I originally posted this story in April, 2008 to share the “fun” thirteen minute birth story of our third son. He turns 11 years old today, so I thought it would be fun to share this story again…
How To Freak Out Your Doctor
My total labor and delivery time with our firstborn, Asa, was a six hours. With Justus, total time was three hours. With both of them, my water broke first, then labor started…um, very quickly and intensely.
(And for all of you who had 46 hour labors, please don’t start throwing tomatoes.)
When your second labor lasts half the time of your first labor, you pack your bags and are ready to leave for the hospital for the birth of your third child about the time you see two pink lines on the stick.
I knew I couldn’t mess around with getting to the hospital, and my doctor should have known too. (I guess he was a little more accustomed to the 46 hour labor people.)
When I woke up with contractions one week before my due date, I was thinking, “Hm, these feel like they could be real contractions.” But my water hadn’t broken yet, so I just wasn’t sure. As we got dressed and ready to go, I was deciding that yes, these were real contractions.
I called the doctor’s office to tell him that my contractions were about five minutes apart, but that my water hadn’t broken yet. He said, “Well, why don’t you come on into the clinic and we’ll have a look at you.”
My mom was already at our house, so she stayed home with the other boys (who were only four and one at the time…oh, where has the time gone?).
We made the twenty minute drive to the clinic, which, by the way, was across the street from the hospital. (Thankfully!) All the way there, I was having wonderful contractions – the kind that make you not love being in a car.
But I was freakishly calm, because with my other two, my water had broken first, and with this one it hadn’t. So I thought, “Well, this could be false labor.” (Matt just smiled and said nothing when I mentioned that. He had seen these kind of contractions before and the face that I wear when I’m having them. He was quite sure that this wasn’t false labor.)
Once we got to the clinic, everyone took their time getting me into a room. Then, once I was in the room, the doctor took forever to come back there. Matt, who had been dutifully timing contractions (which were 1.5 minutes apart by now, thank you very much), was starting to get concerned – because again, he had seen me like this before and he knew that this baby was coming soon.
I, on the other hand, was really not thinking clearly, because really, I was just trying to breathe…and to not rip the leather off of the examining table.
Finally, Matt went out and found the doctor and said, “Things are getting pretty intense. I really think you should come check on her now.”
So the doctor meandered in with the nurse, and took his sweet time putting on the rubber glovey thingies…
Then he checked me, went pale, and said to the nurse, “Let’s get her across the street!”
The nurse said, “How many centimeters is she?”
And the doctor said again, “Let’s get her across the street!”
(Apparently he felt that if any of the rest of us know that I was 9.999 cm dilated, we might all panic…)
Matt quickly pulled the van around and the nurse put me into it. We crossed the street to the hospital and went in through the emergency room entrance.
In the meantime, the nurse at the clinic called over to the ER and said something like, “A patient named Laura Coppinger is coming over right now. DO NOT mess with her in the ER! DO NOT ask for insurance papers. DO NOT make her sign anything. GET HER UPSTAIRS!” And then the ER people apparently called the Labor and Delivery people, so they frantically started getting my room and the baby warmer ready…
We walked into the ER (at exactly 9:45 am), and they threw me into a wheelchair (which is such a fun place to be when you are about to explode), and they hurried me upstairs. Matt and I looked at each other like, “Is this really happening?”
We got to the Labor and Delivery floor and found that there were people everywhere flying around with blankets and stuff, saying, “Is this Coppinger?! Get her into this room!” They whipped off my clothes, threw on the gown, and the doctor came in with his delivery gear on.
He broke my water, and the baby crowned. I pushed once, we had a head. I pushed again, and the baby was born.
It was 9:58 -precisely thirteen minutes after we had arrived at the hospital.
Another boy!! Elias Joel – weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz.
We called my mom to let her know that after leaving the house only about an hour and a half ago, we already had our new baby!
Nurses came and went all that day just to see me – the lady who had “come in and popped out a baby in 13 minutes”. (Shucks, if only it really had been that easy.)
Oh, and you know that clinic visit where I had to wait for the doctor to come check me before they finally realized that they needed to send me to the hospital to deliver a baby? Would you believe that later I received a bill in which I was charged a CO-PAY for that visit? The nerve. :)
Happy 11th Birthday, Elias!
Lindsey says
WOW! I absolutely love this story. Thanks for bringing a really big smile to my face. Happy Birthday to Elias! Eleven, wow.
Laura says
Glad it made you smile. :) I can’t believe he’s eleven either. Happened so, so fast. :)
Mary Brandon says
Don’t you wish that all doctors delivering babies had had babies. On second thought, that might not help. My mother (one of those 48 hour gals) took me to the hospital for my 2nd child. I was half dilated making slow progress, 20 minutes before the delivery of my 9 pound 3 ounce son.It’s amazing how fast those people can move you.
