Going Home!

Finally Friday came and we were able to go home! I had fun loving on this guy and having one extra day of just me and him before the craziness of real life set in. He is such a sweetheart! I couldn't have asked for a better little man to join our family and we are so in love!

The kids came again on Friday to pick us up and even this little lady had warmed up to the idea of a new baby brother:

{My mom always tells me that my kids come out looking like they are 3-4 months already, and I have to say, I think it's true!!!} :)

She is actually a really good helper and loves him so much, now. Although having the new baby in the house has spurred the need for her to always talk to us as a baby in her baby voice. It drives me crazy! But she does absolutely love her little brother now. Both her and Tucker will stop to say hi to him and talk to him if we are just hanging out and playing, it is so cute!

Getting dressed for the first time:

Not sure what to think about all of this. He was perfectly content in the nice warm comfy hospital.

Saying goodbye to Ben in the parking lot. It was a good thing my mom and mother in law were here to take care of me, because owning your own business sure isn't conducive to having the husband around when you're trying to recover from having a baby! :) The business wouldn't stop for little ol' me and I felt bad, Ben was trying his hardest to take care of us, but still had a TON of work to do! Thank Heavens for moms! :)

{Ben totally doesn't appreciate my mom's papparazzi-ness!} :)

This one little girl was very happy to have me home!

The next few days were all a blur, but full of loves and snuggles and poopy diapers and bottles and sleepless nights but still lots of fun! I was almost embarassed to tell this to people, and felt like I had to defend myself for feeling this way, but I felt GREAT! I felt like I could do anything. (besides a little scare that I still had another baby in my tummy...just joking! But really, my belly stayed huge for a lot longer than I remembered it usually did, and I was kind of freaking out. But no worries, there wasn't another baby in there...turns out it just takes a while for your tummy to go down!) :)

{Brothers!}

The two older ones did a lot of arguing about who got to feed him or hold him.

So alert and content. Just a happy baby!

Big Yawn!

As a welcome home gift from the hospital, my mom and mother in law bought and planted a whole bunch of perennials in my yard, and planters around my house to make it pretty. Something I had totally neglected to do this summer. I figured it could wait until next year when I had more energy, and they did it for me and it was SO wonderful of them! I loved it, it was THE PERFECT coming home gift. This little lady helped them with some planting:

Me and Taylor in front of the planter that she planted for me:

Jackson in his crib at just a few days old, looking around:

I turned on his moblie, and he was trying to find it:

My sweet boy heading off to his circumcision:

{Because of our early travel plans and him only being a week old, he had to have his circumcision at his 3 day appointment since we would be in Alabama at his 2 week appointment which is when they usually do them up here in Washington. Why they wait so long, I have no idea! He took it like a champ though, and there were no ER visits for him like there was for Tucker! :)  (When Tucker had his circumcision, I kind of freaked out a bit after he had 3 bloody diapers, since they told me there would probably only be one or two bloody diapers. So I immediately rushed him to the ER, where they checked the circumcision, told me it looked great and changed his diaper. We joke about it now that it was a $300 diaper change!)}

Everything was going absolutely perfect until Saturday night. Well, I guess that makes only one day of perfectness, because I got home from the hospital on Friday afternoon. Anyway...Saturday night I started to get a pain in my upper abdomen that wrapped around to my upper back that was worse than any pain I had ever felt! I didn't know if it was something I ate, or if it was related to my body just having had a baby. It got to the point where it was hurting to breathe, I was laying down just writhing in pain. I took a hot shower, I had Ben rub my back, and finally after an hour or so I laid down with a hot pad on my back and it slowly started to feel better. I called the on call OB doc from my clinic and he just basically told me that if it happens again to go to the ER.

