A Very Fast Twin Home Birth with Transfer for Mom

Edited to Add: I have read through this birth story many times and discussed it a bit with the mom and others at the birth. They all backed up my original thoughts. Mom’s body and her babies were working together perfectly. It was time to birth! Her labor was going fast, because that is what they needed. Breaking the waters (for both babies) and pulling on them to speed things along in an already fast labor, was interference not needed and may have played a role in the 3rd stage issues. Also, please know that if a cord snaps it must be clamped right away. I was not there, so can not judge or presume to know why things happened how they did.  These are things to consider in preparing for your birth and to discuss with your midwife (if you are going that route). That is the positive of sharing these stories…to learn and grow from each other. -Mrs. BWF

Homebirth and hospital transfer of twins: Olivia Grace and Kamille Johanna

Frank and I went back and forth on whether to find out the sex of the baby, he wanted to, I didn’t. To me, the baby was going to be born at the change of seasons so I knew we would spend of lot of time home. We didn’t have to gender items…in the long run though, I agreed to have an US. I was ‘due’ August 30th, so 1/2 way through we attempted to schedule the US. Each appt kept falling through and 20 weeks had come and gone. I took that as sign to just skip the US ,but I’m stubborn, so we finally get an appt…I’m 23 weeks at this point.

It was a GIRL…not just 1 but 2! I told the tech to literally shut up!. She didn’t know what to say, then I burst out in laughter and tears (I will NEVER forget the look on hubs face!!). I immediately was filled with sadness thinking my homebirth was out of the question, but it wasn’t. Lisa had delivered twins earlier in her practice. Plus another midwife in the area had experience with twins. So we hired her too, however never got a chance to meet her. Now we’re expecting 2, at the same time! I wasn’t afraid though, my body STILL knew what to do.

Here’s the story of how I birthed my twin girls at home on the side of my bed…

D day came sneaking up on us in a very literal way! I was technically 37 weeks 6 days when our girls arrived. The night before, 8/10, I had a fairly healthy meal…fried hotdog, spicy homemade chili and salad 😉 Don’t judge, I had a few slips! I was tired and hungry ALL the time. I hit the sheets early, 9ish or so. I woke up to pee at 2 AM which was normal for me, kissed hubs (working on a project for work that had him on night shift at home for 6 months), grabbed a handful of grapes and a glass of milk and went back to bed.

The next time my eyes opened was 8 AM. My son, 2 years, was already awake. We ate a bowl of frosted shredded mini wheats together and I had a giant glass of OJ (it is my all time pregnancy craving!) I was feeling heavy and like I needed to have massive BM. I told my mom how I was feeling, who later tells me she noticed my legs were vibrating at that time. I was in active labor and seriously had no clue! I had not had a ‘normal, intense contraction’ at all, but instinctively my body knew it was show time.

I go to the bathroom and now I’m feeling crampy. I go to my bedroom to wake up my husband (who had only slept for an hour at that point). I explained that I think I may be in early labor, but I wasn’t entirely sure, ‘Go back to sleep, this can’t be it’ I told him. I just couldn’t shake that heavy feeling. It’s around 9:30 now, I called the MW…no answer. I called my doula, Farah told her of my situation, thinking I need to poop but not sure if was labor. She could hear in it my voice and was at our house by 10 AM. Around 9:45 I talked to my MW, she’s now on her way. My husband is calling the rest of the team and Farah and I are ‘laboring’ on the side of my bed.

Here is where I need to break down my labor…seriously, I can recall a handful of true contractions before Baby A was being birthed! 2 of them were timed, they were a min and half long 3 minutess apart and that’s as intense as labor got for me. My transition consisted of me starting to cry and telling Farah that I was scared. She of course talked me through that and I had a few more contractions, but they weren’t very intense. So, I’m sitting on the bed and felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, but I knew if I stood up Farah was going to be catching those babies 😉 Lisa arrives and checked my progress which was a very loose 9 cms. Seriously! And I still didn’t feel like I was in labor.