In case you are wondering where daddy was, he was on an aircraft carrier off Viet Nam.
Laura says
How blessed you were to have your mom take care of you while your husband was fighting for our country. Wow, what a lot to deal with!
Lori says
This is very similar to mine, except that I was only 30 weeks and not supposed to be in labor yet. I was awake all night with back pain, so at 4:30 my husband said I think we need to go get checked out. I had been kept overnight for observation 3 days before but the contractions had stopped and they had not started back yet, and I didn’t feel like they did anything for me then so I didn’t want to go back unless I had to. Finally at 5:45 he said we are leaving, get dressed. So I threw on some clothes, he dressed my 2 year old and we left. They put me in a room and said “honey, you are fully dilated” then everyone started freaking out and running around chaotically to call lots of doctors to be ready for a 10 week early baby at a hospital without a NICU. The nurse stayed right beside me the whole time and kept telling me not to push. The only thing keeping baby in was that my water had not broken. After an hour enough doctors and staff were available to take care of my little baby they let me have her. I probably would have had her within 4 mins of arriving had they not stopped me, ha! All is good with my baby she was 3lbs 14 oz, and she is 7 months old now and other than being small you would know she was premature.
Laura says
Wow, I am so thankful to hear that all is well!!
Amie says
Yes, you can share delightful birth stories like these any time. I am 35 weeks, and I love the not 46 hour labor posts. Oh, and Happy Birthday to Elias as well. I hope he has an awesome day!
Laura says
Here’s hoping you go quickly…but not crazy quickly. :)
Amy says
And so your fourth? Was he also in minutes?
My first also arrived 13 minutes after I got to the hospital, although I went straight to the hospital. Unfortunately I was only at 30 weeks, so I was not at all prepared for labor!
My second arrived 8 minutes after I got to the hospital, and that was after taking an ambulance to the hospital because I was worried about making it there on time. My husband, who was home with me at the time, grabbed our oldest and drove to the hospital, and got there just in time to see the final push. So glad I didn’t drive with him!
We are currently trying for a third, although I am extremely anxious now that two times seems to make a trend. I don’t want to be in the grocery store or somewhere else extremely inconvenient. I don’t want to be a news headline!
Laura says
He came quickly too, but not nearly as quickly as Elias. Probably because I was so freaked out about Malachi coming quickly that we went to the hospital at the first twinge I felt…a little bit before I needed to. :) (Still, it was five hours from start to finish.)
saph@frugalwifeblog says
Wow! Happy Birthday to Elias! Both my labors were around 6 hrs but 2 very different experiences. I still need to blog about my first birth experience. My second was a wonderful homebirth.
Time flies by too fast! My second is fast approaching her 2nd birthday already!
Laura says
It’s amazing how quickly their birthdays roll around. :)
Cheryl says
Ahh…labour stories! With my 3rd (having had fast labours before too) the doctor didn’t even make it for the delivery. I never even pushed…she just flew right out onto the bed. I’m totally serious. She was born right on the bed, nobody was even paying attention to me.
With my 4th we went to the hospital at the first sign of labour. To help with labour pains, I went into the shower at the hospital. Where I subsequently passed out and broke my ankle. I then had to labour and deliver a baby with a broken ankle. When he was just hours old I had to have emergency surgery to fix it. I too had nurses coming in to see me… but it was to see the patient who broke her ankle in labour. We’ve decided we can’t top that story, so there is no need for more!
Laura says
Oh my goodness. I could hardly breathe after reading this story about your ankle. Yes, don’t try to to that story. :)
Jen Mc says
my 5th was born about 10 minutes after we got to the hospital! they had the “nerve” to insist on taking me to triage first even though I tried to tell them it wasn’t necessary – but at that point I wasn’t really talking a whole lot anyway. One “check” and yeah, they were moving fast…. all she could see was head ;-) Of course, the next one everyone told me to “come right in” at the first sign of labor and all that…. took 14 HOURS after getting to the hospital, with almost 2 hrs of pushing….. just goes to show ya – ya never know ;-)
Laura says
Ha! Yep, you just never know. :)
Leigh says
I always felt a bond with you (unbeknownst to you!!) because you’re the only other person I’d heard of that has an Elias, too! Then, what a surprise to find out their birthdays are one day apart (well, technically 4 years and 1 day apart)!! We just celebrated my Elias’s 7th birthday on the 17th. He’s my first – and he was a 40 hour labor followed by a c-section. ;) no matter how slow or fast they got here, they’re a blessing!! Happy birthday to your Elias!
