The three little girls born this week almost set land speed records. The total official labour time for all three was 5.5 hours. Wow! (One was a first birth!) Now, I'm counting the official labour time as starting once TWO progressive regular contractions are coming every 10 minutes. (That's 2/10 for short.) Now, the total time of the three labours from the "first sign" adds up to 14 hours.

So, we had "fair warning" for each. I made it to each birth...and we all made it to the hospital in time (my apologies to the drivers that we flashed on the highway!) We didn't spend much time at the hospital before each baby was born (45min, 2 hrs, 30 min.) And...the quotes from the mums and dads and babies were great... "It's amazing the second time around - that was a little easier!" "I can't believe it's over already!" "The whole thing was incredible - crazy!" "That wasn't as bad as I expected!" "Whaaa!"

Now, I wonder if these girls flew into the world because they knew they were joining their sisters? Between these three families, there are now 6 girls!

Welcome to Hannah, Sadie, and Ava!

Perhaps the fastest baby of the year...a little boy has made his way into the world in 43 minutes!
No time for a car ride to the hospital.
No time for the doula to get there.
Just a mother and a father fully present to receive this shining spirit.

(Well, I flew up the stairs one minute after the baby arrived, just a step behind the paramedic)

I think everyone smiled so much yesterday that we all had sore faces!

Congratulations to Sarah and Mark!
Thanks to all the paramedics and the Infant Transport Team, especially for listening to my client and giving her privacy.

That was a day filled with joy!

(2009 Update: This mum has since had another baby...this time planned at home with a midwife. An altogether more relaxed outcome.)