I was 41 weeks 2 days with my second and had an induction set for Monday that I didn’t want to do looming over me. Thursday morning, I went to the chiropractor and walked as much as I could. Around noon, I felt baby shift and drop into my pelvis. I was cautiously optimistic this might be the day! Later, I went about my day caring for my toddler and doing our nightly routine. I got to bed around 10pm and had a good couple hours of rest. At 12:45am, I felt almost like a “thud” down low. I got up to use the bathroom and realized my water had broken! Contractions started but were mild. I called my midwife and told her I hadn’t timed any, but they were probably 5+ minutes apart and I could tell they were on the shorter side. I was talking normally and laughing! She said (thank goodness!), just get your things together and head to the hospital because we live an hour away. I started getting my things and timing contractions. They were 90 seconds to 2 min apart but only 30-40 seconds long, and I was coping well, so I thought even though they were close I had plenty of time. We got out the door and into the car and the intensity picked up considerably, but I thought it was just worse in the car because I couldn’t move around. I had all the tell tale signs of being in transition—hot flashes, nausea, back to back contractions, and at one point I even thought “I’m gonna have to jump out of this car because I just CANNOT be here anymore!” But I just didn’t believe it could really be true…I was sure I’d still walk in and be 2 cm 🤣. By the time we got to the check in, I was vocalizing A LOT. I couldn’t complete any of the paperwork and even had to drop to my knees in the waiting room where regular people were waiting for loved ones with gifts and balloons 😬. They let me skip triage and got me to a room (the time was 2:41). The poor nurses tried to get me into a gown, into bed, place an IV, and hooked to a monitor but I was having NONE of that. Thank goodness my midwife swooped into the room and checked me while I stood at the foot of the bed. She asked me how I felt about delivering standing right there because the baby was almost here. One of the nurses exclaimed, “She’s 10cm?!” 3 contractions later at 2:57 and baby was out. They passed her to me between my legs, and the rest is history! She was 9lbs 2oz, 21 inches long, born just 2 hours after my water broke, and miraculously no tearing on mom! What a ride!