Laura says
Yay! Another Elias! Ick, I never like to hear about the 40 hours of labor then a c-section. Sounds so grueling and intense. Way to hang in there, Mama!
Twila says
This reminds me a bit of my daughter who just had a baby in Dec. It was her second and I warned her, “now you know, this one could be faster than you’re first.” (and her first was only abot 6 hours) Just as my mom had warned me with my second. (My daughet was my second, and we barely made it. Three hours start to finish. At the hospital about 15 minutes, and that’s because the Dr.wasn’t there when we got there.)Well, she let me know she thought she was in labor in the morning, but her husband had gone to work about an hour away. Her contractions were a bit sporatic, but she finally decided to have him come home. They kinda poked around in leaving, but I got a text at around 11:45, on our way to the hospital. At 12:45 I got another, baby’s out! When they were about 15 minutes from the hospital her water broke and then things got serious. They were almost there when she felt the head crowning. Her husband raced her in to ER where they checked her, yes the head was crowning. They did manage to get her up to L & D, where she had the baby in about 6 minutes. So I don’t know what to expect next time!
Laura says
Oh, I was so thankful that my water never broke with Elias!! Otherwise our story would have been the same as your daughter’s. :)
Molly says
Thanks for (re)sharing-I love birth stories! I labor quickly, too- and we are expecting our third boy next month :). With our first, I woke up when my husband’s alarm went off, rolled over, and my water broke. Contractions started immediately, 2 minutes apart. I showered, even shaving my legs, then putting on make up. the contractions were consistently two minutes apart, but not really painful. We got to the hospital, the triage nurse checked me, and said I was 5 cm. my husband was in the waiting room, thanks to a new policy about the triage room. During the next twenty minutes, I dilated from 5-10 cm. on a hard stretcher. With my husband down the hall. While answering admission questions. I was questioning how I was going to make it without an epidural, as the pain was so intense! If I had been able to know my body was doing several hours worth of work in twenty minutes, without my husband’s comforting presence, it would have helped so much! Instead, I wanted to punch the nurse for her non stop chatter :). Twenty minutes after she originally checked me, I told her I needed to push. She checked me again, and then the L&D dept went into high gear… twenty minutes later they let me start pushing. Unfortunately, that part took 45 minutes- but wow, it sure beat that crazy twenty minutes of super fast dilating! Eli was born 3 hours and 15 minutes after I woke up. In hindsight, I can see some early labor symptoms in the day before he was born.
Our second son was born in about the same amount of time.
I’m eager to see how round three goes- and glad we live closer to the hospital now. Labor in the car is not my favorite either!
When women shoot darts at me with their eyes when I mention that I labor quickly, I don’t blame them. I don’t think I would trade the crazy hard intensity for 46 hours of labor. I think they both have their pros and cons! I just hope we have time to get our older two settled somewhere and not deliver in the car :)
Happy birthday to Elias!
Laura says
Yes, that was always our fear too – making sure we had time to take the other kids somewhere before heading to the hospital. We had plan A, plan B, plan C… :)
Kareberry says
Happy Birthday to Elias! Great story Laura, thanks for sharing. I too, will be having birthday celebrations on the 20th for my Twins which will be 8 yrs. old. Truly, where does the time go?
Laura says
Time does go quickly, that’s for sure. Happy birthday to your twins!
Tracy says
We just had #6 on Christmas Day and my deliveries sound similar to yours. My body “labors” for a while, then quits. With this one, I was laboring for about 2 hours a day for a week or so before she was born. She was courteous enough to let us celebrate Christmas with our traditional big breakfast, reading of Luke 2, and gift opening with only a few “stop and breathe through them” contractions.
Things picked up around lunchtime and got pretty intense. My husband made the appropriate calls and I labored in the bedroom while waiting for the inlaws to arrive. Later, the van was running in the driveway, the doors were open, my husband had lovingly placed towels on the seat because my water had not yet broken, my mother in law was in it (but came running when she heard that I wasn’t moving from that spot!), and my father in law was in the living room with the rest of the kids. Our sweet baby girl had decided she was ready right NOW and my husband delivered her at home, just a few feet from our front door. :)
Laura says
WOW!!! That is quite the Christmas…er…birth story. :) Glad all was well! :)
Jolene says
Wow, what a story…happy birthday Elias!
Laura says
Thanks, I’ll pass that along to him!
Stacy says
Happy Birthday Elias! I won’t throw tomatoes at you. I have the same kinds of births. Quick and to the point. I have six children now from ages 21-6 (all the same marriage I might add) and our first and 2nd births were so fast I was in shock after they were born that I didn’t have to labor 12 hours. My 2nd childs birth is a VERY similar story to your 3rd. Congratulations on being blessed with easy births too!
