If giving birth was a race, then Heather Thorpe would have certainly won. According to Medical Daily, when the 23-year-old went to bed at 11 p.m. recently, she felt fine. She was pregnant -- 10 days from her due date -- but her water hadn't broken, and she hadn't felt any contractions.
Then all of a sudden around 3:55 a.m., she felt a strong one. She said she felt an "overwhelming need to push," and so she did.
And that was it.
Her parents were reportedly in the next room, and when they heard screams, they ran to help. By that time, their grandson had been born. The whole labor and delivery took about five minutes.
While her parents insisted on calling an ambulance and having them taken to the hospital, both mother and baby were fine. The baby, who was named Jonathon (but nicknamed "Spitfire" because of the rapid delivery), weighed in at 5 pounds, 7 ounces and is doing great.
The new mom told The Daily Mail she didn't want to call her parents for help because she wanted to keep herself calm, even though she couldn't even get out of bed to turn out a light. "I gave birth alone in the dark. The natural instinct is you have to do what you have to do. He's my little munchkin."
What an amazing birth story. Can you imagine if every birth was that easy? It would certainly make the prospect of pregnancy much less intimidating. Of course, five minutes isn't much time, and it's a good thing she was comfortable in her bed at home. If women had that little of notice, we can only imagine all of the random places babies would be born.
That aside, however, I think five-minute labors would fabulous. It would be incredible if we didn't have to deal with hours of pushing, excruciating pain, cervixes that aren't fully dilated, and all of the other parts of lengthy labor. Some women wear their long labors like badges of honor, and they deserve to do so, but it's an honor I think most people would gladly trade for an express delivery like this if they could.
How long was your delivery? Would you want one this short?
Image via deanj/Flickr
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Comments 37
Wow, I thought mine were fast both under 30 minutes. But 5 that's incredible.
Sure, that would be awesome...women giving birth on the streets, buses, elevators...pretty much anywhere but hospitals, I mean unless you're already in the hospital or live 4 minutes away.
I woke up at 1Am. Got to the hospital at 3 pushed thorough half a contaction and my daughter was born at 3:29 AM.
My first baby I had my first real contraction at like 1 pm. water broke at 130. At hospital at 215. at 10 and ready to push by 3 but had to wait for my damn Dr. My son was born at 6:37.
A 5 minute delivery would definitely be awesome but I really can't complain - my 3 have only been 3-4 hours long.
I didn't know i was in labor till my contractions were around 5 minutes apart and when i realized there was a pattern I freaked. We still had to drop my son off at my dads then i had to have at least 4 hours of antibiotics cause i was strep B positive and we lived like 40 minutes from my dads. luckily he only lived 10 minutes from the hospitol. But I had woken up sore. I thought it was from my internal exam the day before, and that it was just the braxton hicks that i had been having for the last 5 months. they didn't hurt at all it was just a tightning. Till I looked at the clock. by the time we got to the hospitol they were 2 minutes apart. my water broke an hour later and my daughter was born 3 hours later. So I guess about 6 hours from the time I realized i was in labor till she was born.
It took me longer to get into position for the doctor than it did for me to push the baby out. Getting to that stage was rough because I had back labor but I have to wonder how it would have been if I hadn't because transition was a breeze in comparison.