The author begins with a vignette from mother Tess Camp, who experienced a precipitous labor, or birth that occurred in under three hours after the first contraction, following the water breaking. She gave birth to her first child in 7 hours and her second child in under 12 minutes, leading to paramedics having to unwrap her umbilical cord from the newborn’s neck and resuscitate them on the sidewalk of the Emergency Room entrance. One is more predisposed to this phenomena if their first birth occurred quite quickly, and accounts for about 3% of births in the United States. This medical phenomena is understudied and can be quite a painful labor experience for mothers. Since the cervix needs to open just as wide to deliver the baby in a drastically shorter amount of time, one is 25% more susceptible to tearing of the perineum during birth and hemorrhaging after delivery by 35%. Because of the rarity that these delivery experiences occur, it is also stressful for emergency room and labor staff  who have little experience with these kinds of birth events. The short time frame in which the baby arrives–as most hospitals only have one of these cases a year–healthcare professionals still brainstorm ways to be prepared for these situations. Mothers describe the psychological experience of precipitous labor, describing their bodies driving into autopilot and following instinct in a shorter time frame than usual. Some believe it to be empowering that their bodies knew what to do without their active judgments.