Birth Stories: Bridget's Sudden Delivery

This story comes to us from Bridget, a first-time mom who had a very sudden, quick delivery:

During my first pregnancy, I had preeclampsia and had been on strict bedrest for two months. I could not wait to have this child so that I could get up and walk around again, and due to the preeclampsia, I was retaining water big time. I had an appointment with my doctor when I was about two and a half weeks away from the due date, but she said that I was done being pregnant because all she had to do was touch my stomach and water would leak out.

Even though I could not wait to have this child, I was very scared the moment my doctor told me I had to check myself into the hospital that day to deliver the following day. My doctor's original plan was to deliver via cesarean section because she thought my baby would weigh as much as 10 pounds. She didn't want to put me through the pain and agony of labor only to resort to an emergency c-section.

After seeing my obvious disappointment, she decided to do an ultrasound to get a more accurate idea of how big the baby would be. The technician said it was hard to tell the exact size because of the amount of fluid I was retaining, but she said my baby seemed to be about five and a half pounds. She scheduled a regular birth much to my relief.

Once at the hospital I got medication to soften my cervix and was told it would take hours to happen, and that I'd be given medicine the next morning to induce labor.

My husband and I called our parents who live far away to tell them they had a day to get to the hospital if they wanted to be there for the birth. My mother-in-law booked a flight and my mother hopped in her car for a 20-hour drive.

We should have told them not to rush because there was no way they'd make it in time.

Contractions began not even 15 minutes after the medication was inserted. The contractions came so fast and were so painful that I felt an uncontrollable urge to push. Within another 15 minutes, I was preparing for an emergency c-section because I wasn't dilated and couldn't stop pushing.

Minutes later I had dilated to 4 centimeters; five minutes later I was at 8 centimeters, so the c-section was canceled. This labor was going so quickly that I couldn't take pain medication. I was so scared because of how painful labor was and I thought delivery would be even worse.

The doctor broke my water and the pain actually calmed down enough for me to catch my breath. Delivery didn't come anywhere near the level of pain I felt during labor. I wouldn't say delivery was a breeze, but it was definitely bearable. After just eight minutes of pushing my beautiful - and I mean beautiful - daughter, weighing in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces, was finally here. Just to think they thought she'd be 10 pounds still makes me giggle.