Matthew is home

What a whirlwind 72 hours. Matthew is home and we're beat!

Friday at the hospital was more or less uneventful: visiting with nurses, family and others. Pa-pa and I built a captain's bed that is currently mom's bed in Matthew's room, but will be Jordan's bed in a couple of months. (And by "Pa-pa and I built" the bed, I mean "Pa-pa did all the work, and I handed him the appropriate tool or piece of hardware as he requested it"). Jordan went to day care in the morning, but did get to go see Mom and Matthew in the hospital Friday evening. He loved that, discovering the foot pedals that operate the sink in the hospital room, and finding out that Mom's room had echoing ability.

This morning started off fairly uneventfully: we went to the discharge class with all the other new moms and dads (at 32 (me) and 30-something-or-another (Dondi), we were the oldest parents in there by 5 years; had we gone to yesterday's class, we would have been the oldest by at least a dozen years). Anyway, we learned such important things as to clean with soap AND water and that we did in fact, have to put Matthew in a car seat. So much for my idea of hanging him from the visor next to my garage door opener.

We did have one surprise: our "chosen hospital," Medical Center of Arlington (we're not planning on more kids, so I can say the name now) is the official hospital of both the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars. I'm not sure what that means exactly to be the official hospital of sports teams, but what it meant for us is Matthew got a Texas Rangers hat, a mini-Rangers baseball bat and four free tickets to a game during the 2008 season. So, that should be fun.

OK, "free" tickets. Yeah, that's funny to me, too. I'll let you know how much the "free" tickets cost when I receive the final bill.

Anyway, we're home now and I thought rather than a long, boring narrative (what precedes this doesn't count), we'll include pictures from the last three days. Enjoy. :)















Matthew's very first picture. He's slimy.















Mom and Matthew meet face-to-face for the first time.















Grandmas with new grandson. (Jo-jo, standing, Emo, sitting holding Matthew).
















Matthew, being burped. He is not happy.















Aunt Cristina corrals Jordan and holds Matthew on the first day the two boys meet. Jordan's T-shirt says, "I'm the big brother."















Dad, Mom and Matthew in the hospital.















The hospital's photographer posed this shot of Matthew. You can buy the professional picture, or, here's mine.















Here's the three of us as we get ready to leave the hospital.

Welcome to the world, Matthew!

Matthew Ryan made quite an entrance into the world today. Eight pounds and 12 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long, and like his brother, the most beautiful baby in the world.

Dondi went to the doctor yesterday for her blood work and final check before being induced this morning. She was dilated to somewhere between a 3 and a 4. When we arrived at the hospital at 5:30 a.m., she was already dilated to a 5. Two hours later she was at a 9 (that's when the nurses stopped giving her any more of the inducing medicine!)

She started pushing at 10 a.m., and Matthew was here at 10:15. Dondi did a great job and was amazing.

Matthew is absolutely perfect. We spent the afternoon getting to know him. About 5 p.m., Jordan met his little brother. Jordan was very impressed, letting us all know, "Baby Matthew isn't in momma's tummy!"

Lots to tell, lots of pictures to show. More to come tomorrow!

Ten days to go!

Dondi had a doctor's appointment this afternoon: sonogram, no-stress test and doctor's visit. The doctor said all told, she'll be inducing on Thursday, May 29.

The appointment went well: her blood pressure was a tad high, but dropped during the appointment. The sonogram showed that Matthew is about 7 pounds, 6 ounces and is healthy. Dondi is also already dilated to a three. She'll do another no-stress test on Thursday at the doctor's office, a no-stress test at the hospital Memorial Day, and then check into the hospital for delivery on Thursday.

We took the countdown ticker off the Web site since it's no longer accurate, but we'll keep you posted around here, including pictures of the nursery later.

The countdown to Matthew continues

Matthew's room is ready for the Great Move-In of 2008. We removed everything from the room (it's no longer an office, or a kitty cat retreat) and the carpets were shampooed today (thanks, Gee and Jo-jo).

