When the due date of my first pregnancy came and went, I remember feeling depressed. Like I had been pregnant forever and just might stay that way. Finally at 13 days overdue my doctor suggested going to the hospital to be induced with cytotec. The way they do that is to insert 1/4th of the pill up into your cervix and wait for it to start to dissolve. They ask you to lie in bed for a 1/2 hour so the pill can stay in place. I didn't feel like anything was happening, but my doctor did tell me that I was thinning out and was already dilated to 1. So I started walking around the hospital while I waited for something to happen. I saw another woman farther along in delivery walking the halls with the baby's father stopping every so often for contractions. We talked and the father asked if I could sit with her for a few minutes while he got something to eat from the cafeteria. I said sure. We went to her room so she could lie down and I sat by her, rocking in the rocking chair, holding her hand during contractions. All of a sudden, I felt like I had a big burst of gas that needed to be passed and next thing I knew my water broke. It was a big gush of warm liquid that exploded out of me. I carefully excused myself and called for my husband who helped me back to my room. He had been sitting in our room watching a baseball game, (of course). My doctor was called at once and said that he was at home cutting his grass and would be there when he was done. He told the nurse that I was a first- time Mom so it would likely take hours yet. I had decided that I wanted to deliver naturally so I did not take any pain meds. I did have much lower back pain so my husband spent every contraction rubbing me there. I never had to time my contractions since once my water broke they were one on top of the other. A nurse checked me and said I was at 8 centimeters and then 15 minutes later I was at 10 centimeters. I delivered on my back with my husband holding my feet up. Finally the doctor on call came in so I could begin pushing. Right as the baby was crowning my lawn mowing doctor showed up mumbling about how first-time Moms are never this fast. My mom had fast deliveries with both me and my sister. I was born going from the elevator to her room and my sister was born in the car on the way to the hospital. I had mentioned that to this doctor but he said it had no relation to how I would deliver. My son was born blue with a very low apgar and was immediately put on oxygen. After a few minutes his color turned a nice shade of pink and he began to cry. That was an amazingly beautiful sound! Even though he was overdue he was small. Just under 7 lbs. Looking back I am glad that he was late. More time in the womb helped him to gain more weight. I tore a little and needed to be stitched up, but other than that, I felt great. I found out later that because my labor was so fast, (start to finish just under 2 1/2 hours) I experienced everything to an intense degree. The pain was stronger but for a shorter period of time. I wasn't breathing right during labor and that made me hyperventilate which wasn't giving my son all of the oxygen he needed, thus resulting in his low apgar. I did ask my nurse about the other mother I had sat with and she said she was still in labor. Funny! I sure didn't think I would deliver first. I have since had 3 more children. All of them quick deliveries. All of them a joy.