Henry VanDyke

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One of Henry’s ear tubes fell out shortly before Christmas and since then he’s had four ear infections in less than six weeks. These infections never seemed to start during normal office hours either so we made one late night run to the emergency room and another trip to an urgent care clinic on a Saturday afternoon.

All this meant, as we were expecting, a second set of tubes. The doctor said he’s only had one or two other kids who have had their tubes fall out in less than five months. Now that Henry is bigger, they can also use a different type of tube so we’re hoping for a year’s worth of ear infection freedom.

We braved the icy Dallas roads at 5:30 in the morning to make it to the surgery center. Our 7am surgery slot was slightly delayed because the anesthesiologist got in an accident on the way to the center. Just like last time, Henry was only away from us for about 10 minutes, though it felt longer. This time they gave him a small dose of sedative before the anestesia so he wouldn’t put up a fuss being taken away. It worked and  left him pretty groggy afterwards so he barely cried at all. Once he was home and got a much delayed breakfast he was back playing like nothing happened.

We’re very thankful that he stayed well enough to get the tubes. It’s been a tough week for Henry with an ear infection, wheezing, a snotty nose, fever and stomach problems from a month straight on antibiotics. We think the tubes will give him the fighting chance he needs to get back to normal.

Lastly, Erin and I decided that any time Henry has surgery he gets a new toy, so a trip to Target later in the day yielded a police truck that has lights and makes noises. He loves it.

Erin and I welcomed Henry Miles VanDyke into our family on Monday, September 21 at 12:02pm. He weighed 7lbs 3oz and was 19.5 inches long. This is part one of the three part story of the hours immediately before he was born.

Friday, September 18

Last minute additions

Yai Yai and Oppa (James’ parents) decided on Friday night that they needed to come down for Henry’s birth. We were thrilled. It also settled a number of bets. Originally they planned to see Henry for the first time in October during YaiYai’s Fall Break from teaching, but several people, including me, were going to be surprised Henry’s imminent arrival didn’t trigger a quick trip to Texas.

Since we were inducing Henry on Monday, they were able to plan ahead for the trip. We were inducing because Henry measured large during his sonograms. The doctors wanted him to come before he got too big to be delivered naturally.

Saturday, September 19

Erin and I did chores around the house to prepare for Henry. We mowed the lawn, washed the dog and cleaned the house. Then we went on our last date together before Henry. We had pizza for lunch at Campisis.

In the evening my parents arrived at our house after a 12 hour drive from Tennessee.

Sunday, Septeber 20

Tiger is blissfully unaware of Henry's coming.

We woke up early and ate breakfast with YaiYai and Oppa at Corner Bakery. Then the four of us drove to the hospital to give the prospective grandparents a tour.

Tigerman had reservations at Erin’s parent’s house to hang out with Butch for a couple of days so we  picked him up from the house and headed to McKinney.

After dropping the dog off, we met Granny and Grandad (Erin’s parents) and Aunt Toni and Uncle Mo (Erin’s sister and her husband) for lunch. We ate at Dos Charos because YaiYai likes sampling Tex-Mex when she comes to Dallas and because we’ve heard spicy foods can help move the labor process along.

New kicks for a new kid

A little post-lunch walking and shopping yielded a new pair of tennis shoes for me. I didn’t want to embarrass Henry in public on his first day with my old worn out shoes.

5 p.m. – Sitting nervously by the phone
We were supposed to get confirmation from the hospital at 5 p.m. to come in at 10 p.m. and start the process of inducing. There was a small chance the hospital would be too busy for the induction. Five o’clock came and went with no call. So, Erin and I took a nap in preparation for the evening ahead.

After napping, we kept the phone close while watching the Dallas Cowboys’ first game in their new stadium versus the New York Giants. None of us really cared about the Cowboys but it was the only thing worth watching on TV at the time.

7 p.m. – Confirmation

One last look at our pregency bellies

Finally at 7 p.m. Erin called the hospital to see if we were on the schedule. The nurse said we were the lucky winners for the evening and we could come in at 10 p.m. After months of waiting the clock officially started counting down to Henry entering our world.