Since the room is empty, Jordan decided to use it as a place to run laps. As soon as I showed up with a camera, he stopped running laps and decided it was time to be silly. Here's the clip.





The week has just been crazy around here. Monday night, we went to the hospital because Dondi was complaining about a headache and nausea. Those can be serious concerns, so the kind nurses in Triage got her checked out. Fortunately, it was *just* a migraine. We visited the doctor both Monday during the day (before the trip to the hospital) and again on Tuesday, and everything seems to be checking out just fine. We've had the house cleaned and have been trying to get everything ready. It's been interesting, but we're making good progress.

We see the doctor again on Monday at 2 p.m., where we'll do a sonogram and another no-stress test. Matthew will be considered "full term" sometime around Wednesday, so we suspect we'll be discussing inducing delivery.

We haven't done a good job of posting every picture of Dondi throughout the pregnancy, but here she is at 36 weeks this evening, looking beautiful as always.















We'll post pictures of Matthew's room some time this weekend, and of course, we'll let you know the details of Monday's doctor visit.

For now, here is a random picture of Jordan as he tries on Daddy's shoes.















To update my post from Saturday about my asthma and allergies: I visited an allergist today to see if we can determine why I've been having so many sinus/ear/upper respiratory infections recently. I was very impressed with his thoroughness. He spent about 30 minutes interviewing me and learning about my medical history. We ran a couple of tests that determined (a) my lung capacity is somewhat compromised right now but (b) it's very much in a range that many others would be thrilled to have. He prescribed a plan to deal with the current allergy and sinus problems I'm having, plus get my asthma under control. We'll do an allergy skin test two weeks from today. He seemed very confident my problems were preventable, and maybe we can get the 4-6 (and sometimes 8) annual ear/sinus/upper respiratory infections down to one or two without putting me on a million different medicines. I'm all for that!

Bed rest, renovations and asthma

Not much has changed since our last update:

• Dondi went to the doctor on Tuesday. Her blood pressure was excellent and she took another no-stress test. Basically in the no-stress test, they hook her up to a monitor and she has to press a button every time she feels Matthew move. Results were normal, or good, or whatever they're looking for. She goes back to the doctor on Monday morning, but for now, continues on bed rest at home.
• I've been sick for about six weeks. Allergy-induced asthma has been the main culprit, followed by being sick to my stomach for over a week thanks to the medicine to deal with the allergy-induced asthma. I've been to the doctor now three times in two weeks, trying to get over this gunk. I see an allergist on Friday, May 16.
• Jordan has also been sick -- also allergies. He refuses to do the breathing treatments that help keep his lungs clear, so there's quite the battle of wills at our house right now.
• Don and Debbie have been over on Thursday and Friday this week to help get the office cleared out for Matthew's nursery. We're way behind schedule on that, mostly because we have no place to move stuff (and because one or both of us has been sick the better part of the last nine months). It'll be ready in plenty of time for Matthew, but we all would have rather had this done by now. My parents are coming over today to pick up a desk and hutch that we have no room for and I'll be moving our computer and computer desk to the dining room today. Once we move the cat's stuff out of the office, we can get the floor clean and move in the changing table, a dresser and the pack-and-play bassinet.

So that's what we're doing when not coughing, fighting a 2 1/2 year old or any of that stuff. :-)

Bed rest update

Dondi went back to the doctor today to complete her 24-hour test and to get the second of the two steroid shots that should help Matthew's development speed along. Her blood pressure was still high, but not as bad as Thursday, or even Monday.

The doctor wasn't there for the appointment, but her main nurse was. While the nurse couldn't say for sure, she said generally she would expect the doctor is trying to get her to 37 weeks of pregnancy before inducing labor. For the next three weeks, it's a lot of hurry up and wait. :)

Pregnancy Update

Well, we're back on the fun road of bed rest, doctor's visits and a lot of uncertainty.

