Introducing Matthew Elwood Remy!

Matthew Elwood Remy was born February 12, 2015 at 12:22pm at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, Utah. He was 8 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches. This post is all about Matthew. Another post will be his birth story.

He has blondish hair and bluish eyes. He has way less hair than William had but Matthew sports the same cute button nose that William had. Matthew has the same little chicken-legs that William had. He has ZERO butt fat so I feel like I'm wiping his bones when I clean his bum and that freaks me out a bit. Matthew had newborn rash which went away after a few days. His feet are big and he's got monkey toes.
Matthew is a good little baby. He breastfeeds pretty well but it wasn't that way at the beginning. Matthew was having a hard time latching on which meant I was having issues like clogged ducts and cracking/bleeding. It was not a fun time. Turns out, he was tongue tied which meant that he couldn't stick out his tongue and get a good latch. Our pediatrician clipped Matthew's frenulum (the thing under your tongue) which was sad but Matthew was able to eat much better at the next feeding.

Before his two-week appointment, I noticed a hard bump on his left shoulder near his neck. I asked his doctor about it and, ta-da, Matthew had broken his left clavicle during delivery. I freaked out a bit since I had never heard of that but my doc (and Google) assured me that this is fairly common with larger babies or babies who get stuck in the birthing canal. Plus, it's definitely better than the alternative: emergency c-section. Yikes! The hard bump is like an internal cast, called a callus. It will dissolve on its own and Matthew will not suffer any long-term issues from the break.
William is great with Matthew. He loves it when Matthew "looks" at him. Sometimes when Matthew is crying William will start singing "Wheels on the Bus" to him. It's so cute! William loves to hold Matthew and loves to kiss his head. He also likes to "pet" Matthew's head. I'm so glad William is good at being soft with Matthew because I was pretty worried about my little strong-man trying to play with his fragile little brother.

We've had lots of visitors come to see us and it's been great. We're planning to bless Matthew towards the end of March so my mom (and maybe my dad) can come back out from California. 

 Tyson's mom and Matthew in the hospital

 Tyson's brother Jacob came to see us at home

My sister Jane came to see us twice in the hospital

'Twas the Night Before My Induction...

And I'm supposed to be focused on getting homework done and I just can't. My in-laws came down to pick up William and they took us out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. YUM. While we were at dinner the hospital called to give me my call time: 6:30am. It's so early! I have to call them at 6:00am to make sure they still have a bed for me. Now that I have a set time I'm feeling anxious. And tired. I really just want to sleep and I should. But I so wanted to have my work done so I would have a few days totally homework free post-baby. 
It was hard for me to say goodbye to William tonight. I gave him hugs and kisses and told him that I loved him a lot. And I really, really do. I still don't know how I will possibly love Baby Remy #2 as much as I love William. But everyone keeps telling me it will just happen and I'm banking on that.
I'm nervous about being induced with Pitocin since I've mostly heard only awful things about it. The hospital is not allowed to give me Cervadil or Cytotec (cervical ripening pills) since I'm not 41 weeks yet.
I'm going to try and get at least one of my two remaining assignments for the week done tonight. Both assignments are papers and one of them I already have all my quotes pulled from the articles. The other one I haven't really started but I'm thinking it'll be easier to do. I've emailed all three of my professors to let them know what's up and they've all assured me that I should not worry about deadlines. All three classes have group projects going on and my groups have been so helpful and kind. I've truly been blessed. I didn't think my professors or fellow students would be so understanding, especially since my school isn't BYU anymore. 
My visiting teachers have got meals all set up and the lady I did scouts with texted me today asking about meals even before I had heard from my visiting teachers. That really meant a lot to me since I don't really have many friends in our ward. It was nice to know that she was thinking about me and my family. 
Okay, back to homework. And double-checking my hospital bag. Then a shower. Then sleep.