The next morning was Sunday, and it was fathers day! We made a huge breakfast for our favorite father:

Ham, bacon AND sausage, and the hugest omelet I had ever seen, and some fruits. Probably not the best thing to eat if you had been having some stomach pains. But I felt fine in the morning, my mom had taken the baby for me that night and I felt great! So, we ate! We had a wonderful breakfast. Ben then left for church for his before church meetings (we don't go to church until 1 in the afternoon) and the rest of us started getting ready. We had decided to bless Jackson that Sunday because we were planning on leaving to Alabama the next Wednesday, (more on that to come!) and we thought it would be nice to have Ben's mom here for the blessing. Well, it is like 12:30, and everyone is ready. I was upstairs in my bathroom finishing up with my make up when I get the pain again! I couldn't even stand up, or talk. I had Taylor go down and get my mom. I didn't want to risk this continuing to happen over and over, so we decided to head to the ER. My mom rushed me to the ER, I called Ben and he met us there.

The guilty party:

I felt so bad, Jackson was all ready to go in his carseat wearing his cute little blessing outfit:

{The reason it's not white is because when Tucker was born and I was a little bit more frazzled, the same thing happened, we decided last minute to bless him while Ben's parents were here, and I hadn't gotten him a blessing outfit yet, so I had him wear this little blue sweater outfit that I already had. Rather than buy one for Jackson, I thought it would be cute for him to wear the same thing Tuck got blessed in...not that it mattered because he didn't get blessed that day anyway!} :)

So....the plan for the day was, to bless Jackson at church and come home and have a huge Fathers day BBQ at our house. My brother had literally just gotten to our church building from Quincy when I called him to tell him there would be no blessing and that I was on my way to the ER. I got to the ER writhing in pain, actually threw up in the lobby, and then sometime during my 3 hour wait to get back into a room, the pain went away again. I even told the ER doc that I was embarrassed to even be back there since I wasn't in pain anymore. But they ran some tests, and did an Ultrasound on my gallbladder because he said it sounded like either gallstones or an infection in my gallbladder. Sure enough there were some stones! He then asked me if I had had a high fat breakfast that morning. Hmmmm... let's see; bacon, sausage, ham, huge cheesy omelet, I'd say YES. The gallbladder breaks down the fatty foods we eat, blah blah blah...Eating high fat foods can cause stones, and  they just will randomly move and get caught in the pumping valve in the gallbladder, and that is what causes the pain. And anyone who knows me knows that eating highly fattening foods is like my forte!! I seriously have the eating habit of a 12 year old boy, anything greasy or deep fried is my favorite! I'm not proud of it, but that is the truth! :) So he set me up a pre-op appointment with a surgeon for the following Tuesday to remove the gallbladder. A day before I was supposed to be flying across the country! I guess when your gallbladder starts making stones, it doesn't stop so they just take out the whole thing and that is what they told me I should have done.

I was so torn. I didn't know weather to pack or not for Alabama. I knew that if I didn't go when my mother in law was here to fly down with me, I wouldn't have any help. I didn't want to not go at all, because we always love going down every summer. But I also didn't want to risk having another attack! So, I just hung out and waited for a few days to find out what the verdict would be. Tuesday finally came, and it was quite the busy day. Jackson's circumcision in the morning and my appointment with the surgeon in the afternoon. The surgeon ultimately told me that yes, I needed my gallbladder out, but it could wait until after Alabama. I could still go and enjoy family for a few weeks. There was no infection in it, so there was no rush to get it out right away. But that I did run the risk of having another attack. He told me I should eat smaller low fat meals. WHAT??? Smaller low fat meals, are you kidding me? And in Alabama of all places! I was a bit bummed about that, but figured it was worth it not to have another attack!

So, we got all ready to head out the next day to Alabama for two and a half weeks,

(Jackson being a whole ONE week old!) just me, the THREE kids and my mother in law. I was so grateful to have her to help on the way down, since Ben just can't take time off work in the summer, and I didn't want to miss our girl/cousin summer time fun that we always have with my sisters in law and my nieces and nephews. It was a long night of packing and getting ready, but we actually did it and got it all together!

And that was one crazy week for us. Besides the whole gallstones thing, I felt fabulous and was so happy to be home with my babe and the family and had a great time with my mom and mother in law! We are so blessed!

