I had no idea what to expect and I didn’t have any expectations for my labour. My husband and I hadn’t even packed our bags because we live 5 minutes away from the hospital so we figured we would have a lot of hours in between contractions to pack.

It was Easter Sunday and we had supper and I started to get a stomach ache. We went home and watched some movies, but I kept feeling like I had to go to the bathroom.

We went to bed and I kept waking up in the middle of the night thinking I had to go to the bathroom. I just figured I was constipated.

At about 5 in the morning, I was like “man these poo cramps are getting pretty frequent” so I started timing them. They were about 7 minutes apart, so I figured “if these are contractions, I still have tons of time before we even think of going to the hospital”. They were more uncomfortable, than painful. My Braxton Hicks hurt more, so I figured I wasn’t in labour. My husband said “let’s just go, and if they send us home, whatever”. In the time it took us to pack our bags they had gotten to 4 minutes apart. In the 5 minute drive to the hospital, I had 3 contractions.

We got to the hospital and we walked over and checked in and then went upstairs to delivery to get a cervical check. We laughed and said it would be hilarious if the doctors said it was time to push

So we get upstairs and the nurse checks me and she goes “I can’t reach your cervix, so it must be really high. You might be at 1 or 2 cm.” Which is what we figured. She called another nurse to check and she couldn’t feel it either, so a THIRD nurse came and said that she couldn’t find it either. Then she joked “you are either not dilated at all, or you are fully dilated. But you aren’t in enough pain, and the cervical checks aren’t uncomfortable for you, so I would prepare for a long day”. Which is what we were expecting as it’s our first baby.

They wanted us to wait 45 minutes for the doctor to come and check me out, just in case.

The contractions started getting really intense, so I was thinking “if this is early labour, I need some pain meds” but they wouldn’t give me any until after the doctor checked me out. Then she showed up later. Supposed to be there at 8, showed up at 8:20. She checks me and goes “did your water break?” And I told her no and she goes “okay. Are you able to walk over to a delivery room or do you need a wheelchair?” And I go “oh I can walk in between contractions” and she goes “great. I can feel the head. We need you to start pushing. You’re going to have this baby in an hour”. We were both really shocked! Especially for a first baby! We went to all the classes and they didn’t mention anything about that. They said it would take longer than expected. I was expecting at least 30 hours because my mom was in labour for 46 hours with me.

We get over there and she breaks my water.

We got to the hospital at 7:06, and our daughter was born at 8:59. It only took a half hour of pushing.

I didn’t even have time to take my shirt and bra off for skin to skin. The nurses were great and pulled my shirt up for me.

After she was born, they couldn’t get my bleeding under control. They said it was because she was born so quickly. She also swallowed meconium because it was a stressful birth for her because it was too quick for her to adjust. The placenta wouldn’t detach so they had to get an gynaecologist in there too to try and stop the bleeding and have me birth the placenta. It took me longer to deliver the placenta than the baby!

I was pleased with the end result. No pain meds, didn’t get induced, a happy healthy baby girl.

I found going in with no expectations, or limitations was helpful. If you need pain meds, get them. If you need a c section, get one. It doesn’t matter how your baby gets here.

Moral of the story: doesn’t matter if it’s your first baby, you can still have a quick labour!!