Laura says
Yes, I’m very thankful!
Julia says
“GET HER ACROSS THE STREET!” LOL! Great story, and a happy birthday to Elias. Thanks for sharing.
Laura says
Yeah, every time the nurse asked him, he just kept saying the same thing, “Get her across the street!” It’s funny now. At the time… :)
April Smith says
My sister and I have FREAKISHLY short labors after hitting ten. I pushed for 19 minutes with my first baby, 3 minutes with my second, and 5 minutes with baby number 3.
When my sister had her third baby, she and I were alone in the room when she said, “I feel like I’m ready”. I called the nurse to come and check her. The nurse, rolling her eyes, said, “It hasn’t been that long since I checked her, but I will…” She pulled aside the blanket covering my sister, flung it back down and dashed to the door. “DOCTOR!” The doctor hurried into the room, and when she flung the blanket aside, there was my niece’s tiny head! The doctor told my sister to give her a push, and we met Cayley….they didn’t even have time to break down the bed:)
Laura says
Wow, you guys are speedy!
Stacy says
As I am sitting here having way too many Braxton-Hicks contractions for my comfort (I am only 32 1/2 weeks), I could not help but laugh at this story. My midwife and hospital are an hour away so I am hoping to not have as speedy a delivery as you! LOL! I was already 4 cm dialated with my last baby before going into labor that my last midwife told me to head to the hospital at the first twinge of labor. Unfortunately, I am one of those women who’s labor stops when she is frightened, so labor took a bit longer than I had hoped because the nurses kept bothering me and talking about me in the hallway because I am a little bit more high risk because of a blood clotting disorder I inherited (as if a laboring woman can’t hear!). Thanks for sharing this story and give that sweet boy a hug. They do grow up way too fast.
Laura says
Oh dear. Yes it’s amazing. Somehow, even during tough contractions, we still have our sense of hearing. :)
Brandi says
LOVED the story!! Sounds very similar to the birth of my second son!!! Oh, that was quite the trip! Like you mentioned, I too was known on the Labor & Delivery floor as the super speedy one because in less than an hour from arriving at the hospital, baby Francisco flew out! I almost had him on the examining table because nobody believed me that I was already ready to push at what was just 7cm! Apparently, in a few minutes, you can go from 7 to 10cm! The labor from the very beginning to end was about 5 1/2hrs and with my first son, it was more like 24hrs! Crazy! :) Happy Birthday to your son!!
Laura says
Yep, going from 7 to 10 can happen crazy fast!
Mary says
This could almost be the birth story of my 6 year old. Only the doctors office was 30 minutes (with no traffic) from the hospital. And there was construction, of course! And it took 16 minutes for him to arrive after we got the hospital. I remember hating being in the car also! And I completely understand that panicked look on the face of every nurse and doctor as they finally figure out that YES! The baby is coming right now! Fun times!
Laura says
Shew, I’m having to tell myself to breathe as I read all of these birth stories!
Karen says
Love this story! I almost could have written it myself with my FIRST born (good thing ignorance is bliss — I had NO IDEA it was going to go that way or why I almost had my baby in the car). We were 18 minutes, not 13, but yeah, aren’t those bills for the clinic checks just completely insulting? Oh, and the wheelchair I got to ride in was missing a foot pedal, so try being at the end of transition and having to hold your own foot up during a wheelchair ride! LOL. Good times! My second son was 4.5 hours from first contraction to delivery. We are efficient around here! Loved your story — thanks for sharing!
Laura says
Hahaha, that is soooo not funny about your wheel chair missing a foot pedal. Oh the things we go through… :)
mindy says
My fourth one, I was woke up at 10:50 with contractions, contractions one minute apart, called the hospital at 11:15, (was told they did not have a room for me) got to the hospital, the nurse took her sweet time putting on the gloves, putting the fetal monitor on me talking about how her night has been, took her time opening the lubricant to put on the glove to check me and they said “0hh, no wonder you are acting like this”, I was at 10. For the record they had to wake a mom up with twins at 11:30 and clean the room for me so that I can deliver in a delivery room instead of a regular hospital room. I wouldn’t have cared either way.
