The Quickest First Birth in History!

by Heather Friend
(Pueblo, Colorado)

This was my first child. I had Braxton hicks (false labor) the night before it happened, so when it was REALLY beginning, I thought it was false labor.

My contractions started at around 2am. I thought they were fake contractions so I went to lay down. While I was laying on my back, my cat Booboo, who is not a lap cat, got on my chest and laid down. I thought that was kind of strange. My husband commented that maybe she was telling us this was it. I got a little concerned and called the hospital. The nurse told me to wait until the contractions make me feel like I am going to cry. So, since I didn't feel that much pain I went to sleep (lol).

I slept until 6am. Then I stood up out of bed.
That is when I KNEW I was having REAL contractions. OW! I couldn't walk or talk every time I was having one!! I told my husband, "IT's TIME!" He slowly got up and I looked at him like he was crazy. The drive to the hospital was like a scene out of the movies.

I am pretty resilient to pain and it takes me a lot to "cry out" but I couldn't hold it in. I cried out and it made my husband VERY nervous!

We got to the hospital and while I was having contractions that were making me yell out...the ER intake were having me sign papers!! Can you believe that? I had done all of my intake paperwork at pre-admission, but they were still making me sign papers!
The intake nurse took me into a wheelchair into the hallway and said that "transport" would be there soon. We waited for a VERY long time, with me screaming in the hallway in pain. That was really scary.

Transport finally came and took me and my husband to the other side of the hospital. They put me in the labor room and as soon as the nurse checked me, she looked a little concerned and told the other nurse, "She's ready!".

Apparently, I was dilated at a 5 and then within the hour I was dilated to an 8. Sometime before the hospital my water broke and I didn't even know it. The baby's head had plugged the hole (she was low throughout my entire pregnancy).
There was no time for an epidural. I had the baby "au natural!" And it HURT. Anyone who says it does not hurt must have been ON SOMETHING! lol

I had about 5 major pushes and on the last one I HAD to get her out because my midwife told me her heart rate was dropping. My husband held my legs back and whispered in my ear, "Baby you can do this." My husband's words gave me the strength to successfully complete the final push.

I had Hannah Olivia Friend at 10:51AM on St Patrick's Day, 2010. :)