Written the day after he was born:
Tyson's birth could be summed up as "merciful and short." It certainly was mercifully short, but there were also several things about it that were God's hand of mercy other than it being short.
Last Thursday I went for my routine doctor's visit and was shocked to hear that I was 3 cm dilated, almost 100% effaced, and Tyson was fully dropped. I didn't feel at ALL like I was about to have a baby, he wasn't due until the 31st, and since we're in the midst of selling our house, doing inspections and negotiations and looking for a new house, I wasn't exactly quite ready for the news Dr. Wolfe gave me that he thought Tyson would come in the next few days. So I went home and waited and tried to check off the last few things on my "to do before Tyson arrives" list. Sunday afternoon we went out looking at houses and I had 2 or 3 contractions during those couple hours, and then as the evening went on I had a few more, but they weren't painful or even uncomfortable and weren't regular. I didn't tell Thomas b/c I knew he would worry himself sick, but by 10:00 I was having a mild contraction every 15 minutes or so so I called Carol Ann, my doula, to ask her at what point she wanted me to call her if I went into real labor in the middle of the night. She said when they got to be 10 minutes apart and stronger I should call her so she'd have time to drive to Jackson from Meridian. We went to bed and I slept until 2:00 only waking up a couple times to feel a contraction even though they still were very mild. From 2 to 2:45 I timed them and they were coming every 6-9 minutes apart but still weren't stronger. They only met half the criteria she had given me but I figured I better call her anyway, so I did and she said she was going to rest a little more and I should call when they either got closer or stronger and then she'd leave for Jackson (she actually decided to go ahead and come back just in case I had a quick labor :)). Thomas had woken up and heard the conversation and of course there was no going back to sleep for him, so we decided we may as well bring Cole to his parents' house since we were up anyway, and then we'd come back home and wait until it was time to go to the hospital. I still wasn't convinced I was really in labor b/c even though the contractions were 6-7 minutes apart at this point, they still didn't hurt and I didn't even have to breathe through them. We took showers, pittled around getting ready, ate breakfast, and decided that we may as well pack my stuff in the car while we were packing Cole's in the car and that way we wouldn't have to do that when we came back home. We debated in the beginning whether I should go with Thomas to drop Cole off or just stay home and rest, but I didn't want to be alone and by the time we left the house at 4:15 the contractions were every 4-5 minutes apart and were now strong enough to need to breathe through. By the time we got to his parents' house they were painful but we stayed a few minutes there and sent out some emails since we'd decided that we may as well just go to the hospital b/c they were now 3-4 minutes apart and getting stronger. When I was laboring with Cole this is also the point that we went to the hospital and I still had 5 hours of labor after this, so we were in no hurry thinking we would have plenty of time.
We got to the hospital about 5:15 and after wandering around on the 3rd floor and the 4th floor, we figured out L&D was on the 5th floor and started getting checked in. The contractions were now probably 2-3 minutes apart and much more painful, but I knew Carol Ann was almost to the hospital and would be there soon to help me cope.