• Last Thursday, Dondi went to the doctor for her regular bi-weekly checkup. Her blood pressure spiked, but wasn't too high, so she was told to rest for the weekend and come back on Monday.
• This morning, we went back for the check. Her blood pressure was still high, but she wasn't showing any other symptoms of toxemia, so the doctor elected to let her do a 24-hour series of tests as an outpatient. She also did a blood test, and received the first of several steroid shots that should help Matthew's development speed up, should we need to induce labor early. We start week 34 (of 40) of the pregnancy tomorrow, and Jordan was born just short of 36 weeks, so we'll see how all this works out.

We'll post more as we learn more. As always, your prayers are appreciated.

Driving for bluebonnets

Yesterday, we drove a total of 129 miles between our house, Glen Rose and back. This morning, 15 miles or so from our house, I spotted 3 miles of almost a solid carpet of bluebonnets.

Oh well. Doing my part to use as much oil as we can before it goes up in price some more. :)

Bluebonnets?

It's apparently still too early to have any real full bluebonnet pictures. We drove west to Fort Worth, south on U.S. 377 to Granbury, south on Texas 144 to Glen Rose, southwest to Dinosaur Valley State Park, then north on U.S. 67 to Cleburne, and north on Texas 174 to Burleson without seeing a really good patch of bluebonnets where we could take a picture. (We did see a patch east of Glen Rose near Rainbow that would have worked, but there was no safe place to pull over and snap pictures).

So, please settle for Jordan sitting in a fossilized footprint of a dinosaur.

Birthdays

This is our Spring run of birthdays: Emo's (Grandma's) March 31, Aunt Cris April 4 and Dad April 6. So it's been a fun week.

Friday night, the Hayhursts all went to Pappasito's in North Arlington for dinner for the birthdays. Dad got a J.C. Penney gift card and cash for his birthday. Saturday was Olive Garden with the Jordans where I got an iTunes gift card (it's mine, all mine!) and clothes galore. Dondi and Jordan also gave me my presents yesterday: the Leopard operating system for our Mac (love it) and a balloon bouquet (love it, too)

And today, Dad's actual birthday, we're thinking about heading out to find some bluebonnets south of the metromess. Hopefully it will go better than last year's bluebonnet picture.

I gave Jordan a buzz cut this week. You can see the results below. He handled it pretty well, considering Dad had no idea what he was doing. :)

Thomas the Tank Engine

We trekked to Grapevine today to the Day Out With Thomas at the Grapevine Vintage Railroad. We went with Pa-pa, Emo (Grandma) and Aunt Cris out to the railway. It was a ton of fun.

When we arrived in Grapevine, we parked at the library, which was a designated remote parking lot. The shuttle took us straight up Main Street to the train terminal. As we crossed the railroad track, we saw Thomas ready to go. All the little kids on the bus were delighted. Jordan shrieked as loud as he could, "Thomas the Train!"

















There was plenty for a two-year-old to enjoy: Legos, ball throwing, crayons, model trains and lots of wide open spaces to run. Jordan and I had our picture taken with Sir Topham Hat. Jordan wasn't sure what to make of Sir Topham, but he did give him a high five.

At 10:25 a.m., we lined up to board the train, pulled by Thomas for a 25-minute train ride. Jordan was pumped. We all had a great time on the short train ride (Jordan's first on any kind of train).

Thomas pulls into the Grapevine station.













Emo, Pa-pa and Jordan on the train.













Aunt Cris and Jordan on the train.













Jordan with his junior engineer certificate.

Dondi at 29 weeks

(Twenty-nine weeks is a little over seven months along). We haven't been as diligent posting about the pregnancy this time as last, so let's bring you up to date:

First, Dondi's picture at 28 weeks:















She's been pretty sore, but the doctor said her blood pressure looks good and the baby is developing right on schedule. Today she had her blood glucose mini screening. We'll get the results probably on Monday.

Dondi also starts visiting the doctor every two weeks now, rather than every three weeks. As we enter the 8th month, we'll probably have those visits every week. As the countdown calendar above shows, Matthew's arrival is quickly approaching!

