What is a Precipitous Birther?

**Every birth is miraculous and should be celebrated. Every birth is special and every birther is a Goddess, in my eyes. Here on my page, I’m bringing light to a type of birth that is often forgotten or painted in a negative light, I’m not taking anything away from any other birth. The following is meant to educate and empower, not offend. Welcome to the world of precipitous birth. I hope you learn something new.**

“Precipitous Birther” is a term I’ve coined for women who have given birth with only 3 hours or less of active labor. Is this you? Welcome to the Precipitous Birther Club. You’re in a club with absolutely badass birthers.

Maybe you've heard the term “precipitous birth” before. Maybe this is your first time hearing it. If you’re like me, and most other people, you’ve either never heard the term “precipitous birth” or didn’t hear it until after you had your 1st precipitous birth. Maybe, you even had a fast labor and didn’t know they had a special name. Why is no one talking about them?! I had my first precipitous birth 21 years ago, when I was 19; and in all that time nothing has changed, and no one has started talking about them more. They are never even mentioned in childbirth education courses or pregnancy books. Only one, of the many courses that I have taken as a Doula, even discussed them, and I was disappointed in the way they described them. Every so often, you see a birth story online or an article about one. I'm still the only birth worker that I can find that talks about them on social media and has a dedicated page to precipitous birth and talks about them in a positive light.

Too many women, having zero knowledge that this type of birth was even a possibility, have had births that were traumatizing and nothing like the picture of a peaceful labor they had painted in their heads. This lack of knowledge left them with feelings of panic, confusion, fear, possibly an unassisted birth, birth trauma or injury & more. Sheesh! This is not what we were told our births would look like. They are then further traumatized by comments such as “Wow, aren’t you lucky?!” or “I wish I had had that! That must have been so easy.” These kinds of comments diminish just how intense these kinds of births are and what women who have these births go through, often feeling like they barely “survived the ordeal”.

Don’t misunderstand me. I know just how hard these births are, having had 6 myself. My first one kicked my butt, traumatized me and was still the most amazing empowering experience. I birthed my first baby in 1 hour as a 19 year old! I believe we can shift the paradigm of precipitous births with proper awareness and education. Unfortunately, lots of mamas who experience fast births do end up with birth trauma. You can find their stories all over the internet. Birth trauma often leads to mamas ending up with postpartum depression, and this can have a lasting impact on mothers and their families. This needs to be taken seriously. If you were left with birth trauma from your quick labor, this likely impacted you and kept you from really reveling in your birth story and maybe even affected you in subsequent pregnancies, when fear of another fast birth consumed you and turned what was supposed to be a time of joy into a time of fear and anxiety. I hear this stuff over and over again and see these stories all too often, and that’s why one of my main goals as a birth worker, and 6x precipitous birther myself, is to bring awareness to and to NORMALIZE precipitous births.

Precipitous Births Are NORMAL

Precipitous births are a variation of normal, much like breech birth is. They are an amazing testament to how incredible and capable our bodies are. These births can be beautiful, empowering, and transformative. No one can take the power from me that I gained from my six precipitous birth. It’s something that still gives me strength to this day. Nothing has made me more empowered as a mama (other than using essential oils). I want this to be the experience of all women having precipitous births (or any birth for that matter). They don’t have to be chaotic, scary, or traumatizing. This kind of birth will always be intense, especially if you experience FER (fetal ejection reflex) but that’s ok, because what birth isn’t intense? The fact our bodies can birth a baby in three hours or less (sometimes it happens in minutes!) is remarkable! I believe this is, in fact, the way we are meant to birth. We just need to prepare families for this experience and give them proper skills for navigating these births.

I believe we’ve forgotten so much of what we once knew about birth, and I also believe that the modern world we live in has to led to imbalances in our bodies and in our nervous systems and that this is mostly responsible for the extremely long labors that many of us have today. In my reading and researching birth over the years, I have come across a couple sources that state labors used to be much shorter, which leads me to believe that longer births are actually what is abnormal and that precipitous births are the norm. Just because something is more common doesn't make it normal. While I’m confident using Body Ready Method® tools & Hypnobabies® helps prepare the body and nervous system for birth and will lead to us seeing more and more precipitous births in those that use these tools, that doesn’t help if laboring moms don’t know what’s happening, aren’t prepared for what’s going on, and end up broken by their birth.