You might think that having accomplished 1 unmedicated natural birth with Cole would've given me some sort of mental fortitude and confidence that doing it a second time was no big thing. It actually worked opposite that. As soon as the contractions got painful and the memory of the pain was revived, I lost most of my mental control over my fear of the pain. All I could think about was, "I remember this now. This is terrible. Why did I ever choose to do this again? I can't do this, I don't want to feel the pain, this is TERRIBLE!!" It wasn't even that the pain at that point was terrible, it was the anticipation of remembering how bad it GETS. We got in our labor room at 5:40 and the nurse asked me how my pain scale was. I wanted to say an 8 but figured I would have a couple hours more of it getting worse and worse so I better say a 5 to give it room to get horrendously bad like I knew it would. I was still planning to walk around the halls like I had with Cole and sit on my birth ball, etc, b/c I had no idea how far along I really was and figured I'd be in labor a few more hours. She asked me to change out of my clothes into a gown and I said, "Do I have to? I'd like to walk around awhile." She said that I did have to b/c she needed to see how dilated I was, so I changed and she checked me, and from there it was pretty much a whirlwind. This was at 5:45, I was 7-8 cm dilated and she left and came right back and said she had called Dr. Wolfe and he was on his way and to say please not to do any exercises to make the labor speed up. Then I heard them calling to prep the room for delivery. DELIVERY! The contractions were very painful at this point but DELIVERY?!? I was shocked, but she assured me that I really was that far along. Each contraction got worse, Carol Ann got there, I could hear lots of activity behind me (hanging over the back of the bed had worked well with Cole so I did that again), and was a little unnerved that it was happening so quickly and that Dr. Wolfe wasn't there. With Cole it got worse and worse until I actually delivered him. The "transition" phase that you go through that supposedly you get a little relief from when you start pushing was not something I ever experienced with Cole. It just got worse and worse and worse until he was born. But with Tyson I DID get some relief from the contractions being horrendous once I started pushing. They told me to try to wait b/c Dr. Wolfe wasn't there yet, but I wasn't even pushing, Tyson was just COMING anyway. I couldn't control his very speedy descent down the birth canal, although this time, unlike with Cole, I was able to control how hard I pushed. The small bit of relief from the contraction pain after I moved past Transition gave me just enough of a mental lift to concentrate on trying not to push him out too fast. With Cole I pushed as hard as I could the whole time b/c I was in "rabid dog" mode and felt like I was going to die or lost all mental soundness if he didn't get OUT, and I tore pretty badly in the process. So this time around I was trying very hard to push slowly so there would be enough time for all the stretching to happen and maybe I wouldn't tear, so I put all my energy into that. I needed no energy to actually push b/c he was coming out no matter what, so I could focus just on trying to control his actual coming out rather than getting him there. My water broke right before he crowned, same as with Cole, and was clear, thank the Lord!
Let me take a moment to tell you about the WONDERFUL L&D nurses I had. They were so supportive, did exactly what I asked for comfort measures, and were just all-around fabulous.
40 minutes after we got in our labor room, there was no stopping the arrival of Tyson Luke and I told them that he was coming and I couldn't do anything about it even though Dr. Wolfe wasn't there, so the nurses got me to lay on my side like I did with Cole and they delivered the little munchkin like pros at 6:19 AM, no tearing! This is just as much a testimony to their skill in delivering him as it is to the good that controlling your pushing is. I was still in shock and disbelief that he was actually being delivered since I had been in what I would consider to be painful labor for only an hour and a half, and hard labor for 40 minutes, but there he was! I was so happy that it was over, particularly b/c I felt like I had lost most of my mental focus as soon as the contractions got painful and the fear of the pain was most of what I could think about. But it went so quickly that I ended up just kind've hanging on for the ride b/c he had a plan to come OUT and to do so QUICKLY and hanging on for the ride was about all I COULD do other than controlling the pushing to try to avoid tearing. It was over so quickly that I felt like I enjoyed the post-birth much more than with Cole where I was crying hysterically and trying to come back from the brink of mental breakdown. I got to hold Tyson as soon as they suctioned him out, what a joy! And we were able to have a private transition this time, so he was in the labor room with us for his whole 4-hour "transition" period where they usually take them to the nursery. He nursed great, I got to see him get his first bath and get all checked out, they weighed and measured him down the hall and then I could hold him skin to skin for the rest of the time. God was so gracious to us for Tyson's birth. Our decision to go ahead and pack the car when we did and for me to go along to drop Cole off were certainly the hand of the Lord since had we not done that we would've been in the throes of hard labor in the car speeding to the hospital, trying not to push him out on the way! I started pushing probably 20-25 minutes after we got in our hospital room, so our time margin was very narrow even though we had not the faintest idea that we were cutting it that close. I had a great experience and great recovery with Cole, but this one has been even better and I am so thankful to the Lord for his gracious hand in that. We're loving having Tyson on the outisde with us, he's a great little eater, no breastfeeding problems, and we are feeling wonderfully blessed and still a little in shock at how everything happened. God is good!
My sweet baby boy - just a few days old 
Cole was overjoyed to get his hands on Tyson. These pictures are the first time he's been allowed to hold him :)
Cole's smile here sums up his feelings for his brother even as I post this when Tyson is 7 weeks old now (only a few days old when the pictures were taken). Aunt Lauren got them these adorable matching shirts.
This is a hug but I can't help but think it's practice for a headlock later in life.
My other sweet baby boy - 21 1/2 months old.
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