Hoppy Easter

Saturday morning we all loaded up and went down to church for an Easter egg hunt. The church had set up three fields of eggs (0-18 months old; 19 months-3 years, 4 years+) and had three separate egg hunts. They also had a petting zoo with goats, geese, ducks and rabbits, plus two bounce houses. The Mansfield Police Department showed off one of its Dodge Charger police cars and the Mansfield Fire Department had one of its older fire engines out there for kids to climb on and have a look around. Jordan was pretty impressed with the siren.

Jordan had fun, though we think he enjoyed walking along the gravel driveway (and picking up the rocks) behind the church best.

U-T-A

Congrats to the Mavs on the team's first appearance in the big dance. It wasn't the outcome we would have liked, but it's great to see UTA men's basketball in the brackets this year, if for only one round.

See you back next year. :)

-Roy (BA, 1999) and Dondi (MPA, 2006)

Just chillin'

Jordan kicks back and enjoys a little Dora the Explorer this evening.

Hospital tour

Dondi and I took the half hour tour of the maternity facility at our chosen hospital. We'll be doing Matthew's delivery at the same hospital where Jordan was born (hopefully without the week of bed rest and week of NICU). We thought that we would have forgotten something since Jordan was born, but it all came screeching right back to us. Right down to the smell of the labor/delivery rooms.

We asked the tour nurse -- who also handles education -- to sign us up for the sibling class for Jordan and for a refresher course for Dondi and me. We'll see how much of the actual delivery process we remember with that class.

As for us, we haven't been up to much, though I did have to brag a little. We finally, for the first time since we moved in, are able to park both cars in the garage. All it took was the threat (that never materialized) of severe weather overnight here in Fort Worth-Dallas. Here's the proof:

Spring Cleaning

This weekend and last have been about Spring cleaning. To get ready for Matthew's arrival, we need to clean out our "office" (our third bedroom) and move stuff around the house. Of course, it's like the worst Catch-22 imaginable: before we can move stuff from the office to the dining room, we've got to move X from the dining room to the living room. Before we can do that, we have to move Y to the, well you get the idea.

Last week we took two full carloads of clothes to the Arlington Resale Shop to donate. This weekend, the garage has been tackled (at least half of it). The right half is now totally clean. Maybe next weekend, we'll get the left half and perhaps, we can park both cars in the garage. Only in America do we park $20,000 cars outside to store a few hundred dollars worth of junk in a garage....

Anyway, while we were cleaning out the garage, we also dumped the potting soil out on a couple of dead houseplants. Jordan enjoyed that part immensely.

"Hi baby brother"

Friday morning, Dondi had another sonogram with the specialist. Jordan and I tagged along for the visit.

Jordan was pretty impressed watching the images on the TV screen. The sonogram technician explained where the baby's head, arms and legs were in relation to each other. As you can see on this Web site the parts are all on top of each other. Jordan was real quiet and then said, "baby brother is broke." Too cute.

Some general Q-and-A:

How's Dondi feeling?
As far as the pregnancy, Dondi is feeling great. She did battle a sinus infection for much of the last three weeks, but is finally feeling better.

When is the baby due?
June 10, 2008

Is Dondi planning to return to work when the baby is born?
After a 12-week maternity leave, yes. Unless we strike it rich with the sale of our mineral rights on the Barnett Shale.

What's the baby's sex?
Two sonograms confirm it's a boy.

Do you have a name yet?
Matthew Ryan Hayhurst. (When we asked Jordan what he thought of the name "Matthew Ryan," he looked us both square in the eyes and said in a slow, precise prononuciation, "My name IS Jor-dan." It was like we were in the remedial class at school.) :)

How's Jordan handling this?
He's been in denial, but is slowly moving to acceptance.

