Listening from inside Amanda, Ty realized he would be born again in about nine weeks. It was a good thing too, since he could now easily poke at the edge of the womb when he exercised, and didn't want to run out of room to move around!
Ty was glad his mom was doing well enough that she could stop working early, and that she could have a vacation to rest and relax. Since they were still connected, he could tell when she was stressed from the hormones that got filtered into his body from her. As Amanda rested, Ty could too; he hadn't realized that it was harder for him to sleep before, but it was much easier again with his mom so relaxed.
Actually... Ty wasn't sure if he was frowning since his body was still really new and uncoordinated. But he didn't think he had quite as much energy as he did a week ago. Tuning out the murmurs of his mother's body, Ty spread out his awareness, and found the problem. As he'd grown and exercised, he'd started taking up more and more space, and he'd accidentally hooked is leg around his umbilical cord. Not dangerous for now, but sometimes when he moved he was pinching it a bit.
Ty thought about the issue for a bit. He could tell he was already much healthier this time. His mom was fully grown up before she got pregnant, she had a lot more resources to take care of herself, and him, and she wasn't super stressed out all the time because he wasn't a teen pregnancy. But he didn't want any new complications either.
Ty decided to make his first wish in his new life, and wished that his umbilical cord would never fail to provide enough connection with his mom until he was born. He felt the wish take hold right away, and the cord floated around his leg and untangled. It also seemed to get a bit thicker. Ty quickly felt more alert, and celebrated with some happy exercise.
Outside, Jacob laughed out loud as he felt his future son kick against his hand, and gave his wife a kiss.
- - - - - -
Over the next six weeks Ty felt almost like his mom was shrinking, but realized he was just growing fast. He started pulling his kicks and punches and couldn't always stretch out without bumping into things.
When the doctors asked Amanda if she wanted a C-Section, Ty gulped and realized his wish may have had something to do with this. The extra food and energy were helping his new body reach its maximum potential, and the folks outside could tell he was quickly running out of room. Still, he really didn't want any complications for him or his mom, so he hoped for the best and wished that his mom would be okay with a natural birth.
He felt his mom relax and tell the doctors she'd try without unless something went wrong or Ty was late. Ty cheered in his head and gave a little fist pump, accidentally bumping into his mom (oops). They'd be fine for three more weeks, he'd make sure of it!
- - - - - -
Two weeks later Ty gave up and got ready to be born. He'd be a week early, but all the doctors were saying that was normal; heck they were expecting him early at this point. With his previous wishes still running, Amanda was doing fine but Ty was getting cramped. At this point he was basically curled up all the time, and he didn't want to do any more wishing to fix it. Since there was an obvious solution...
Ty withdrew his mind and let his baby self get on with it.
- - - - - -
It would be an embarrassing story at too many family reunions later, but Amanda reacted to her water breaking by throwing her hands in the air, screaming "finally!" and dragging her worried mother-in-law to the car.
The birth itself took a while; but after several hours of labor, Jacob was staring at a sleeping bundle in his arms like it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen, and Amanda was giving him the stink eye.
"Eleven pounds, seven ounces, and twenty-three inches long. This is definitely your fault." She muttered, mixing in a few creative swear words.
"He's cute though, right?" Jacob asked meekly, though without looking up from his son for a second. He heard his wife sigh a bit, and finally tore his eyes away to see her staring over at them with a soft, tired smile.
"Yeah. Yeah he is. Our cute little potato. Our Ty."