SM - Birth Stories

A natural birth in a hospital with an OB/GYN
By: Mom

      As with Liam we wanted to work towards an un-medicated birthing experience with our twins. We were at odds given the level of risk with carrying twins but felt we could still work towards our goal. Clearly we were both surprised how long these girls wanted to stay in my belly, with a planned acupuncture session and threats of taking castor oil the girls decided to come and meet us naturally on Thursday at 2:30 am when my contractions began. I have to admit, I was thrilled and scared knowing that we were actually starting the early labor stage knowing that within a day or two we'd be able to finally meet these two little babies that have been growing for nearly 40 weeks (40 weeks would have been Saturday, June 28).

      Once Dave and Liam woke up, I asked Dave if he was ready to meet his babies and told him that I think they may come in the next day or so (recall, Liam was 40+ hour labor from start to delivery). Dave took Liam to school and it was a hot, humid day and when he came home we started to pack our bags. I was having contractions but we were not timing them since it was so early. We were walking around the house vs. outside to keep cool. After a couple of hours at home we opted to go and walk around and run some errands, Rookwood for DSW shoe works and Fresh Market then to Walgreens and Ace Hardware for a fan. During these trips my contractions were infrequent but still coming. During the contractions Dave would apply counter pressure and I would try to not let folks see my grimacing face. At about 4ish we decided to head home. It was on the way home down our bumpy road that a contraction hit like none of the others that resulted in Dave pulling over and applying counter pressure to help me through it - that one sucked given it did bring a tear to my eye.

      Once home our big decision was to stay at home and labor further or head to the hospital. We had Dave's parents coming into town to pick up Liam and we did not want Liam to see us going through labor. We had thought the best option would be to head to the hospital and we can walk around there, not check in, and if we felt that things progressed sufficiently, we could check in. At 4:30 we made the decision to head to the hospital to avoid rush hour traffic. Typically, when you start laboring when you change up the environment like going for a drive you can stall out the labor, well that didn't happen on the way to the hospital. In fact the contractions continued to come one right after the other that I don't recall much of the ride there other than Dave flipping through all the radio stations. We made it to the hospital and as Dave offered to drive me to the front so he could park the car I shouted back to "valet!". Well, I must have had a crazy look on my face because as soon as Dave pulled up to the valet by the time he got out of the truck and around to my side the valet guy had a wheel chair waiting for me. Dave thought I'd prefer to walk vs. ride but I hopped right into the wheel chair. As you may guess at this point, we were on our way to check in not just "hang out" and see what happens. We didn't call our doctor but we did have our doula (labor coach to provide emotional and natural support for the laboring couple) on her way. I felt like the contractions were coming right on top of one another and we had to "check in". The nurse at triage was asking tons of questions and I had hardly any time between contractions to answer her - we did provide her with our birthplan (pre-aligned plan with our OBGN on how we ideally would like the labor/delivery to go). She did her initial check and discovered we were 8cm dilated (10cm if full dilation). She quickly changed her tone and headed out the door, just as the door was nearly shut you heard "we need a labor room now!"

      We made it into the labor room, our doctor was called and we had the resident OBGN and the staff OBGN in the room since things were moving so fast. Here is where the drama really picked up. The Dr we have been working with in our practice was the only one that would consider vaginal delivery when both heads are not down. Twin A had been head down while Twin B had been head down but in the last 3 weeks moved into a transverse position (cross belly). We understood the risks with Twin B but the worst possible thing that could happen did happen, our Dr was away from her cell phone and the next Dr on staff would not allow a vaginal delivery, she would recommend a C-Section. So I'm laboring, Dave is applying counter pressure, our doula, Melissa is trying to create a nice/relaxing environment with aromatherapy and music and we have nurses and doctors trying to prep me for a c-section with wanting to give IV's etc. Through all this the most amazing thing happened; while Dave and Melissa were getting their scrubs on for the OR (we had to deliver in an OR in the event Twin B was in a bad position and a Section was required) in comes our favorite Dr. (AHHHH). We knew at this point that if anything went south that we'd all be ok with her recommendation.

      When in the OR we just labored as we would normally and when it was time to deliver the babies, Dave asked our Dr if he could pull them out and she "was cool with that". So when Twin A was crowning Dave literally put his hands around the head and pulled down, out and up and out came Twin A and Dave placed the baby on my belly and immediately picked up the leg to discover it was a girl! We never thought we would have a girl so you could only imagine the surprise, and emotion that we had! We enjoyed our time with Twin A then we were reminded that we had another one to go. Once Twin A came out, Twin B's leg was next to her head and that was not in a good position for delivery, so my Dr manipulated her, 11 minutes and two later Dave pulled out Twin B with the cord wrapped around the arm and three times around the neck… another girl! Shocked again!

      We were blessed with an amazing birth experience and two healthy, beautiful girls. I could not have asked for anything more! We are enjoying every moment with the new babies and Liam is enjoying being a new big brother! He kisses the girls every day and only likes to hold the quiet one to try and wake her up. He has become a big helper with tossing dirty diapers away and making sure we know when one of them is crying - he's the first to tell the babies that "its ok" and pats them on the head for reassurance.

Thank you for all the prayers, good wishes during this journey, we've been blessed!
Dave, Kristin, Liam, Amanda and Nadia