Birth story

The morning of January 8th, I woke up at 6am with a cramp and thought immediately that it felt different. I went to the washroom and back to bed. I woke again ten minutes later with another cramp. They weren’t painful, but definitely noticeable. They continued and at 6:45 a.m., I woke Marc up and told him I thought something was happening. We got up and got dressed. I started throwing some last minute things in my hospital bag and Marc started shovelling. When he came in again, I said we should call the midwife. I spoke with her and she said to call back 30-60 minutes and check in. Marc went out and continued shovelling and then the contractions became very intense, very quickly. I was trying to record them to get an idea of the timing; I managed to write down two that were 2 minutes apart. When Marc checked in, he wrote down 2 more that were 1 minute apart and we called the midwife again, who said to get going to the hospital – now!

I had a hard time leaving the house. The contractions were very intense and I felt like I needed to use the washroom. I was beginning to get scared that we wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time. At one point, Marc said I needed to get in the car or he was going to call 9-1-1 and I somehow managed to get to the van. Our neighbours were outside and helped get me settled. About halfway to the hospital, my water broke! Marc stayed very calm through the whole ride; I was just trying to get through each contraction.

We finally arrived at the hospital. Marc pulled up to the main entrance and dashed out to get a wheelchair. He helped me out of the van and into the chair and off we went, leaving the van parked in the fire route! We left everything in the van; he barely grabbed my purse so we could be admitted. We rushed to the elevator, stopping for contractions. Up to the eighth floor and down to triage where we met our midwife, Jasmine at about 8:45 a.m. The triage nurse was trying to get me into an assessment room so they could make sure I was in labour before admitting me, and I was having a very difficult time getting out of the wheelchair due to very intense contractions – Jasmine finally convinced her that I was most definitely in labour and they brought me to a labouring room. I was quickly undressed and got into bed where the nurse checked me and sure enough – I was fully dilated and ready to push!

At this point, the hospital staff started to panic. They have a long list of procedures for twin deliveries, like standard epidurals and deliveries in the OR. They quickly wheeled me to an OR, telling me not to push yet. (My midwife assured me that if the baby came in the hallway, she would catch it) I managed to get onto the OR table, which was very narrow and hard and not at all comfortable. At this point, my husband and midwife were getting the robes and masks and everything on so they could come into the OR and the nurses were scrambling around counting things and trying to get heart rate monitors on both babies and myself. The anaesthesiologist showed up and put a few stickers on my chest (just in case…?) while a nurse got an IV line in my hand (I didn’t make it very easy!). Then they announced that I could begin pushing, at which point the midwife pointed out that I had already been pushing since we were in the hallway. Jasmine was wonderful at coaching me through each contraction.

At 9:36 a.m., Mia Nicole made her way into the world. She let out a beautiful cry and was placed on my chest. She had a head full of hair and was completely perfect. Then she went to be weighed and cleaned. I didn’t feel any contractions right away. The nurses were trying to get the second baby’s heartbeat on the monitor and were having a hard time so they started getting anxious. My husband was holding Mia while the midwife helped me get ready for the next baby. After a few minutes I started having more contractions and with four more pushes, Zoe Elizabeth was born at 9:56 a.m. with another beautiful cry. Nearly two pounds smaller than her sister, she had a nice dusting of hair and the most beautiful face. She was also placed on my chest. Mia was born weighing 7 lbs 11 oz and Zoe was born weighing 5 lbs 15 oz. My entire labour was four hours from start to finish! I was so grateful to have the natural vaginal birth that I wanted and so lucky to have two perfectly healthy babies.

 

congratulations! what beautiful names.

 

congratulations!!!!! I wish mine was like yours!!!!

 

WOW, what a lovely birth story. Congratulations on your new family members!!

 

Awww congrats, and kudos to your hubby for keeping his cool! And adorable names

 

Congratulations!!! Sounds like a wonderful experience!

 

:Clap: Congratulations!!!

 

Congrats! Love their names

 

congrats!! You did a wonderful job! So exciting.. and Beautiful names! One of our girls is Mia Katherine!

 

Are you sure you didn't just write my birth story? So many details are the same!

I love to hear that other twin moms deliver vaginally w/ no meds. You did a great job mama. I'm sure they're beautiful. Congrats to your family!

 

Congrats! Sounds like it would perfectly! I hope the birth of my babies can go so smoothly as well. Enjoy your little ones

 

:Clap: Congratulations!!

 

Wow! Great birth story! Congrats on your little girls.

 

Congratulations!!! I got a vaginal birth too, and my heaviest one was also 7lbs11oz! Well done!