We are failing moms if we leave them unprepared for these types of births, and they are going to continue happening to a number of women. While most statistics will state that only 1-3% of births are precipitous, I believe this is a gross understatement. One study done in Japan, showed that 14% of births were precipitous, and I believe even this is an under representation as it didn’t factor in home or birth center births. From personal experience alone, I can’t even list all the women I know who have had at least one fast labor. There is no good system in place for tracking precipitous births, and because of this, we really don’t know the true percentage of this type of birth; but I guarantee it is more than 1-3%. For some reason, in 2015 vital records stopped tracking them so we know even less now than we used to. In 2005, almost 90,000 births in the USA were precipitous.  Even if that number is accurate, 90,000 is a lot of women every year who are completely and totally unprepared for what’s to come.  90,000 women a year! At least! That’s a lot of traumatized women. We really are just gonna leave those 90,000 women with no knowledge of what’s in store for them? First, second, third, fourth babies? We can't predict ahead of time when a precipitous birth is going to happen, and for this reason, we need to educate all our mamas, families and birth workers on what the signs of a precipitous birth can look like and entail. 

Why Do Precipitous Births Happen?

According to people who want to disempower you, or ignorance, precipitous births are due to some medical issue or weakness in your pelvic floor or other flaw in your body. These kinds of births are often referred to as abnormal and a pathology of birth in medical literature. I know this to be false for the majority of women who have had a fast birth. This line of thinking leads women to feel betrayed by their bodies. How could birthing your baby in less than 3 hours be considered some kind of failure or betrayal? Trust your body and surrender to the birth experience. You are NOT going to be in control of your birth. It is a primal experience and we need to let go of control and trust our body and baby. When we try to force this control we will never be able to find our flow state and have better births. Your body supported you in the most amazing way it could with your fast birth. You were failed by society and our modern medical establishment but not by your body. The truth, according to medical professionals, is we don’t know exactly why precipitous births happen.

Having the experience I do with precipitous births, I believe precipitous births happen because that is the way were are all supposed to birth our babies. I believe the way we use our bodies nowadays, the way we’ve been conditioned to view birth and modern medicalized birth is why births take so long today. Once we’ve given birth and with each subsequent birth—as our bodies come back to their innate knowledge as our nervous systems become more comfortable with birth process and nature takes over, as it’s meant to—births happen quickly. In fact, what researchers can’t explain is why labors have gotten longer. An article by NPR from 2012 stated, “The typical first-time mother takes 6 1/2 hours to give birth these days. Her counterpart 50 years ago labored for barely four hours.” This was the conclusion of a federal study that compared nearly 140,000 births from two time periods.

I’m so tired of seeing women in labor for 2-3 days when there is a better way to birth. I don’t believe precipitous births happen because of some flaw in our bodies or pelvic floor muscles. Sure, this may be the case for some births, but to make these blanket statements about precipitous birthers’ bodies is ignorant and not backed by any scientific fact. None of the people I know who had these births had hypotonic (loose) pelvic floor muscles or any of the other medical issues they are often attributed to. Medical professionals, articles, and any other person saying precipitous births are a pathology, abnormal, or only happen if there's something wrong with you is so false and so damaging to women. I believe this also plays a role in why women with precipitous births are often left so traumatized and feeling broken. When looking for answers as to why our birth was different we are left feeling there's something wrong with us. This is gross and a huge injustice, and I can't believe I'm the only one who's saying this.

If you were left traumatized, and told that your precipitous birth happened because there's something wrong with you or your pelvic floor, (I question this whole line of thinking and how it has not changed in all this time.) I want you to know that this is not true; you are not broken. This could not be further from the truth. Your body is freaking incredible, you have a SUPERPOWER, and you birth exactly the way you were meant to. YOU are a freaking goddess. Own your power and just how amazing your body is. Please know that precipitous births are a variation of normal, and there's absolutely nothing pathological about them. Most precipitous birthers are healthy and had healthy pregnancies. When baby comes this fast, it most often means that everything is aligned well and baby is going to come out easily. This study from the NIH shows that it is not associated with poor outcomes. Women with other health issues such as high blood pressure or diabetes, etc., may end up having a precipitous birth because our bodies know we need to quickly birth our babies, but according to the few studies done, precipitous births do not have a higher rate of complications. If you had a fast birth that broke you, I want you to know I’m so sorry you were left completely unprepared. If I was your doula or childbirth educator, that would not have happened. Your feelings and experience is valid. I hope you can heal, and in time, see that there is nothing wrong with you. I hope you were start to feel powerful knowing what you went through. Whether you did it calmly, or freaking out and screaming, you have everything right with you. You are strong and incredible and your body is miraculous.