Visitors...

When Jackson was born, he swallowed meconium, and his breathing was a bit labored. They wanted to make sure none had gotten into his lungs, so they took him for the night for some scans and just to monitor him. They didn't seem too too worried, so I wasn't either, and he ended up being just fine. (Thank goodness!) But because of that, they kept him until the pediatrician was able to come to check on him, which wasn't until the afternoon, so the kids didn't get to meet him until the next afternoon! Also, because of that, they wanted us to stay and extra day and didn't discharge us that day. But finally, the kids were able to come, and meet their new baby brother. Which I guess ended up working out just fine, since Tucker still had two days of school left at this point, and it was his field day at school that he had been looking so forward to! :)

Anyway...Tucker was an old pro at this meeting a new baby thing, and of course, just took right to his baby brother. He had been so looking forward to having a baby brother and he is such a sweet little boy!

This one on the other hand, ignored the babe for a while, pretending he wasn't there, and just played with her daddy:

And finally she ventured over to me and Jackson. And even right after meeting him, she went right back to pretending he wasn't there, and goofing around:

Finally her daddy picked her up and made her get close to him and talk to him and meet him:

And FINALLY after that she started warming up to the idea of a new little baby:

I can't believe that we have three kids! Wasn't Tucker just born, like yesterday??? 

I love the big striped cow that the older kids picked out for their new baby brother as a welcome home gift! :)

Oh man, I just love these guys:

We had lots and lots of visitors that first day, and this little Jackson man is already SO loved!

The two Grandma's, of course!

I was so so so happy to have these two here during all of this. Not only was it wonderful having them in the room when he was born, but being there to help take care of me and the kids for the rest of the week was absolutely wonderful! I am so spoiled!

{This is what happens when I ask Ben to take a picture. All of our eyes are half closed!} :)

Papa of course, was there to see the little man a lot:

My brother and sister-in-law and their three kids were in town, so they came to visit:

Unlike Taylor, this one had no problem warming up to the baby. She was in love with him before he was even born! :)

I guess none of the Campbell kids had any problem. All three of them just loved him to bits from the second they met him! :) No wonder they are always asking their parents for more siblings! :) You guys better get on that Allen and Kelli!! :)

Keyton, so sweet with the babe...

And I know exactly where they get it from:

Me and Allen with our THREE kids each:

{I'm loving Allens hat that he got in Greece on his cruise. I loved that when I went to pick them up from the airport after their cruise, he walked off the plane with his hat on, like he was still on vacation, and I love that he still wears it! :) And I love that Keyton had to get his blue fedora to have a hat like his daddy. They both look awesome!} :)

Best Friend Cousins:

Tucker loving on his new brother:

My dear dear friend Heather and her daughter Mandy came to visit me and love on the little guy:

It was also awesome having my good friend Emily work that night. She is a nurse in the Labor and Delivery. I thought it would have been fun if she was my nurse, but it didn't work out like that. She did work the next day and came and took care of me! :)

The kids with their grandma's:

The kids were so in grandma heaven that week! They had the 100% attention of BOTH of their grandma's whom they adore! :) And my kids have some pretty awesome grandma's. We teased them that it was the Grandma Party Bus whenever they showed up in my van. The kids had a blast, and I am so grateful to have such wonderful women to help me take care of my kids and love and support us!

Jackson with his beautiful Grandma Kelly:

Kathryn and Papa came again that night, too! 

Papa loving some Jackson. Although with men, I think it takes a bit longer to feel comfortable with a newborn! :) HA! HA! We love you Papa! :)

Kathryn getting ready for her own little grand baby coming in August!

Jackson content at the end of the day with all the lovin' he got:

hospital photo shoot...

I, of course, like most new moms couldn't get enough of this little man. I was whipping my phone out to send pics to people every few minutes! :) Here are just some pics from the many hospital photo sessions we had:

{My children come out looking at least 2 months old} :)

{He was so alert from day one! It was a little bit crazy to me at first, but he would look all around and hold his head up pretty well!}

Perfection...

