Birth Story: Our twins are here! ~ Wisconsin twin newborn photographer

Our twin boys have arrived!

Birth story share for those that are interested . . .

I felt wonderful right up until they arrived sooner than I thought they would. Even 2 days prior I was moving so well. Granted, my back ached but I felt so much better than I thought I would at almost 36 wks. 2 days prior my Mom and I went to the perinatology appointment and saw a growth scan on the babies. That day they estimated that Baby A was 5 lbs 11 oz and Baby B was 5 lbs 5 oz. The next day (1 day prior to delivery) at my prenatal appointment I was having some random contractions but when my OB checked to see my progress I was already 3cm and 100% effaced (1 week prior I was 2cm, 75%). She was quite certain I would be delivering soon. My body didn’t really seem that way at that point. I was still really hoping lead baby would turn from breech so I could avoid a csection.

Me just 3 hours before their birth!

My OB called the on-call OB in the birth center for the night to let him know about my situation – breech/breech twins, progressed to 3cm/100% and my labors are FAST. I figured I could go home and maybe wait everything out for a number of days yet. A friend delivered dinner as a way to help me out (not knowing our situation, so it was really a blessing to not have to cook). That evening we met with a birth doula just in case we were able to labor normally. The on-call OB called me to see how I was doing. He said to come in if my contractions were 10-15 minutes apart. I assured him I felt quite good.

However, by about 7pm I was noticing my contractions were closer together. I thought maybe we’d get the four children to bed and then have my mom come over in case I needed to go to the hospital. However, by the time we had them to bed I felt better. I stayed up with some mild 10-20 min apart contractions until 11pm and decided I had better try to get some sleep in case I did really need to go in.

Throughout the night my contractions were coming and going and some felt kind of strong – but not real painful or anything. I hardly slept at all. I kept hoping and praying Baby A would turn – and he WAS moving a LOT. At 2am I woke my husband to say maybe we should go in, but then I doubted myself. If I went in I knew they would see if I had progressed and checking alone could start things up unnecessarily. I really didn’t want a csection. I had been praying for months for a natural delivery that would be gentle and also a quick recovery.

By morning I figured with all those contractions something must have changed and we had better go in. At this point I didn’t think I would make it through another night and I didn’t want to have an emergency in which one of the babies could be in a scary situation with a breech breech twin delivery. I called the triage nurse and explained my situation. She said she would call the OB at the birth center and see what he says. She called back and said he hesitated that I should maybe just wait it out. That surprised me because I thought this OB would’ve been informed of my situation (different Dr that the night before). After some discussion I called the Birth Center directly and spoke to a nurse who passed me on to the OB. This OB said “So are you about 50% effaced or so?” I said “No, I was 3cm and 100% last night and I’ve had more contractions through the night. My labors are super fast and these twins are breech”. He said “Come now!” ha!

So we sent the kids to my parents house and we calmly drove to the hospital. I’ll admit I felt defeated. I really felt like I was giving up my hope of a natural delivery. It sort of stole the excitement that our babies would be born soon.

Once we got to the hospital they used an ultrasound to see if either had turned. Unfortunately neither did. The OB said he would check me and his face showed his surprise when he said I was 5cm and 100% effaced. Immediately they began prepping me for the section and I had to quickly adjust my whole vision of their birth. They told me there could be a lot of tugging and pressure during the delivery. Our first set of twins in 2007 was a csection (I’ve vbac’d in 2009 and 2013) and it was very intense. I had to breathe through it like a labor.

Within about 30 minutes I walked across the hall from my birth room to the csection ‘suite’. The spinal was tricky and the anesthesiologist had to try 2x to complete the spinal. Sets of 2 of every person filed in to the room. Twin deliveries have twice as many people. Everyone was fabulous and kind. I braced myself for what I remembered the first section being in 2007. I stared at the ceiling and caught slight reflections in the stainless steel of the surgery progressing. I almost wish I could see what they were doing, but then again, maybe not. My husband peered over the drape and I could glance at his excitement as he watched.

