Congrats the to the Campbells

On Thursday, June 25th, they welcomed Keaton Abigail to the world. She weighed 8 pounds and was 19 inches long. She looks just like her dad and even has his hair! I'd have a picture but I was unable to steal one from Jess's blog because she has not updated it yet! Slacker.

Filipino Dancing Prisoners do Thriller

Pay careful attention to the "female"

My baby makes milk!

Ella had her one-monthish appointment today with our new doctors. We had to switch due to insurance - long story. After over an hour wait we finally met our new doctor. One of the first things I asked about was her baby acne. It's getting worse by the day. The doctor asked me if I knew what that was caused by - I totally did because all I do is breastfeed and read baby books (she's getting rid of my hormones). He then squeezed my little birdie's tiny nipple and milk came out!!! Apparently she is producing milk due to hormones too. Now, did anybody know about this and neglect to tell me? Weird.

Her stats:

Weight - 9 pounds, 4 ounces (50th %)

Height - 21.25 inches (50th %)

Head - 25th % (let's hope this doesn't mean a small brain, I kid, I kid)

Out and About

Kellie was in town last weekend for a wedding so we met up with her and Raegan for lunch.

Raegan looks just like Kellie and is such a fun little girl. She brought Ella some really cute pink poodle shoes and a skull and crossbones pacifier.

This was Ella's first visit to a restaurant. We went to Uno's pizza in Schaumburg.

After lunch, we braved the flooded streets to visit Grandma Jeanie at work.

Aunts & Uncles

Ella really likes her uncles, Joey & Eric...

But she is really excited to meet her two aunts - Kerry & Kirsten. They are both arriving tomorrow to meet Ella. Kirsten will be here for a few weeks and Kerry will be here for a month. I can't wait.

Congrats to the Chacks!

George William Chack

Born 6/19/09

8 pounds, 12 ounces, 21 inches

Brother to a one-year old!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Ella's first real bath

Ella's umbilical cord finally fell off last week. Shh, I still haven't been able to locate it. I think one of the dogs ate it!!! She really seemed to enjoy her bath. I guess it reminds them of the womb or something...

Afterwards, I decided to try that old trick of letting her butt air out (she has bad diaper rash). Otis and Greta checked to see that everything smelled okay. What would I do without them to help with the baby?

p.s. She totally shit on the towel.

The many faces of Ella

The social butterfly

The pediatrician warned us to keep Ella away from kids under 10 for two months. They also told us not to take her to parties and large crowded areas. Buzz takes this all very seriously and would not (no matter how much I begged) go out to lunch on Saturday with Ella. BUT, he has allowed her to be around some children - as long as there was no touching.

Here are her latest friends:

Colton - he is my cousin's son. These two will spend many a holiday and family party together and hopefully become good friends like their mamas. He is 7 months old.

This is Nyla. She was born the day after Ella and is my friend Nialae's niece. She is such a little peanut and makes Ella look like a linebacker!

Here is Adriana. She is exactly one month older than Ella. She's Teresa's baby and if I have a job to go back to in the fall, her mom will be watching Ella three days a week so these two are sure to be great pals.

Here is Adrianna's big brother Luke. He is three and he's a great big brother!

Addison St. Leger also came by for a visit but we totally forgot to take pictures. Next time...

Ella is also anxiously awaiting her first play date with all of the other kiddos.

How do the dogs like the baby?

People keep asking me how the dogs are doing with the baby. As you can see by the photo below, she has completely exhausted them - and her dad.

Actually, we're those jerk parents that like to pose our baby on top of our dogs. Otis is used to posing with things on and around him. What's so different about a baby?

Whenever Ella comes home from an outing, both dogs need to sniff her to see where she's been.

I don't know if it's the fact that she's a female or the fact that she had puppies but Greta is very interested in Ella. Otis remains interested in food and the neighbors.

Ella's first outing

Ella had her first outing on May 27th when she was one week old. We planned an exciting day of gynecologists and pediatricians. I tried to have her wear a headband but it's already too tight for her large noggin.

So we switched to her granny hat. She's not really a fan of headgear.

Here she is being violated at the pediatrician's office. Can we talk about that cool wallpaper? Her weight was at 7-7 so we had to come back the following week to make sure she got back up to her birth weight. She was pretty pissed when she found out.

Here she is back at home in the safety of her swing.

Link to the rest of Ella's newborn pics

I'm a blog slacker, I know. It's just so hard to come down to the dungeon (the basement). I've been meaning to post directions on how to view the rest of Ella's newborn pics. Make sure you check them all out because there are some hilarious ones of her and the dogs at the end.

Go to bellajackson.com

Click on website

Click on proofs

Enter password (otis)

Click on Ella's pic

Enjoy slideshow.

The Story of Ella

WARNING: This is one long entry. I need to document it before I forget cuz I have a terrible memory...