Laura says
“0hh, no wonder you are acting like this” – too funny. :)
Kenedi - Real Food Whole Life says
Awww, loved your story, Laura. I too am one of these gals that everyone hates. My first child came in 4 hours and my second arrived only 8 minutes after they admitted us to the hospital. Boy, they really don’t take us quickies seriously at the hospital, do they? They started in on their 100 point questionnaire with me. When they said “when was your last period”, I nearly lost it! “There’s a head between my legs, does it really matter when my last period was?!!!!” When they finally did check me, you’re right…they can move fast. We signed all our paper afterwards, as well. I’m currently pregnant with our 3rd. I think my hubby will be making me go in at the first twinge, as well.:) Happy birthday to your sweet boy!
Laura says
Seriously…the questions!! And by the way, isn’t that why we fill out a bunch of paperwork when we PREREGISTER!?! I never did understand why we had to fill out paperwork before and during… :)
Karen says
Oh, and let me add that these kinds of birth stories are the ones people need to hear. The unexpectedly delightfully smooth quick ones, not the horror stories that some women like to tell about how awful childbirth is (I heard a lot of those while I was pregnant with #1, which is so damaging to the psyche). I remember pinching myself after my first son was born thinking “wow, that was amazing what my body just did there!”. It’s so much easier if you don’t fight what your body needs to do. I made a point after my first birth experience to tell my story about how positive childbirth is if you are mentally adjusted and just let your body do what it is built to do.
Laura says
Yes, very true. :)
Kris Mays says
I DO hope you argued that bill!
Laura says
Oh I tried, then I was just like, “oh well” when it didn’t seem that they would budge. I got a baby out of the deal. :)
Corrie J says
Haha! Great story. I had very similar labors: first was 6 hours, 2nd was 3 hours (water broke as first sign). Third was about 1 hr and 15 min, 24 of those minutes being at the hospital. Thanks for sharing!
Laura says
Wow, we have very simlar stories!
Cathie says
It’s not the 46 hours of labor that makes me want to throw tomatoes. It’s the 12 hours of pushing. I’m way jealous of the 2-push delivery.
Laura says
Ugh, 12 hours of pushing?? I’d make you a steak dinner if I could. You rock!
Debbie says
Your birth story sounds like mine, only my brother rushed me straight to the hospital. My Hubby was out of town (the nerve of him!) I delivered our third child (second son) twelve minutes after I arrived at the hospital!!!! The doctor did not even have time to put scrubs on. My second son celebrated his 11th birthday yesterday :) Time sure does fly!
Laura says
Cool, we have sons one day apart in age. They should be friends!
Jennifer Dunn says
i just love birth stories, because yes they are all unique! My second was in strict contrast to my first 22hours to 1 1/2 hours. Then 4 1/2 to 2 1/2 for my other two children. Such a joy whenever any child comes into this world! What a blessing they are!
Happy Birthday to Elias!
Laura says
Yes, what a blessing!
Christy says
Oh too funny! Thats pretty similar to my birth stories, only the third was born at home before the midwife could arrive!
http://onelittlewordsheknew.blogspot.com/2010/01/story-number-three.html
Laura says
I just clicked over and read your story. AWESOME!!!
Jennifer S. says
This sounds like my mom’s third birth – 17 minutes in the hospital before my sister was born. The hospital still managed to charge her for a labour room. Those were the days where you laboured in one room and moved to another one for the birth. She was only in the labour room long enough for three nurses to help her change. :)
My labours are a little longer than yours, but it only takes me one or two contractions of pushing to produce a baby. We just had our 8th and our largest – 10 pounds.
Happy Birthday, Elias!
Laura says
Whew, 10 pounds. :) Our biggest was almost 9 and I thought that was big! :)
Brenda Howard says
Happy Birthday Elias and I am waiting on the next Cake Boss video!
Laura says
Yes, they have recorded several, but are very behind in editing and posting them. Hopefully the next one will be within a week!
Kristin says
Thanks for sharing! Yes, each baby comes a little differently. My first born (who turns 6 on Sunday) took 30 hours. In fact I came in to the hospital when my contractions were 5 minutes apart as instructed and they almost sent me back home as I was not yet 3 cm’s. Thankfully, after doing laps around the L & D floor for an hour I made it to 3 cm. Everything continued to progress INCREDIBLY slowly until I finally gave in and had an epidural, I went from 6 cm’s to 10 in less then an hour. Apparently the epidural helped my body to relax so I could dilate. Needless to say, I got an epidural with my second and third babies and both were born in 6-8 hours, not to mention only a handful of pushes. Oh and by the way, since my first baby took 30 hours I thought I had all the time in the world to get to the hospital with my second. However, I was 5 minutes apart in the car on the way to the hospital and 3 1/2 minutes apart in the elevator on the way up to triage. Glad to be done with the having babies stage of life. I hope you fought them on that co-pay. Happy birthday to Elias!
