parturition can sometimes proceed more quickly than anticipated
Recent Examples on the WebFew women can relate to platformed parturition, but most understand Ms. Haart’s quest for comfort. Katharine K. Zarrella, WSJ, 27 Oct. 2021 His mother paced the spacious birthing stall, working off the pains of parturition, with half the placenta, neatly tied up by an attending stable hand, still hanging out of her. William Finnegan, The New Yorker, 15 May 2021 The main event—parturition—has yet to happen, but we are alerted to the Virgin’s readiness for it. Willard Spiegelman, WSJ, 12 Oct. 2018 Their physical needs were considered to be concerned only with conception and parturition.Longreads, 8 May 2018 The modesty costumes worn by the women of Gilead are derived from Western religious iconography — the Wives wear the blue of purity, from the Virgin Mary; the Handmaids wear red, from the blood of parturition, but also from Mary Magdalene. Margaret Atwood, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2017
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Medieval Latin parturītiōn-, parturītiō "act of giving birth" (Late Latin, "bringing forth, travail"), from Latin parturīre "to be in labor, be ready to give birth" + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of action nouns — more at parturient