On Tuesday, May 19th, I was feeling pretty good. I took a "mental health" day and slept in. Later, I took the dogs to the dog park. That night we went to bed and Buzz complained that he couldn't fall asleep. I had no trouble sleeping but every time I got up to pee, Buzz would say, "I can't sleep." At around 3:30 am I woke up feeling a pinch in my cervix. I got up to pee and had my bloody show. I thought to myself, okay stay calm, you've got a few days still once your bloody show comes. I went back to bed and purposely did not wake Buzz because I knew he was having trouble sleeping. As soon as I got into bed, I started leaking. I got up, went to the bathroom and was pretty positive my water had broke. Buzz got up in a panic and I called the doctor. He advised that I go in. We started getting ready...of course I had to finish packing my bag. We were on our way by 4:30ish.

We called our parents on the way and I was in the delivery room and hooked up by 5:00ish. My water had definitely broken but I wasn't dilated at all. Dr. Gladdin showed up around 7 am and checked my cervix again - no dilation. Also infrequent contractions. That's when I heard the dreaded words - "let's start her on some pitocin." Pitocin is a drug that starts or speeds up labor. They always use it on TLC's "A Baby Story." The problem is it makes for worse contractions and can have bad side effects. I was already hooked up to an IV (which is a huge hassle when you have to pee every 10 minutes), so they just added it. Shortly after that, I started feeling contractions on a regular basis. My parents showed up at some point to check in and to get our house key from Buzz (they were picking up the dogs).

Around 9 am ish my nurse told us that it would be a long time until I delivered - maybe after midnight. My parents left to get the dogs and Buzz went to the cafeteria to eat some breakfast. About twenty minutes later Dr. Gladdin shows up again and looks kind of frazzled. He tells me that he has a suspicion that he'd like to check out. He pulls up the ultrasound machine and voila - she's a breech baby. This was a surprise because at my last two visits he said that her head was down in position. Also, I carried low during the whole pregnancy. He told me that we had to do a C-section. I said, "Oh, okay, when? Like this afternoon?" He said within 1/2 an hour. Yikes stripes. Poor Buzz. I had to call him in the cafeteria and he ran up looking nervous. He was shocked about the C-section and that it was happening in 15 minutes or so. I, on the other hand, was thrilled - no pushing, no waiting, no stretching my lady parts...

I laughed nervously as the nurses inserted a catheter. They told that was the first time anyone laughed while getting a catheter put in. Next thing I know, I'm being wheeled away. Buzz had to stay back while they prepped me for surgery. As soon as I sat on the surgical table I felt another gush of fluid come out of me. It's funny that you don't even care at that point. Next came the spinal block and then I was laid out like Jesus on the cross. They started shaving and scrubbing and who knows what else. After about 5 minutes they brought Buzz in. He still looked quite nervous and even scolded me for making jokes and not taking it seriously. While lying there I heard the docs say, "boy is she a big baby" and "she's really lodged in there tight." There were three songs I remember hearing during surgery and the aftermath.

• Maroon 5's, Wake up Call
• The Fray's, How to Save a Life
• Kelly Clarkson's, My Life Would Suck Without You

I thought that was pretty cool that I had an automatic soundtrack for Ella's birth. The doctor also asked me about Ella's name. He asked if it was after Ella Fitzgerald and I told him it was and how did he know. He said that when he was examining me earlier he heard her on my ipod. Weird.

At 10:05 am they pulled little Ella out of me. They showed her to me for a second and I thought, "Oh my god, I've given birth to Buzz!" Buzz shed a few tears and was by her side instantly snapping pictures and looking awestruck. They wrapped her up like a burrito and let me see her for a minute and we snapped a few quick pics. Then they were gone...

As I laid on the table being put back together I wondered if all of that had really happened. Buzz and Ella were gone and I traced the ceiling tiles with my eyes. All of a sudden I realized it was hard to breathe. My chest felt numb.

I asked the anesthesiologist - "Is it normal to not be able to breathe?"

"Yeah, that's normal."

"Okay good." I started feeling really nervous and sick and next thing you know, I'm puking bile out the side of my mouth. So I ask again, "Is it normal to be throwing up?" Hello, you jerk, please wipe my face and make me feel better. Why can't I breathe and why am I throwing up???

"Yeah, that's normal." He sticks a suction tube in my mouth as I continue to vomit. Finally, the feelings subside and I feel better - no thanks to him.

When the docs finish up I am wheeled into my room and Buzz comes to give me an update. My parents and his mom are watching Ella in the nursery. It would be 2.5 long hours before I see her again. It was the longest wait...

It's funny looking back at. When I was at the dog park I was telling some people that I was nervous that I wouldn't know when I was in labor. This guy said, "Won't the huge pile of water be a pretty good sign?" I told him that a woman's water breaks only 30% of the time. When I got home I saw my neighbor who's a nurse. She told me that I don't look ready and she predicts at least another week. Buzz wanted me to go after Tuesday (due to a golf game) and my parents wanted me to go after Tuesday (they got home from Austin Tuesday).

Right now I type this with Ella sleeping by my side on the couch. Buzz and I are the happiest we've been. I feel like I've been waiting for her my whole life. Buzz is so in love with her and it's a pleasure to watch. There is this great song called Lullaby that has the line, "Life began when I saw your face." That pretty much sums it up.