Lily GodsboroughWe've seen plenty of stories over the years of women whose labor comes on so quickly that they don't make it to the hospital. Some deliver in elevators or in cars alongside the road. For a Utah woman, however, labor came on so suddenly she didn't even have time to sit down.

It was less than hour after Ellen Goldsborough felt the first contractions that she knew it was too late. She and her mother Elizabeth Carlson, were on their way to the running car her husband had waiting to take her to the hospital, but it was clear they wouldn't make it that far. Goldsborough told ABC4, "I felt the baby crown and I said mom she’s coming. I feel her head."

So they rushed back to the apartment, but didn't make it further than the front door when little Lily made her arrival -- while mom was still standing. Fortunately, grandma was quick with her hands and caught her.

Dad Geoffrey Goldsborough described the frantic scene:

Mother-in-law and myself just looked at each other like, deep penetrative gaze like Oh dear it’s coming. You know so we drug her back into the house. I had to kick grandma or Liz’s feet out of the way just to close the door.

Grandma said it all happened so fast, and that little Lily was "slippery as a fish," but a perfectly healthy fish. She weighed in at 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long; mother and baby are said to be doing well.

Phew. I know everyone wishes for a short and easy labor, but that's a little extreme. It's great there was happy ending, but it certainly is one of those stories that makes multiple hours of labor look a lot better. 

Have you ever had an extremely short labor like this or known anyone who has?

 

Image via ABC 4 News