Birth Stories

Amy’s Birth Story: Bullet Baby!

Editor’s note: We believe that all birth stories and all birth experiences matter. This post is part of an ongoing series of birth stories submitted by readers and fellow bloggers, featuring a diverse range of women and their birth experiences.

Amy’s baby came so quickly, they called her a bullet baby! If you would like to share your own birth story, please visit this post to learn how. ~Olivia


The day had finally come! We headed off to the hospital to be induced. I was 39 weeks along with my third child. We knew labor wouldn’t last very long: my first (natural) was less than 11 hours, and my second (induced) was about 6.5 hours.

This time I planned to get epidural. I didn’t have one with my first, and I waited too long with my second so it didn’t kick in before delivery. This time, the doctor broke my water and started me on Pitocin. I was told I had to wait until the anesthesiologist finished an emergency c-section before I could receive my epidural. The contractions were strong and very close together, and knowing I was getting the epidural seemed to make them even more painful than my other children’s births. The anesthesiologist finally arrived and quickly set up the epidural.

Within 20 minutes, I was comfortable enough to be able to take a brief nap. Although I didn’t think I had fallen asleep, my husband told me I was snoring up a storm. I remember feeling increasingly nauseous at one point, and soon after the doctor came in to check on me. I was 10 cm and the baby was coming down!

This was my first time delivering with a working epidural, and it was definitely a different experience. My husband and mom each held up a leg for me. I remember looking up and being able to see everything clearly in the reflection of the light above me. The doctor told me to stop pushing, to which I responded “I’m not!” This baby was so ready to come out she didn’t even need a push. Just having my legs held up made her shoot out!

From the time my induction started to the time she was born was just over 4 hours. There was no “pushing”, but that part was no more than 5 minutes. They called her a bullet baby, because she was born so quickly.

I was immediately able to get her latched and started breastfeeding her. We spent a few hours in the delivery room before getting sent to our room. The pediatrician even came to look her over while we waited.

Finally, we were moved to our room and one of the nurses noticed our baby’s lips were bluish. They took her to get looked at, and it turned out she had fluid in her lungs and needed to go to the NICU. They told us that because she was born so quickly the fluid didn’t have a chance to get squeezed out of her lungs.

She needed to stay in the NICU for 4 days to get antibiotics and to wean off of the oxygen. She’s a strong stubborn little girl and hasn’t had any problems since.

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6 Comments

  • I love reading these birth stories, each birth is different and all are very interesting.

  • So glad your baby’s hospital stay was brief! I love getting notifications in my inbox that another birth story has been published!

  • I’m happy to hear that Mom had a chance to have a nap. I have not heard of a baby being naturally delivered so quickly. I am happy to hear that all are doing well. I am curious about sections. Our daughter’s twins were born by c-section and they did not have a problem with fluid in the lungs. This seems to be an exception to the normal delivery in more ways than one.

  • Awww…I love baby stories like this and glad to hear that your labor was quick.I never had an epideral but it sounds like a good way to have a birth.Thanks for the wonderful story of your baby’s birth.