Overdue

I guess even with all those contractions, this is my m.o: overdue. It's really okay. I'm sure if this were the middle of summer and not the most mild February ever I would be singing a different tune. Much like I was with William. 
I had an appointment last night to be checked again to see if I'm making any progress. Unless you call going back to 2cm progress, then no, I'm not making any great strides here. The good news is that my doc is going to let me know today if I am supposed to show up at the hospital tomorrow evening or Thursday morning. It really depends on which way they want to get things going. If they want to do Cytotech (a cervical ripening pill) then I'll go in tomorrow evening. If they want to do just Pitocin (I HOPE NOT) then I'll go in Thursday morning. But either way, a baby will be here before Friday. And I am trying to do homework like a mad woman. All three of my classes have group projects going plus other assignments which is a bit intense.
William is starting his new preschool schedule today. He has been going Wednesday and Friday mornings and now he'll be going Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons. We switched him so that he could do three days a week and attend the adaptive P.E. class which is only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When I go back to work post-baby, William and baby will go to daycare in the mornings while I work and then William will go off to school. I tried to explain the new schedule to William...I don't think he got any of it. But that's okay! He's going to love going three times a week and I'm going to love him doing a P.E. class. Oh, you want to run my kid around? Yes, please!
Also, yesterday Tyson sent me to get a manicure and pedicure at the mall. It was awesome. Now my toes are a fun pink/orange color and that color looks extra fun today since I'm wearing my mint open-toed flats. After my mani/pedi I made a quick stop at Bath & Body Works to pick up some happy-smelling hand sanitizer. I can't stand the regular alcohol stuff. Bath & Body Works is always running sales and they just happened to have one for their mini-hand sanitizer: 5 for $5. Sweet. I got two "White Lily & Lime", two "Pure Paradise", and one "Noir for Men". I figured Tyson might not go for the flowery scents but the Noir scent is tres sexy. Especially for a hand sanitizer.

An Irrational Fear

I keep thinking I'm going to suddenly and unexpectedly give birth to my baby outside of the hospital, like in a bathroom, my shower, or my car on the way to the hospital. I don't know what it is about Utah but there have been WAY too many stories on the news about ladies racing to the hospital to give birth and not quite making it. Here's a fun, family history-type story for you.

My dad is one of seven kids. When my grandma was pregnant with baby #7, the family lived on an Air Force base in California. She woke up one night around 2am and went to use the bathroom, which is not unusual for very pregnant women. And she gave birth to my uncle. I guess after six kids, birthing baby #7 just isn't that big of a deal.

I'm pretty sure that kind of thing won't happen to me partly because I'm not having any contractions and that's important to labor and also because I'm a bit paranoid about the whole process. If labor does start I'd be one of those ladies who keeps going to the hospital and getting sent home. Pretty sure.

The Final Countdown

T-minus 3 days until my due date and I'm pretty sure Baby Remy #2 is going to take after his big brother and not show up on time. In fact, at this point I get the feeling he's never going to come. On the one hand, that's great news because I have so much homework to do and, now that all the painting is done, we have to move back in to our house. On the other hand, I'm super exhausted and having a baby would be a great excuse not to show up to work and spend two days in the hospital doing nothing but cuddling our baby.
My cold is finally subsiding but my mom is still not free to travel and my sister who lives at home got whooping cough so I don't know if my mom would be allowed around the baby anyway. It's so ridiculous. 
The last two nights we stayed in a hotel just across the street from our house since the painters weren't finished until yesterday. We took William swimming for almost two hours and it felt great to be in the pool. When I was pregnant with William we went to the Provo Rec Center a few times right at the end of my pregnancy. I remember that getting out of the pool was the worst feeling in the world. This time, it wasn't bad at all. 
I did not sleep last night. It was awful and I'm so tired today. I'm not looking forward to going home to a disaster and a pile of homework. I had better not go in to labor today because I simply don't have the energy for that. A friend of mine told me that the body won't go in to labor if we're sick or overly tired. I'd like to believe that but then this baby will never get born. It doesn't help that there is no official plan with my doctor for if this baby doesn't come on his own. With William I knew that if I got to 41 weeks, I had a time set up at the hospital to go in and get things going. This time, nothing is set up yet. I have an appointment on Friday morning; we'll probably make a plan at that appointment.
Even though my due date is, technically, 3 days away, I still can't believe I'm going to have another baby. I haven't really bonded to this pregnancy like I did with William. I'm not sure why that is but it probably has to do with the fact that there is so much going on that I just don't have the time to process anything. With William I wasn't going to be in school so I only had to focus on healing and bonding with him in the six weeks I had off work. This time I've got three classes (plus two starting in March), another kid, and a house that looks like we just moved in. I'm feeling very much the same way I did at the beginning of this pregnancy: what were we thinking? In my exhaustion it's hard to remember the answers to prayer we received and it's hard to have faith that everything will work out. Whenever I start to freak out to my mom she reminds me that in 103 days from today (yes, that is exactly 100 days from my due date) I will be graduating with my master's degree and that is something I will have for the rest of my life. I can only "keep moving forward" as they say in Meet the Robinsons.