9:45 p.m. – Good bye, Hello

Since YaiYai and Oppa were staying at our house we said goodbye to them and embarked on the next phase of our exciting journey.

Henry went to his first doctor’s appointment on Friday. He’s doing great.

When he left the hospital he weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. He was born at 7 lbs. 3 oz. and lost about 5% of his weight at the hospital. This is normal because babies who get milk from their moms don’t get a whole lot of food the first couple of days. Once the milk starts flowing though, they quickly gain the weight back.

At the doctor’s office he weighed 7lbs 0.5 oz. which means Henry is eating great. Dr. Mathieu called him a “chow hound”!

He also said his color looks good so we shouldn’t have to worry about jaundice.

Henry’s next trip is at the 2-week mark which will be October 5.

When we asked if it was okay to walk Henry with our dog that we walk twice a day the doctor kinda laughed.

Until recently my prayers for Henry normally went along the lines of, “Dear God, please help Henry to be safe, healthy and continue growing…”

After our sonogram at 30 weeks, when we found out he could be a nine pounder, Erin told me that I could stop praying for him to keep growing. God was doing too good of a job. So I modified, “…please keep Henry safe and healthy…”

Driving home from our sonogram today (37 weeks), I suddenly realized that healthy can also mean, “large in amount or extent or degree.” It appears that God wanted to bless us so much that he used both definitions.

Henry is doing great. He’s head down in the perfect position for coming out. His heart and other vital signs are great. The best estimate is that he weighs 7 pounds 12 ounces.

The only problem is that he may end up being so big that he ends up needing a C-section. I think everyone involved would prefer that not to happen so, we need Henry to decide to come within the next two weeks. If he doesn’t, we’ll have another sonogram at 39 weeks and then take another look at our options.

Erin has a doctor’s visit on Friday that should give us a little more information. So until then, we’ll just wait and be very careful with our prayers.

He has a head full of hair we're told. Erin hopes it's red.

My, what a big foot you have. "The better to kick Erin's stomach wtih my dear."

Google says I need 13 minutes, I'm thinking seven.

Erin and I attended a birthing class on Saturday at the hospital where we’re going to have the baby.

My favorite part was the tour of the hospital. Most importantly, they showed us where to park and which door to come in. As the husband of a pregnant wife, it is my responsibility to get her to the hospital. Once we arrive, the rest of the process is pretty much up to Erin and the doctors.

The process goes something like this:

1. Arrive at the hospital: First you fill out a sheet of paper to be examined, even though you filled out admitting paperwork six months ago.
2. Triage: This is the room where they say, “You’re not really in labor, those are just sympathy pains and no, they’re not worse than your wife’s”
3. LDR Room: This stands for Labor, Delivery and Recovery Room (Due to budget cut backs they had to remove the extra letters). This is where Henry will make his entrance to the world. If family and friends come they have to wait in the… wait for it… waiting room.
4. Private Room: After a stint in the big money room, they ship you from the basement to the top floor where, as long as space permits, you get a private room (They tell us that’s never a real problem, they better be right). Depending on how everyone is feeling friends and family can stop by.
5. Go home: After a tiring birth process and two days at the hospital you can finally come home relax and get some sleep. The teacher kept laughing after saying this but I couldn’t figure out why. Sounds nice to me.

Erin and I met with Dr. Reese Mathieu, a local pediatrician, and have selected him to be Henry’s doctor. He’s been practicing for for 28 years and has three children of his own. His office is about seven miles from our house but he lives in the subdivision just north of ours. Erin’s doctor recommended Dr. Mathieu to us. He is the only doctor in his practice, however he has about five other doctors that he shares on-call duties with.

This is Henry's doctor, Dr. Reese Mathieu.

At Erin’s last doctor appointment her doctor was surprised at how much her tummy had grown since the last visit. Henry’s sonogram today confirmed that Henry is already above average. He weighs 3 pounds and 14 ounces which is two to three weeks ahead of average. If Henry decides to stay put for the full 40 weeks and grows at the normal rate of half a pound a week, he’ll be a nine pound baby.

Everything else looks perfect. Erin will start visiting the doctor every other week now, as is normal, just to make sure everything stays on track.