Texas Rangers winter carnival in Frisco

We decided to make the long trek to Canada, I mean Frisco, Saturday morning for the Texas Rangers winter carnival at the Dr Pepper Ballpark. The stadium is home to the Frisco RoughRiders, the Rangers' AA minor league affiliate. Jo-Jo had received an invitation to go, so Gee, Jo-Jo, Dondi, Jordan and I loaded up the Camry and headed up there. It was a full day.

The RoughRiders were there selling season tickets to their games, which the Collin County families were snapping up. For us, though, we came just to see the ballpark and get a baseball signed by several Rangers players: Ian Kinsler, Wes Littleton, Travis Metcalf, Kevin Millwood, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and former Ranger catcher and now front office vice president Jim Sundberg.

All of the six players were friendly and signed autographs for about two hours. The RoughRiders and the Rangers had a pretty good traffic flow through the suite where the autographs were happening.

After we got the autographs, we walked around the stadium (an absolutely gorgeous minor league ballpark), then walked on the field, through the dugout and into the locker room. Jordan got to meet Deuce, the Riders' mascot, and Rangers Captain, the Rangers' mascot. He wasn't sure what to make of a person walking around with a horse's head. :)

From there, Jordan was ready to have some more fun. We made a return trip to the Wiggly Play Center in Frisco. Jordan started cheering and yelling, "oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" real loud when we pulled into the parking lot. (What's most surprising is, he's been there once, and the Wiggly Play Center is located in a standard suburban strip shopping center, so (other than the non-descript sign), there was nothing too exciting about the outside).

This trip wasn't as much fun as the first time we took him last summer. There were a lot of older kids in there who apparently had no adult supervision and overran a lot of the younger kids in there. And the Wiggly Play Center staff was just lazy (both at the front door and at the concession stand there were more than three employees doing nothing, and wouldn't stop doing nothing to help us out -- by helping us out, I mean, "take our money"). Jordan had fun, which was what was important, but we'll find somewhere a whole lot closer and more attentive for our next winter outing.

No trip to Frisco is complete without a stop at the Ikea store, and since Jo-Jo and Gee had never seen it before, we stopped in for a couple of hours. We were ready to buy stuff, but so were about 25,000 other people, so we decided we didn't need $2 shelves and $2.50 knives so much. :)

The drive to and from Frisco is a bear because the 121 Toll Road is a giant parking lot through Plano, The Colony and Frisco (thanks for that, BTW, TxDOT and Gov. Perry), but we made it home in about 90 minutes.

All and all a lot of fun! We do have a few pictures we'll post later.

Jordan's first trip to the movie theater

We took Jordan to his very first movie today: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything from the Veggie Tales. It was pretty good.

We went to the AMC theater at The Parks at Arlington for the 10 a.m. showing. (We figured if Jordan acted like a 2-year-old, we'd be at the early show with all the other kids. Boy were we right!). When we arrived at The Parks mall, Dondi made her way to the Chick-fil-A in the food court (free tip: AMC at The Parks does allow you to bring in drinks you buy from food court vendors) for some iced tea for the two of us and lemonade for Jordan. We then walked around the empty mall for a few minutes, then headed into the movie theater.

Jordan was overwhelmed by the colors of the place, the plasma-screen concession stand signs and all the noise of the theater, but he was having fun. We had told him we were there to see Bob and Larry (his name for Veggie Tales, named after the tomato and cucumber, for those who haven't been blessed with the Veggie Tales craze). Every time a preview started, Jordan would go, "Bob and Larry?" When the opening credits started, Jordan screamed out to a theater with at least 150 people, "BOB AND LARRY!" He was pretty thrilled.

Jordan sat completely still for the first half hour or so. Of course, we did bribe him with a hot dog and some popcorn (I'm glad they do home equity loans at the concession stands now, that makes it so much easier to pay for a hot dog and popcorn). He started getting tired and wanted to move a lot. Fortunately, there was some room on our row for him to walk; then he wanted to walk up and down the stairs of the theater. Finally, he was ready to go, so we missed the last half hour of the movie, although I'm pretty sure there was a happy ending.

We'll Netflix it when it comes out on DVD to see how it ends. :)