by Melissa Willets posted in Pregnancy

Newborn photographer and mom-of-four Cara Hocking has a history of very fast and intense labors. She told BabyCenter her first child was born after 6 hours of labor; her second, in just an hour and 13 minutes; the third came in only 53 minutes. Her fourth baby would arrive even faster.
"We knew if my water broke [at home] we would be lucky to make it to the hospital," Cara told us. Thankfully, she and her husband Jim decided to head there when contractions started the night she went into labor. "The last thing I grabbed before heading out the door was a stack of towels just in case my water broke or I had to deliver my own baby on the way to the hospital."
They did make it...barely. And Laura Eckert from New Creation Photography arrived just in time to photograph the extremely fast labor that was to follow.
Shortly after getting to the hospital, the doctor checked Cara, determined she was dilated to 6.5 centimeters, and asked if it was okay to break her water.
"As she was breaking my water she said I could think about whether I wanted an epidural," Cara recalls. "I don't think she understood or believed me that things would move too fast for that to happen."

"When I look at this photo I see so many things," Cara told BabyCenter in an email. "First of all I see the miracle of childbirth and am amazed at what we as women can endure. The pain and rush of emotions is indesc...