I love this little man!

Jackson Montgomery is here!!!

So much has happened since the little man arrived, I've been meaning to write it all down since he was born, but sheesh, who has time for that with a new born! I can't believe he is already 7 weeks! He was born before school was out, and now the summer is almost over!! I need to get some things down before I totally forget! Jackson was born on Wednesday June 12th. He was due on Monday the 10th. I had gone in at the end of May for my 37 week appointment, and he was still head up. He hadn't turned or dropped. Given my history with Taylor, and me having to get a version (where they manually flip the baby) with her, they didn't want to risk me going into labor naturally with her being head up. So, they sent me to the hospital for the version. Dr. said that if all went well, then they would flip the baby, monitor me for an hour, and I would get sent home and at least he would be head down if he decided to come on his own. This was right before I was to watch my niece and nephew for a weekend so my mom could go to Portland, so I asked the Dr. if it would wait until a Tuesday. He said OK, so it was all set. I went in on Tuesday, got all admitted to the hospital and hooked up, they did an ultrasound, and the stinker had already flipped on his own!!! :) Better than the best case scenario. Other than being totally annoyed that I had to go through all the check in, etc... I was glad to be able to go home! Although he did say that the worst case scenario would be that the version would cause stress to the baby, and they would have to induce me that day; and I was secretly hoping that that would happen so I could have him early. But no such luck. I went in to my 40 week appointment, (on my due date) and he had kind of flipped, not totally back to being head up (which is exactly what Taylor did!) but so that he was sitting side ways in my belly. How he had so much room, I have no idea. Even the Dr. was pretty shocked because babies are usually so cramped at this point. And it wasn't like he was a small baby! :) Anyway...He asked me how I felt about being induced, and I told him I felt great about being induced and that I've had to do it with my other two, so I was totally familiar with it. And I was so happy to actually have the baby sooner rather than later. So, they scheduled me to come to the hospital on Tuesday the 11th. It was perfect, my mom had gotten here on that Monday before, my mother in law was going to be getting here ON Tuesday the 11th. It would be great! My mom, Taylor & I went out to a girls dinner the night before, to celebrate one last night of freedom before the newborn. I was packed, I was SO ready! I got a phone call the next morning from my OB Dr., Dr. Brown, the greatest man ever! He called to tell me that the maternity hall of the Valley Hospital. Now, our little Valley Hospital isn't the biggest, but still. To be full, it was so strange! There must have been a full moon! One of my friends, Dori McCallister was actually there that very day giving birth to her baby boy and she texted me that it was a zoo!! So, he wanted me to wait to come in the next day, he told me to come in at the crack of dawn and we would get this baby out. So, it was another day of waiting! But...on Wednesday was Tucker's school variety show, that I was just counting on missing, but I thought, if I am this close to being able to see it, what's a few more hours. So, I asked him if I could just come in after his performance, like at 11, instead of so early, and he was fine with that. (I can be stubborn too, Jackson!) :) I wasn't going to let this baby boss me around! :) ha ha! So, I got to go to Tuckers awesome Party in the USA performance, and I am Oh so glad that I did! :) Totally worth being pregnant for 5 more hours! :) I checked into the hospital right after the show, at about 11.

Yes, my momarazzi was there to document my every move! :) Thanks mom!

Then we waited.

I did have my entourage there with me, although they weren't much of a support group, I looked up and this is what I saw:

My mom on her phone, my husband on his computer, and my mother in law on her i pad. Thanks guys for the help! I'm over here! :)

That's ok I guess, because this is what I was doing:

My labors with Tucker and Taylor were so similar: checked into the hospital at 7ish, Pitocin at 8 ish, break my water at 10ish, epidural at 11ish, born at 3ish. I was expecting something similar with this one, and it was! :) He was just like his brother & sister. Just a few hours behind. They did have to wait a bit before upping the Pitocin too much because I had tested positive for Strep B with this one, and I had to get two rounds of antibiotics in me before I had him. Once that happened, it all happened like clock work. And this was hands down the absolute BEST delivery I've had. Well, I can't complain about any of them, really. But Dr. Brown is so wonderful, it was fun and relaxing and easy and I felt wonderful! I really did! And the anesthesiologist who did the epidural was awesome. It was perfect. The pain wasn't there, and I could enjoy myself, but I felt enough pressure to know when to push and have some control over that.