Laura says
Ugh, 30 hours just doesn’t sound fun at all. Yep, I fought the co-pay, but I didn’t fight too hard once I saw they weren’t budging. It wasn’t much and hey, I had a new baby! :)
Kristin says
With my first baby I was still working and she was completely covered prenatal to birth. Then I decided to become a stay at home mom, do the second two were under my husbands high deductible Anthem policy. With the second baby they tried not to cover nursing care while I was in the hospital, with the third it was the anesthesiologist. Needless to say we fought both denials. Both deliveries cost us $6,000 out of pocket, $9,000 total per kid if you count prenatal costs(each baby was split over 2 years(August to May/June). We learned to fight on EVERYTHING! Thankfully my financially savvy husband estimated the baby costs ahead of time and set the money aside. But then, I have 3 healthy kids as well :)
Laura says
Oh, I bet you did get really good at fighting for your coverage! Our copay at that time was $15 if I remember right, and overall, most everything was covered. It really wasn’t worth fighting hard over that much. :)
teresa says
Love this story, I had my 3rd daughter 10 minutes after I walked in the hospital door! We live an hour away from the hospital and before we left the house I called the hospital, it was 12:30am, so they would be expecting us the nurse said you had better hurry it doesn’t sound like you will make it that far. At that point I didn’t either and we still had to drop our other 2 kids off at their grandma’s! So it was a very loooong drive made a little quicker by my husband pushing down on the gas peddle about as hard as I was sqeezing his hand! Anyway we walked in the door and was directed to the OB put a gown on got on the bed and out she came, was very scary but I felt great after 10 minutes. The first 2 births were long so this was wonderful to feel so good so soon after giving birth. Now if my last 3 births would have been this easy it would have been wonderful. Happy Birthday Elias!
Laura says
Ugh, that hour drive probably seemed endless. So glad it was all over quickly once you got there!
Sarah says
Happy Birthday, Elias! It is my son’s first birthday tomorrow and I had a super quick labor with him. Water broke to start contractions, and less than 4 hours later he was in my arms. Thank God for amazing nurses, because the OB on duty that night didn’t believe I was going to be ready to push for another hour or more and walked out of the room! My body was already pushing at that point! The nurse made the intern suit up, and by the time the OB came back about 20 minutes later, the baby was almost out! The OB couldn’t believe it, especially since it was my first. We are scared of what will happen when we have more!
Laura says
Great story! I bet if you have more you’ll be prepared for the “just in case” quick birth so you’ll know what to tell your nurses! :)
Heather Anne says
Love to hear the joyful arrival of precious babies! :) My labors were nothing like what you described but it is super exciting to read your story! My mother was a maternity nurse and it was always neat to hear a unique story that kept the L&D department on their toes. Happy Birthday to your son and Happy Memories to you! :)
Laura says
Oh, I bet she had lots of great stories to share!
Susan Alexander says
You’re scaring me! My labors have been faster each time… First labor (second baby – first was scheduled c-section), 8 hours start to finish, arrived at the hospital fully dilated and had the baby an hour later. Second labor, 7 hours start to finish, but wasn’t SURE it was real until less than 2 hours before the birth, had the baby less than an hour from getting to the hospital… Ahem, how fast will this next (and last) one be? Better not go far to the hospital…
Laura says
Wow, yes staying close to the hospital is probably a good idea for this one. :)
Ashlee says
Happy Birthday!!!!
This was a really great story I wish I was able to deliver a baby in that short amount of time. I ended up having a c-section :( but I thank God that I had a healthy, Beautiful baby boy! :))
Laura says
Yes, so thankful your baby boy arrived safe and sound. :)
Michele says
Happy Birthday to you both! Have a Beautiful day.
Laura says
Thanks!
Donna Kottmer-Tyson says
Cute story!
Laura says
:)
Brooke says
Okay, well since mine did not take 46 hours, I am going to through a big tomato at you! I did all I could to VBAC with my 3rd baby and after 52 – yep- 52 hours of labor, ended up in a c-section.