Why Should I Care About Precipitous Birth Awareness?

If it hasn't been made clear yet, the reason I’m so passionate about educating on precipitous births is because…

Empowered Birth->Empowered Mama->Empowered Family->Empowered Society

Traumatized Birth->Traumatized Mama->Traumatized Family->Traumatized Society

We have way too many mamas with birth trauma, and look at the state of our society nowadays.

Maybe you've previously heard the phrase, “peace on earth begins with birth.” I like to say, “when we birth better, we make the world better.” I truly believe when we have empowered births, we have empowered mamas, and that affects society as a whole because when we have traumatized mamas, we have mamas that often end up with postpartum depression. They are so traumatized by their births that they can't function and be the mom or wife that they could otherwise be. This impacts society as a whole. It doesn't matter what your social status is, what your ethnicity is, if you are a celebrity, middle-class or low income, precipitous birth do not discriminate; they happen to everyone all around the world.

How we birth is possibly one of the most important events that happens in our world. There has already been a huge resurgence of physiological birth, home births and empowered birth. If you go on social media, there are so many accounts dedicated to improving birth. And yet, none of them are talking about precipitous birth. Unfortunately, if you scour the Internet and do happen to come across something talking about precipitous birth, it is more likely than not going to be negative. 95% of what you see is going to be some article painting precipitous births in a bad light and only focusing on negative aspects. I spent hours searching the internet and compiled a 264-page document, and among that are only a few positives stories. I know positive stories exist, and yet almost everything online is only pointing to negative. While I’m not going to dismiss someone’s birth experience or trauma, a lot of these articles are written by someone who didn’t actually have a precipitous birth. So how can they speak as to whether this is a good way to birth? There are instances of women sharing their birth stories but these stories are not indicative of all precipitous births. Again, of the articles written by actual precipitous birthers none of them had prior knowledge of precipitous births. What would their stories look like if they had been completely prepared for the way their births went? Things have got to change. If you have a positive precipitous birth story, they need to be shared. Feel free to share it with me by email, and with your permission, I would love to share your story on my precipitousbirther Instagram account.

Continuing to Shift the Paradigm of Birth

If we truly want to shift how we view birth and return to physiological birth, we need to embrace precipitous births. You can read more about my birth stories in the blog section but I had six amazing, empowering precipitous births, and I would never change them. My first precipitous birth was traumatizing solely for the fact I had no clue what was going on (yes, there was some screaming). It did end up being an unassisted home birth. With my other births, the fear of getting to where I needed to be was what caused the most anxiety. I had moments of panic in each birth, usually when intense FER kicked in (doulas are a must for this type of birth) and my body forcefully pushed my baby out. In 6 births, I only pushed twice (2 pushes in 6 births!) and only had minor tears in two births. On the flip side, I have seen a warrior mama push for 5 hours.

A precipitous birth can be both things, it can be empowering and traumatizing, but it doesn’t have to leave a lasting detrimental impact. We need to make sure that we are looking out for our mamas and that means that we need to make sure that we are educating on precipitous birth. Women are taking back birth and our power. The more that women are educating themselves and doing programs like Body Ready Method® and preparing their body, mind and soul's for birth, the more precipitous births we are going to see. I’m calling it now. There's no way we can leave all these women completely unprepared for what should be the most empowering, beautiful experience in their lives and instead leave them completely traumatized. We can do better, and we have to do better.

Signs You May Be Having a Precipitous Labor

With all this talk about precipitous labors, what might that look like? Unfortunately, there really isn’t a way to know ahead of your first precipitous birth if you’re going to have one. Some women, like myself, do have precipitous births with their first babies but this is rare for precipitous birthers. Signs of a precipitous birth can vary but below are some clear signs of an impending precipitous birth. (Once you’ve had one, the odds of having more are high.)

