Jackson's Hospital Visit

Jackson was scheduled to have hernia surgery, along with a few other procedures his urologist wanted to do, on Tuesday 1/20. Well, he awoke Monday clearly in pain and bleeding a little...our doctor told us to get to the ER. Not a fun thing to hear... Turns out part of his intestine had become 'stuck' in the hernia and required emergency surgery. They initially told us they were going to have to do a bowel resection (remove the part of the intestine that was stuck), but thankfully, it hadn't been stuck long enough to be compromised, so the surgery was much less complex than we feared. They repaired hernias on both sides, as well as the umbilical hernia (the giant belly button). His surgeon was just wonderful and he received great care at Children's Memorial here in Chicago. I stayed with him, holding him all night long Monday night and after he proved to the nurses that he was, in fact, starving and could take down a full feeding, they discharged us Tuesday night. We are so thankful that the surgery was a success, that it was less invasive than it could have been, for the wonderful folks at Children's and for those smiles that are back in full effect on our sweet boys chubby face :) Thank you to all of you who kept us in your prayers and for all the emails, texts and calls. Baby Jackson is on the mend!



Just hanging out in his hospital bed...They had to put a big cast type thing over the IV in his foot, because our little soccer all-star kept trying to kick it off...
















Spending a little QT with Daddy

Just 3 days post surgery...looking pretty good, huh? :)

Georgia's visit

My dear friend Georgia was Jackson's first non-family visitor (although, really, she is family)...it was so good for me to get to spend time with my buddy and Jackson fell in love with his "Aunt GG" immediately :) Unfortunately, both Pablo and I caught a stomach bug while she was here so we weren't much fun, but she was a lifesaver taking such good care of our boy while we were under the weather. We miss you Georgia!!

Month 3

Month 3 was jam packed! Jackson continued to grow and smile every day and had TWO very first Christmases.



The Wilbanks clan came up to chilly Chicago in mid-December to celebrate the season a little early. We had such a ball doing fun holiday things in the city and just being together.

We spent Christmas at home, just the three of us. It was very low-key (although I'd never use the words 'relaxing' or 'quiet' with a 2 month old around!) and so nice to have our first Christmas together as a family.

The best gift of all...

Then we decided at the last minute to get out of the sub-zero weather and head south...we spent the week between Christmas and New Years in Florida, both in St Pete and Orlando. Although we learned quickly that travelling with a little one is MUCH different and a bit of a challenge, we so enjoyed spending time with our families and getting a little 'adult' time together.

Pablo and I used to be such frequent travelers, we had it down to a science. Ha...as noted, travelling with a baby is very different...

Thankfully, this is how Jackson looked for most of the travel day (when he wasn't eating)

Jackson loves time with his Papa D

Kissy party with cousin Kennedy and Aunt Leslie

Family walk in the park in December..novel concept for us Chicagoans

Off to Orlando...

We took a walk in the 80 degree weather...heaven. The stroller usually lulls our boy right to sleep, but I think he was so confused by the warm sunshine, he stayed awake and looked around the whole time.

Time to open LOTS of presents from Grandma, Grandpa Walter and Uncle Carlos

So happy with Grandma...

We had a wonderful trip, but were also happy to be home just in time for Jackson's 3 month birthday, which also happened to be the day of the National Championship game...GO GATORS!!

And just a few days before his 3 month birthday, he surprised us (and himself) by rolling over! Oh, and we had an unplanned trip to the pediatrician, so we got his weight...a whopping 13lbs 5oz! We are loving life with our chunky boy :)

Back to the beginning

Since we are just now getting our act together on this blog thing, and our little one is almost 3 months old...we'll just do a quick 'catch-up' post on the last couple of months...

Wednesday, October 8, 2008....At just 35.5 weeks pregnant, my water broke...SURPRISE! Our precious Jackson Pablo was delivered just 2.5 hours later via emergency c-section at a whopping 6lbs, 3oz and 19.25" long. Preemie my foot! He was healthy enough to come right with us to our room, where we spent the next 4 days recovering and getting to know our little man.

The first month brought lots of blessings, new challenges and not much sleep :) Jackson got back up to his birth weight by 2 weeks and was up to 7lbs 11oz by his 1 month check up. A couple of our favorite shots from Jackson's first month:

In month 2, we figured out that it really is possible to live on just a few hours of sleep. Parenthood is such a gift, but also one of life's biggest challenges...that's for sure! At 2 months Jackson was 11lbs...wowza! Such a wonderful affirmation to us as his parents to know he is thriving. This month Jackson finally got his first real bath, smiled for the first time and enjoyed his first Thanksgiving with the Melgarejos here in Chicago.