Before I throw this at you I like to give Elias a birthday hug and you a hug for sharing your story :)
(Okay, here it comes)
Laura says
{splat}
I deserved that. ;) And now, I will hug you back (with tomato juice running down my shirt…) :)
Brooke says
Ah, what a nice hug :)
Damaris says
Oh I this is wonderful! Let me share mine! October 8, 2011, 3:30am. I wake up to go potty….being 38 weeks pregnant this is an hourly occurrence. My husband is working a graveyard shift 45 minutes to the west and the hospital is 50 minutes to the east, my parents however live 1/2 mile to the south of my house. After 4 trips to the potty in about 15 minutes I finally realize something is not right. I start calling my husband (giving the guardhouse our special code for emergency), the doctor (who is the one on call and not mine….but tells me to come to the hospital to be checked out)and my Daddy who doesn’t answer the phone….but Mommma calls me back within minutes. I tell Momma to come get me because I am in labor. When she arrives…I have gone from nothing to contractions every 4 minutes. Various phone calls to my husband, father etc. gets me in the minivan on the road to the hospital. I leave the house with my 86 year old blind grandpa and 7 year old daughter blissfully asleep and my Daddy on his way to them. In the van with me is a very frightened Momma…..she did really well considering that my water broken about 1/2 way to the hospital, after which I could feel my sons head crowning. When we got to the hospital (I had to tell her where to go in between contractions because they have remodeled and built a new tower since my last child) she takes me to the correct floor of the hospital. The nurse on duty took me screaming down the hallways (asking me if I was in labor or just scared)while Momma went back down stairs to park the minivan. By the time Momma got back upstairs I had delivered my beautiful little boy! Elijah Wesley! The doctor walked in the door about 10 minutes after he was born and my husband about 20 minutes after that! My son was born at 5:50am! That was the scariest, fastest 2 hours of my life. We were the talk of the hospital all weekend! I didn’t realize that the nurses weren’t called on to deliver without the doctor there or that most women don’t deliver that quickly. I am currently 36 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child and I have been praying that I am as lucky with this little boy as I was with the last one!
Laura says
Oh my. That was an amazing story. “Are you in labor or just scared?” Ha! How about a little of both?! :)
Michelle says
I had one 5 hour labor (my first) and one 14 hour labor. I actually preferred the longer one! The short was so intense! But both were amazing :)
Happy birthday Elias!
Laura says
Yes!! Not that I would have wanted any long, drawn out labors necessarily, but all of mine were very intense, skipping all of the 10 minute apart contractions and going straight to the hard and painful ones. :)
Melissa Fawley says
What a wonderful birth story! Happy birthday Elias!
Would love to have some of that jerky. We love jerky around here, especially when you don’t have to worry about the ingredients!
Laura says
Thanks!
Yes, that jerky is good stuff. Be sure to leave a comment over on that giveaway post for a chance to win: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/jerky-direct-giveaway :)
Thea says
My 2nd baby was my crazy quick labor. I had been having false labor for over a week and was pretty exhausted, not to mentioned we had just moved into our house 6wks prior. Well as we were getting ready to go to bed I decided to use the restroom one more time before going to sleep. When in the bathroom I felt a tiny pop and a gurgle. I suspected it was my water, but you know, no classic gush of fluid.
So I went to bed. 30min later I had my first contraction and it was so strong it was hard to breath through. I knew this was the real thing, so we called my parents who lived 5min away to come and get our oldest. They got there, and we were still rushing around getting last minute things done.
Finally we got on the road. Made it 4 blocks from the house before I felt her crowning, and hubby called for an ambulance.
With one push she was born in the back of the ambulance. The time – Exactly 30min from the first contraction.
Laura says
Oh my goodness. I think your story beats them all! Sounds like all that false labor was prepping your body for the real deal!
louise says
my story? well no 3, 2and a half weeks early, decides that while we have guests in the house for the beginning of a huge mission, she would simply show up to meet them. I rolled over in bed around 4am, my waters broke, my husband, a little bleary eyed , asked if we could go back to sleep; 45 mins later she was born, the midwife only just making it to the room (I was blessed to have no 2 & 3 at home). she’s been a whirlwind ever since. have you noticed how their deliveries seem to fit their personalities, or is that just me?!
Laura says
Oh MY!! That’s super fast!
Colleena Stark says
Happy Birthday Elias!
I love birthing stories. We had all 6 of our children at home. My husband delivered the last 4 by himself. I didn’t even push with my 3rd child. That was an amazing delivery! They are all so precious! Thanks for sharing your memories with us. This is my go-to blog for healthy recipes, and of course, an everyday encouraging word.
Laura says
Didn’t even push??! Wowza. :)
Thanks for the encouragement about my blog. :)
Kari C says
Love you and all four of your quick to arrive babies. They’ve been seizing the day every since it seems. (Though some moments they could maybe seize more quickly I’m sure it seems. Like a math lesson say.)