 And let me tell you, it was SO much fun having my mom and mother in law there with us. They were hilarious and I loved every minute of it. People thought I was crazy for having them both in with me, but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. It was a blast, and they were both so great. I'm not sure how many pictures of my you-know-what they have and who they have shown their pictures to, but I'm sure there are plenty. I was so over modesty, they were all over the place taking pictures, and I couldn't have cared less! :)  My dad was making fun of them calling them the grandma party wagon. They had my van the whole time and were driving the kids around to their things, Tucker still had a few days of school left, and they were riots! :) We are so lucky to have such wonderful and fun mothers!

Anyway...Jackson was born at 8:15 after just a few good push's and he weighed 8 lbs. and 10 oz. and was a perfect little man! He had started crying when Dr. Brown put him on my chest, but as soon as I started loving on him, he stopped crying. Like literally out of the womb, he's been the best baby!

He had swallowed some Maconium when he was born, so he was a bit yellowish with that nasty stuff all over him, so he had to get a bath right away, but there is his tiny little hand, and on the picture below, notice the death grip he has on my finger! He still does that, and has the strongest little grip!

Of course, this is what my husband thinks during the delivery part:

But it doesn't take long for him to change his tune:

Jackson still wasn't sure if he really wanted to be here at this point:

He was nameless for the first two days of his life. We had an extra day in the hospital, and thank goodness, because it took us that long to decide. I was dead set on Jace. I thought for sure I could convince Ben. He let me choose with Tucker & Taylor after they were born. But no such luck this time. He had already veto-ed Jace a long time ago, but I was holding on to it secretly hoping to get my way. We also couldn't decided if we wanted to keep the T theme. Ben absolutely didn't wan to. But if this was going to be our last baby, then I didn't want him to fee left out his whole life. So, we decided on Trent. But Jackson was always there in the back of our minds. And when he came out, I knew immediately that he wasn't a Jace or a Trent. And I think I kind of always knew it would be Jackson, I don't know why. Although it did take me a few days to get his name down. I would forget, or call him Tucker. I was calling him that a lot. (that's not a good sign, I'm already losing it!) :) And Montgomery was because we really didn't LOVE any of the male family names on either of our sides. And Montgomery, AL is where Ben was born and raised, it totally has emotional ties. I know Jackson Montgomery kind of sounds like a country singer, but I guess that is something he is just going to have to deal with the rest of his life! :) Sorry Buddy! A lady in our branch LOVES his name, and came up to me after his blessing telling me how wonderful it is and how strong of a name it is, and how he is going to be like a captain or corporal one day! :)

Anyway, we love our little man so much! One of the things that has totally helped me feel so good this time around is my decision not to breast feed. I know, I know, it is a wonderful thing; and I am so happy when it works for people, and those who love it, I say more power to you. But I just don't enjoy it. I actually really hate it. With Tucker I tried, but didn't end up because I wasn't producing enough so I started supplementing with bottles, then after a few weeks that is all he wanted. Then I guilted myself into doing it with Taylor and really hated every minute of it. So, I made the decision beforehand to not breast feed, and it was one of the best decisions I made for my mental and emotional recovery this time around! It was wonderful! In the hospital, he started wheezing really bad, and breathing really heavily, so they wanted to keep him an extra day for monitoring, so we were there for 3 days in the hospital. They had to take him that night and keep him in the nursery because of it. Other than that little hitch everything went so perfectly! Get ready for a picture overload from the next few days. OK, who am I kidding, the next few weeks! :)