Philadelphia Birth Photographer, fast third baby at Lankenau Hospital, Philly PA

The saying goes "first birth is slow, second birth is fast, third birth is a wild card". For this mama, her first two had both been pretty quick, as births go. She was planning on a third hospital birth, hoping to try for no epidural this time, and really wishing for it to be during the day so her big kids could come see the baby. We were all excited and anxious to see what kind of entrance this third baby was going to make.At her 38 week appointment she was apparently a few centimeters dilated. Great, I said, keep doing what you're doing, but remember moms can walk around dilated for weeks. No need to get too excited too soon, right? The next day, she wrote that she was having light contractions and pressure, but nothing too intense yet. Great, I said, keep me posted! Right before heading to bed the following night, I got another message from Leslie: more light contractions, lots of pressure, lots of discharge. We texted back and forth for a while so I could get a sense of how she was doing. Things still seemed pretty mellow, so we both went to bed, but my adrenaline had kicked in and I had a feeling it was going to be soon.The next morning Leslie called at 730am that she felt like it was time to head to the hospital. We chatted through a few contractions, which she handled really well, but she told me she felt like the baby was coming. I could hear something in her voice, and decided to meet them at the hospital. I got to Lankenau Hospital just before 9am, checked in with Leslie en route who said contractions had become much more frequent and intense. It all felt so familiar to my own ridiculously fast third birth, and I had 20 minutes of sitting outside waiting for them, camera in hand, imagining they were going to pull up with the baby in her lap!When they arrived, Leslie was clearly in transition. So in we went, through the lobby, into the first elevators that turned out to be broken, then quickly around the hall to the next elevators, which were full of people getting off at every floor before ours! The whole time mama kept saying how she felt the baby coming and that she wanted to push, and dad kept saying "we're almost there!" We finally reached the labor and delivery floor, and into a room, where they quickly got Leslie settled in. Someone checked her and said she was only 8cm, but she was insistent that she had to push. When someone checked again a minute later, sure enough she was complete and got the ok to push. Less than 5 minutes later, her sweet baby girl was in her arms!And oh my goodness, a head full of hair, covered in vernix, and big beautiful eyes locked right on her mama. Leslie's mom made it just in time, and their beloved doctor ran in a few minutes later. And since it was barely 10am, big brother and sister got to come right to the hospital to meet their brand new baby sister. Big smiles and tears all around!