{"id":49469,"date":"2021-01-07T02:51:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T09:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-years-first-baby-at-southwest-memorial-is-born-to-dove-creek-family\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:47:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:47:29","slug":"new-years-first-baby-at-southwest-memorial-is-born-to-dove-creek-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-years-first-baby-at-southwest-memorial-is-born-to-dove-creek-family\/","title":{"rendered":"New year\u2019s first baby at Southwest Memorial is born to Dove Creek family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Samuel
Samuel Chanson Jude Montgomery, center, is the first baby of 2021 to be born at Southwest Memorial Hospital. Julia Montgomery, left, adopted the child from his biological mother, Chelsie Leppert, right, her daughter-in-law.<\/span>Courtesy Southwest Health System<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The first bundle of joy for 2021 at Southwest Memorial Hospital was born into a Dove Creek family Jan. 5.<\/p>\n

Chealsie Leppert gave birth to Samuel Chanson Jude Montgomery about 6:25 a.m. Tuesday. The 4-pound, 15-ounce baby boy is \u201chealthy and handsome,\u201d she said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not thinking of it at the time, but having the first baby of the year is an extra bonus,\u201d Leppert said. \u201cHe\u2019s not a crier, and is making lots of little noises.\u201d<\/p>\n

The baby was born earlier than expected, she said, and came into the world quickly with labor lasting just a few hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shopping the day before and had the urge to push. I knew then he wanted to be born,\u201d said Leppert, 21.<\/p>\n

About 1 a.m. that night, her husband, Charles Joseph Montgomery V, drove her to Southwest Memorial in Cortez from Dove Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was trying not to speed, and I told him we were going to make it,\u201d Leppert said. \u201cWe checked in around 3 a.m., and Sam arrived a few hours later. I\u2019m exhausted. The staff was really sweet and caring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all super-excited. Mom and baby are healthy,\u201d said registered nurse Ren Smith, who assisted with the delivery. \u201cHe looks good in his onesie, which says \u201cNew Year\u2019s Baby,\u201d and is about to have his first bath.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new baby is being adopted by his paternal grandparents, Julia and Charles Montgomery IV, also of Dove Creek.<\/p>\n

Leppert said the decision was made together by the extended family. She and her husband have another young child, and took a financial hit and job loss because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been tough to make ends meet. I grew up with the same history, being raised by my grandparents, and it was the best life I could have had,\u201d Leppert said.<\/p>\n

Julia and Charles Montgomery are \u201coverjoyed\u201d to adopt Samuel, and it has been a long dream of theirs to raise another child.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he grows up knowing how much he is loved. He will be amazing and comes from a long legacy of good, strong men,\u201d said Julia, who is a second grade teacher in Dove Creek. Her husband is a retired oil field worker.<\/p>\n

Having Samuel grow up in rural Dove Creek is ideal, Julia said, because he can grow up with friends throughout the school years and be supported by the traditional values of a small farming town.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is like a big family here. Everyone looks out for everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Leppert plans to stay involved in Sam\u2019s life, and feels he has a bright future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he does not grow up too sheltered, and wants to explore and learn as much as he can,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The family put a lot of thought into the child\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Samuel Chanson Jude Montgomery is a combination of Hebrew and French words, and translates to \u201cBecause I asked the Lord for him, a song of praise for this strong man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correction: The first name of the grandfather adopting the child was corrected in this story.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Extended family welcomes Samuel Chanson Jude Montgomery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,80,1972,13,28,29,538],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-49469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-dove-creek","tag-family","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-southwest-memorial-hospital"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87589,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49469\/revisions\/87589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49469"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=49469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}