• Sudden onset of very intense contractions or birth waves:

• Contractions very close together with no breaks or very little rest in between (piggy-backing)

• Strong pelvic pressure and birth waves that seems like they are never ending

• Feeling the baby drop into the pelvis very forcefully followed by intense birth waves

Several factors that can increase your chances for precipitous labor: notice I didn’t say “risk factor”

• You’ve given birth before.

• You’ve had precipitous labor before.

• Your baby is on the smaller side.

• Your uterus is exceptionally strong and efficient at contractions. (This is a bad thing?)

• Your birth canal is soft and flexible. (Hmmm, also not a bad thing)

• Hypotonic pelvic floor (not enough tone in your pelvic floor)

• You have high blood pressure

• Your labor is induced with prostaglandins.

• You’ve been exposed to certain drugs

• You have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

• Your body is aligned and balanced well, and you are mentally and emotionally ready for birth

• Your family has a history of precipitous births

How Can I prepare for a Precipitous Birth?

I don’t believe birth is something that we are just along on the ride for. I believe we need to take an active role in our birth and prepare our bodies, minds and souls for the best experience. Stack all the cards in your favor and leave the rest up to God or the Universe. With a quick labor the prep is even more important. A precipitous birth is not easy. It often hits like a ton a bricks, going from 0 to 100 in a second. It can be extremely intense. With a little preparedness, one can navigate a fast birth with confidence, not fear. Every person is different and the same things won’t work for everyone. If you’re a highly sensitive person, like I am, you feel things even more deeply than others, including discomfort, so going in prepared is vital. For a precipitous birth, a doula or other support person is a must. You can lose yourself in the intensity and having someone to anchor and help you recenter is crucial. With contractions, the more you fight them, the harder labor is and the more discomfort you feel. This is why relaxation techniques are so important for any birth. This is not an exhaustive list but some ideas of what I and other precipitous birthers have used.

Comfort measure/techniques to try for precipitous births:

• Having a doula

• The Bradley Method®

• Hypnobabies® or HypnoBirthing®

• Relaxation Techniques -starting from you head, focus on each body part and releasing any tension you feel. This is how I labored and found my Labor Zen. The more you can let go of tension and resistance in your body the less discomfort you will feel.

• Affirmations

• Laboring in Tub or Shower (My water birth was my favorite birth, and my fastest)

• Screaming (hey, if that’s what gets you through, no shame in that)

• Body Ready Method® - with a pelvic floor that is more likely to yield risk of tearing goes down

• Music that helps you find your Zen (for me it was dance music, not relaxation music)

• Essential Oils to help keep you calm and help prep the perineum

• Laying on your side, in a fetal position, may slow down birth and be a more comfortable position

What Does a Precipitous Birth Look Like?

Below is a raw video of a beautiful, precipitous home birth, that ended up being an unassisted birth when the midwife didn’t make it in time. This labor was only about an hour and a half. This mom’s water broke about 2 mins after she got in the tub and that’s when the recording starts. Being prepared for your precipitous birth makes all the difference in your experience. (If feasible for you family circumstances, I also highly recommend one really consider having home births if you have a history of precipitous birth. Removing the stress of getting where you need to be will add so much to your birth experience. I know this isn't feasible for all families, especially for high risk pregnancies or with history of complications.)

I was the doula for this birth and it just so happens that this is my sister. Knowing our family has a history of precipitous births, (my mom’s 6th labor was only 15 mins) and with her first birth being a little over 4 hours, this mama was prepared for a possible precipitous birth. This mama has zero trauma from her births. In fact, she’s looking forward to giving birth again soon. I truly believe that awareness, education & preparation will eliminate much of the trauma that comes from precipitous births. Of course, that's not gonna be true in 100% of cases. As a doula myself, I know that there are no absolutes in birth, so I would never say that all precipitous births are going to be positive experiences or that we could ever eliminate all birth trauma, but we can make birth better for the vast majority of women and for so many precipitous birthers. In 2025, there is no reason for so many women to be left with birth trauma or for so many women to still have no idea what a precipitous birth is. Birth is highly spiritual and meant to be the single most transformative, positive moment in a woman's life, and it is also meant to be quick. I know that it's simply how birth was always meant to be.

xoxo, A Precipitous Birther

P.S. Want to chat more about precipitous births or process your own birth? Feel free to contact me.