Dylan.

Do we really have FOUR kids??!

The whole Chapman clan.
B wants to add "so far" to the end of this...
I'm not so sure.

Leaving the hospital.

The birth story was pretty mellow, just the way we like it, and as normal as you can get. The pre-birth story is what makes it amazing. . . At 6 weeks pregnant, I go in to have my first appointment with my OBGYN that will deliver me here in Utah. Living in Hungary, the US Embassy gives us a choice to either deliver in Vienna (2 hours away), London (and have to leave 6 weeks before I am due), or chose a place in the States (and leave 6 weeks before I am due.) This was a no-brainer for us. Since we didn't want a 2 hour commute to conflict with a potential emergency and we don't know anyone in London to chill with for 6 weeks, we decided a free trip home to deliver in the state where the most babies are born per capita was the smartest idea. Utah KNOWS babies!! Plus, we have family here. Tons and tons of awesome family. My sister even volunteered her home to us and even finished her basement just so that we can have more space and feel more at home. Now THAT is love I tell you.

Okay, so at my first appointment here in UT, they did an ultrasound and the normal bloodwork to find out that my growth hormone is rock bottom. The doctor mentioned that this could be a possibility of three things: 1. It will eventually go back up and there will be no worries. 2. My baby will just be small. or 3. Trisomy 18. (Don't look it up, or do, but either way it's SCARY!) Basically it's a chromosomal deficiency where the baby grows to full term, but can only survive a few hours to a few days outside the womb. So the doctor wanted me to take the Triple Screen to see my odds. So off to London for testing...

The results of the tests, surprise surprise, were bad. The doctor said that there is an 80% chance that my baby will have Trisomy 18 and 20% chance that my baby will just be small, but they won't know until the 20 week ultrasound or we can do an invasive Amniocentesis to get for sure results now, but there is a 20% chance of miscarriage from the Amnio. We vetoed the idea of an Amnio and definitely didn't want to have an abortion (the clinic was next door to the best abortion clinic in London apparently) so we decided to just wait until the 20 week ultrasound.

At 20 weeks, and after a lot of fasting and prayer, we were off to London again. This time I wasn't by myself and B was able to tag along for "moral support" and apparently also for a body guard... but that is for another blog post. ;) We went in for the ultrasound and after the tech took all the measurements, the Scottish doctor came in with almost tears in his eyes and hugged us both and congratulated us that the baby looked great and that there was no sign of Trisomy 18. "You beat the odds!" He said and then told us, "We aren't like those Americans. Go out and celebrate!! Get a glass of champagne and a bottle of wine and really enjoy yourselves tonight!" (all in his awesome Scottish accent.) Too bad we don't drink. I did tell B that it was doctor's orders. . . You should have seen the look he gave me. ;)

So I kept going to my appointments in Hungary and the doctor there kept scaring me to death about the size of my baby and how my growth hormone was still at rock bottom, but my American OBGYN that we sent the results to was disinterested in the size and was just grateful that the baby was proportionate. Her calming words rang in my mind nightly, "I deliver babies that small all the time and they end up being just fine."

God bless America! ... On Monday, August 23rd, we arrived at the McKay-Dee hospital in Ogden, UT at 7am for an induction. I stopped growing 2 weeks prior, so the doctor wanted to just get this baby out. She wasn't too worried, but knew that I don't go into labor by myself anyway, so she felt good about an induction. We waited until B arrived (thank goodness the baby did too!) and planned around B's aunt Denise's schedule so she can be there as well. They started me on pitocin... and we waited and waited and waited... and waited. I got an epidural when the contractions got pretty strong, but it didn't work on the front half of my body. And I was TOTALLY fine with that since I could feel the pressure still and the pain I felt was only 1/4 or less of what I would have felt otherwise. At around 6:30pm, almost 12 hours later, I wanted to push and the doctor said I was fully dilated, so we called B to get his booty up to the room (he went to go eat something after my prodding and assurance that it would probably be a while) and he made it just in time for my three pushes to get this baby out. Easy. I do love those uneventful birth stories... especially when they are my own. :)

We were blessed with a healthy baby, Logan Scott Chapman, on August 23rd at 6:55pm. He was 5 lbs. 15 oz., and 20 inches long. He is small, but mighty! I can already tell he will be a leader, maybe even president some day. Just kidding, but we are grateful that he is here and that the worries of the past are simply that: in the past. Now if I can only get my kids to stop kissing Logan!! Now I have to worry about him getting sick... such is a life of a mom.