Gipson

September 2016, we got the most amazing news. We were finally pregnant with our second little miracle. We were so excited about the new addition to our family, but I will not lie. I was also a little scared. Would I be able to be a good mom to two kids, would I be able to give the baby the attention they needed while still carrying for a medically fragile, special needs child and would Hadley still get the attention she needed with a new baby in the house. I knew that I needed to just trust my gut and know that everything was going to be okay. They would each get the love and attention and that Hadley was going to be the most amazing big sister ever!

Now, I wish I could tell you that this was a normal, non-eventful pregnancy, but that was far from the case. Once again, I was followed by a Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor (MFM) because of my diabetes. We found out that we would welcome a little prince to our family. We knew his name right away, Gipson Parker Chapman. They also diagnosed Gipson with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) just like Hadley was. We monitored his growth closely during my entire pregnancy.

Later in my pregnancy, my doctor got a little worried about the flow in the umbilical cord and had me going in twice a week to check the flow. I had never heard of this before, so it made me super anxious. We watched for slow flow, back flow and no flow. During all the monitoring, we could finally get my Cesarean Section scheduled. This was also something that was new to me because Hadley was born naturally and I had never had a major surgery before. However, since Gipson was breech and it would be too stressful on my body, this was the safest option for us. We scheduled the C-Section for Monday, May 15, 2017.

I had one of my last appointments scheduled for Tuesday, May 9th. On Monday, I started feeling some pressure and what felt like faint contractions. I was also having some spotting. At my appointment Tuesday, I let my doctor know what was going on and he said the spotting can be normal when you are getting ready to have a baby and I was still having some of the faint contractions. We did the doppler reading first to check the umbilical flow and right away I could tell that something was off from the way the Ultrasound Tech looked. She stepped out to get my doctor, and he came in to look for himself and then informed me he wanted to admit me for observation because there wasn’t any flow showing in the umbilical cord. I was a nervous wreck. I was not prepared for this. Eric brought Hadley back to our house for my mom to watch after I got checked into the hospital. I cried forever it seemed like. I was terrified about what might happen and I had never spent a night away from Hadley.

A little while later, my doctor came to check on me. He let me know that he just wanted me there so they could do another doppler screening first thing in the morning, but he was certain we would not be having a baby soon. Just like his sister, though, he had plans of his own. That night I was in full-blown labor, only getting very little pain meds that didn’t help at all. About 5:00am on May 10, 2017, they started prepping me for my C-Section. I was shaking so badly from all the nerves and hormones going on. They wheeled me back to the operating room and had me scoot over to the surgical table, where I could finally get my epidural! Although I was numb, it was the weirdest feeling and at 6:27am Gipson was born!

Like Hadley, we knew he was going to have to be taken to the NICU at Children’s Methodist Hospital. Gipson had problems with his oxygen when he was born. In fact, when I was reading my medical records several months later, I learned he was blue when he was delivered. My doctor also informed me it was a hard delivery. He couldn’t find a place to pull Gipson out by. Gipson’s head was up in my chest area and his feet were straight down in my pelvis. My doctor could finally get to his arm and shoulder and was so worried that he was going to be bruised.

Gipson spent eight days in the NICU. He was having a hard time regulating his temperature, weight, and blood sugars. He was also jaundice. On that eighth day, when we got the news we could bring him home, it was the happiest day! We were finally all home together as a family of FOUR!