Happy Thanksgiving!

The board in Jackson's room that his nurses made for him. 

Well, my wonderful hubby has started this blog, and I finally have a second to contribute to it.  How perfect is it that Jackson was born the day before Thanksgiving?  And boy, oh boy, do we have so much to be thankful for!!! Oh, Jackson is soooooo cute! He has some long arms and legs (like his Daddy) and I'm pretty sure he has inhereited the Brunker nose!  He has some chubby cheeks and sweet fuzzy blondish/brownish hair.  In Nick's first post he mentioned Jackson's head - oh gosh -  it was huge and swollen from delivery (don't worry-I will spare you all of those details!!).  It has gone down tremendously with a little bit of bruising, so we are hoping it will  continue to get better.

We got to visit Jackson throughout the day in the NICU and monitor his progress.  He is surrounded by very knowledgable, caring, and compassionate nurses and doctors.  I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am that Jackson has amzaing, incredible care!  Nick and I have been very impressed.  They have been very informative, encouraging, patient with all of our questions/concerns, and so so friendly.  His two specific nurses are Tess and Michelle-these two gals were his first ones on the scene explaining everything in the NICU to Nick in detail while I was in recovery.

Jackson continues to beat the odds!  He still has not had to receive oxygen support.  He got quite a bit of lab work done yesterday, so we will update you all on that today or tomorrow.  I finally got to hold him-that was such a touching, special moment...after delivery they had to take him quickly to the NICU...so I had to wait for a couple of hours.  I can't wait to do that everyday!

Jackson also met his two Grandma's today!  Their hearts were so full-they are quite the proud Grandmas.

Nick and I have commented over and over how we are so blessed with wonderful family and friends, and even people we have never met who are continuously praying and offering support to Jackson and us.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

So as corny as it may sound, there are some specific people I want to thank during this time of Thanksgiving so one day when I look back on this blog I can remember the names of those who helped us during our son's delivery:

Everyone that helped us at Barry Rd. the first night
Don, the ambulance driver.  He calmed my fears all the way to St. Lukes downtown by talking my ear off about all his rescues over his 31 year career as a firefighter
Linda-our day nurse (pre delivery)  I can't imagine how many cups of ice she brought me while I was on the Mag drip
Kristina-our night nurse-especially the contraction night...oh my...once again I will spare you the details ; )
Dr. Lu
Dr. Morales
Dr. Wickstrom
Tess
Michelle
Nurse Martina
Nurse Tosha

Ok, and let me be corny one more time.  My husband has been incredible!!!  I am so extremely thankful for him!  He has been an amazing supporter, encourager, uplifter, motivator and labor coach.  I really could go on and on how amazing he has been, but you all know him....he'd get annoyed at me and say something like "That's overboard Jenny"  ; )  But, honestly, he has been my rock through this whole experience.  And I'm so glad that Jackson has him for his Daddy!

So I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
We will continue to keep you all updated.

Aunt Kate is very excited to be an aunt and stopped by to see Jackson on Thanksgiving day. 

Papa Brunks is excited to have another man around but was disappointed by the lack of teeth in his grandson's mouth. 

Thank you Mickey P. for our terrific Thanksgiving dinner. She really hooked us up! It sure beat Chinese food in the cafeteria for lunch with Uncle Wes and Papa Brunks. That was fun too though. 

 McMama