The great thing was that there was almost no pressure and tugging. It was an incredibly peaceful and gentle section. Thank God he answered my prayer for this. Soon Baby A was crying and they lifted him up for me to see. My first impression was he looked like our other 3 boys. Soon after Baby B was lifted up and he was tiny and looked just like our daughter – and ironically just like our first set of twins. Baby A was 5lbs 13oz and Baby B was 4lbs 8oz. Baby B was certainly smaller than the ultrasound predicting 2 days prior (they said 5lbs 5oz).

They allowed me to hold both babies on my chest while they finished with the suturing. When I was transferred to the bed they placed both babies in my arms for the trip across the hall. Shortly after that I was able to nurse them for the first time.

They did decently for the rest of that day and the day after. However, their blood sugars were bordering on the lower end of normal. This became a bit of a battle as I wanted to just nurse them and keep them with me. They wanted me to give them some formula to try to boost their sugar levels. However, I did not want to change their gut flora and this was a huge disappointment for me. They mentioned bottles too. I know my body is a good milk producer and I was not concerned that we needed to supplement. I finally gave in and allowed an SNS feed along with breast feeding with some formula in it. The babies struggled to keep up with my colostrum (which was a lot) and the formula. Then they syringed them 15ml of formula (which looked a lot like force feeding to me). I was quite an emotional mama that second day. I didn’t have access to my pediatrician and I felt I wasn’t being heard.

Thankfully once monday morning came I was able to have a group meeting (with lots of my tears and sobs) with a lactation nurse, my pedi and my nurse. I finally was heard. Breastfeeding HAD to work. I have 4 other children at home, I homeschool them and I do NOT have time to pump and bottle feed twins. I did that 9 years ago and it was a huge hurdle. Also, I love nursing my babies. It bonds us so strongly. I was frustrated that they were so fixated on the sugar number but not seeing that they were trying to nurse and we would get there. In retrospect I know I was hormonal and they know about newborns too.

We tried to see how they would do for monday. Their sugars improved a bit, but not as much as they wanted. My pedi suggested we start gavage feeds (nasal tubes in which their milk goes straight to the their tummy) and I nurse at the same time every 3 hours. She said this would be our best chance at breastfeeding and getting them to perk up. She said we could wait until tuesday or begin that night (monday). I decided to just get started that night. They were sent down the hall to the special care nursery and nasal tubes were inserted (poor guys hated it). They wanted 15ml of formula/breastmilk (any combo) every 3 hours to start. I began pumping a LOT. Within 6 hours I believe we didn’t need any formula and from then on they had 100% breastmilk in their gavage and I nursed them each time. This allowed them to feel hungry and associate nursing with having a full tummy. And honestly, they were decent at nursing! I nursed them separately at this time.

Within a day or two Baby A had a low temp so he went into an isolette. A day or so later Baby B also went into an isolette to keep his temp up. Their feedings increased and we kept nursing. This went on for 8 or 9 days. Thankfully they let me stay in my hospital room past my discharge since the babies needed me every 3 hours to feed them day and night. I was healing physically at this time as well. The babies showed they were growing well! Their jaundice levels evened out. Their blood sugars no longer needed to be checked and they were NURSING CHAMPS. I began tandem nursing them as well.

And you know what…. turns out they’ve never had this happen!! I guess most times it is gavage to bottle and at home try to learn to nurse. So many nurses commented that in years of nursing they had never seen this happen (gavage to 100% breast). Even my pedi bragged to a neonatologist that this was working. I am SO happy it did because soon we were off gavage and out of the isolette and they were nursing great.

12 days after birth we were finally discharged. I had 12 days to bond with them and focus on nursing. 12 days to heal and recover. 12 days to spend with amazing nurses who became friends. I MISSED the other children and home terribly, but we’re home now together and very blessed with all 6 children to be home with us.

Now that we tandem breastfeed I am able to be back to homeschool and our ‘normal’ schedule. God had a different plan for their birth (I will trust he was protecting all 3 of us as His ways are higher than mine), BUT he answered these prayers…

• a gentle birth
• a FAST recovery
• 100% breastfeeding twin newborns
• mature digestive systems (I specifically prayed for this as our first 35 wk twins had reflux and spit up a LOT). These babies hardly ever spit up.
• Amazing support from our friends, church, and family

Thank you God for these sweet little boys! I will share more as I have time to edit them 😉