Laura says
Aw thanks, love you too. :) Yes, there are certainly times they could seize more quickly. Or in Elias’ case, he could slow down and be more thorough at times… Stinker. :)
Jamie says
Hey my second birth was basically the same story. Got to the hospital in full labor, had to fill out paperwork even though we had pre-registered, then waited in a wheel chair in the LOBBY of the L&D unit yelling my release word with every contraction (went through transition there). The POOR security officer kept calling back for someone to COME GET ME. 20 minutes later they got me into a room and it was a beautiful, fast birth. 45 minutes from the time we walked in the hospital doors, wonderful gradual build up of labor all at home, all natural, I felt like a million bucks afterwards, wanted to do jumping jacks honestly! :)
Jamie says
OH! and we just found out we’re expecting #4 in Sept 2013!
Laura says
Yay, congrats!!
Laura says
Ugh, how miserable for you to have to go through transition in a wheel chair. Phew!
Jamie says
Yeah, next time I’ve decided to just find my own room ;)
Jamie says
Shoot and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to any and everyone that is having one in your family LOL
Vicki says
All of these stories were so much fun to read! Neither of my births were as exciting as yours. First one I labored all day only because of pitocin…dialated all of a fingertip! Finally at 5:30 pm (after starting pitocin at 7:00 am), went to surgery for a c-section. My son 3 1/2 yrs. later was a scheduled c-section. My daughter is the one who has exciting deliveries, going very quickly. She goes from next to nothing to show-time fast! Thanks to all for sharing their stories. And, Happy Birthday to Elias!
Laura says
Oh those “labor all day on pitocin and get no where” stories make me hurt for the laborer every time! So glad your daughter goes more quickly. :)
Amy @ Finer Things says
First, I thought HOW did I miss this the first time?! And then I realized that you originally published this JUST before Michelle introduced me to your blog! And the rest is history. ;)
I won’t hate you too much for your fast labors… {sigh}
Laura says
Oh wow, did I write this THAT long ago?? Feel like I’ve known you forever. :)
So glad we can still be friends, even though my labors were a teeny-tiny bit shorter than yours… ;)
Cindy says
Ha! I can identify. I was barking at my husband to speed and cut people off….He tells me it was pouring rain and there was a high risk of hydroplaning. I have no memory of that. I got onto the bed,(personal alert!), the baby was coming out with the bag of waters, which they broke, and the intern caught the baby 2 to 4 minutes after we entered the hospital screaming. I was always apologize to my husband before and after labor–I seem to develop a separate personality! :^) Yes, I was suprised to see the doctor’s charge on the bill (she wasn’t there!) but the overal bill was much smaller because there were ZERO preliminaries. In retrospect scary and as always so much to be thankful for.
Laura says
Oh my goodness. That is scary! So glad everything turned out great!
Susan F says
Happy Birthday to Elias! He’s grown a lot since I started reading your great blog.
Laura says
Yes, he was only 6 when I started writing this. Can’t believe it!
Erin says
Oh man, if this had been me, the baby would have been born at the clinic. I never listened to my midwife and if I felt like pushing, I went for it!! And I ALWAYS felt like pushing because that was so much better than transition. My third child is 11, too!! What a great year, sniff sniff.
Laura says
Funny thing was, I never really felt like pushing with this one. Thankfully!
Kary says
Just curious? Did your fourth come quickly? ;). I am guessing so!
carol says
OK, this was fun to read. First three of my births were shorter each time. After the third came at record speed, the hospital was ready for the fourth….but it took FOREVER!!! Funny thing is that this fellow is still my most relaxed yet – doesn’t stress out about anything! The fifth? Well, that is a novel in itself – almost lost he and me…God is good!
Katie says
I just read this story for the second time, and realized that Elias and my second-littlest sister have the same birthday, and are both 11 years old! :)
Heather says
This was hilarious! Mine? 40 hours, with 4 hours of pushing…I earned a badge on that one. My husbands uncle and wife had a similar story. They were Amish, and on their 11th kid they rushed to the hospital and told the doc she is about to have the baby, the md stalled as yours, finally after they both kept on the nurse she finally looked and the baby was crowning, she ran out to get the doctor and her husband caught the baby! I should have asked if they recieved a bill?!
jeanie harper says
That sounds about like the birth of my second child! I called my doctor about 11:40 to tell him I thought I might be in labor. When we arrived at the hospital at 12:00 AM her head was crowning. The nurses ran with me in a wheelchair and lifted me into the bed just before she was born! My doctor showed up about 20 minutes later!
Jennifer says
I had fast, but much less exciting labors with my two sons. With both babies my water broke, but I didn’t go into labor on my own, so I had to be induced. It took a while for the pitocin to kick in, but when it did I was in labor with my first for an hour, and my second for 30 minutes. I didn’t even believe the midwife when she said I was fully dilated, because I didn’t feel like I had to push at all (with both).
It is always so interesting to hear everyone’s birth stories. Everyone I know has had such different experiences. Praise God that he is in control of it all!