Birth Story

Birth Story

On Tuesday, May 26, I left work for my routine weekly checkup. This week I had reached a milestone: it was my 36 week appointment and I was ecstatic that I was still pregnant at 36 weeks with twins! My fear throughout the pregnancy is that the twins would be born early, which is the case for over 50% of twin pregnancies. If they arrived early, I would have to schlep up to Boston to give birth, rather than giving birth at the local community hospital (Tobey), and it would be very likely that the girls would have to spend time in the NICU. But with the arrival of this day, I was home free!

I went into the appointment and had my blood pressure taken, as usual. This time though, my midwife (Louise) noticed that it was elevated, and she seemed to be concerned. She recommended that I head up the street to the hospital and have my urine checked for protein. High blood pressure + protein in urine means that the mother has pre-eclampsia, a serious condition which occurs in high-risk pregnancies (including pregnancy with multiples) and cannot be corrected unless the mother gives birth. It is unclear what causes the condition, but it can harm both the mother and babies, and there is no treatment for it.

At Tobey, I sat around waiting for the urine test results but it was a busy afternoon, and they couldn’t get the test results immediately. The nurses sent me home, telling me that Louise would call me that night if there was anything abnormal about the result. Confident that it would check out (I was feeling fine), I headed home.

Lying on the couch that night, I got a phone call from Louise, who informed me that the test showed that I did have high levels of protein, and in her opinion I would need to give birth ASAP. I was shocked, and not at all ready – I pleaded with her to let me just have my levels checked one more time in the morning and if they had improved, couldn’t I wait one more week to give birth? I was happy to have achieved 36 weeks, but 37 weeks would be even better to keep the babies cooking! Louise agreed that in the morning I should head back to Tobey, bags packed and prepared to deliver, but she would have my levels checked once more.

The next morning, May 27, we arrived at Tobey and had my blood pressure checked once more. It was still very high. Louise recommended that we start the induction process immediately, so for the sake of the babies, I protested no longer. I was brought into an L&D room.

Around 9am, Louise checked to see if my cervix had any widening, and it was 1cm! The goal is to get to 10cm in order to start pushing. Louise administered Cervadil which is intended to get the cervix to gradually open over a 12 hour period. After the Cervadil was applied, I sat back in the hospital bed and began the long wait.

Around 2pm, Louise checked my cervix again, and it was 1.8cm. I was a bit disappointed that it had only opened another .8cm, but there was nothing I could do about it. I rested some more. Around 3:30pm I went to the bathroom, and as I was climbing back into bed, I felt two loud pops come from inside my stomach, a sound akin to the popping of popcorn! One minute later, I realized my water had broken and I was covered in it.

The nurse came and confirmed that indeed my water had broken, and everyone seemed to be pleased that this had happened; it would make the birth a lot easier now that contractions would occur naturally and I wouldn’t need any further induction intervention! I lay in bed and eventually felt the contractions come on.

I can only describe the pain as HIDEOUS. I would describe the contraction as a wave of pain that has three parts: a crescendo, a one minute peak of intolerable agony, followed by the decrescendo. Then there would be about 1-2 minutes of relief before the next contraction struck. I felt sick to my stomach and did end up throwing up onto the floor from the sheer pain. But I was committed to a natural birth with no drugs. Around 7:30pm, Louise checked my cervix again, and I was now at 8cm! I was psyched! Pretty soon I would be able to push.

The next few hours were a hazy blur. At one point, I noticed that the calm, empty L&D room had suddenly become abuzz with multiple nurses, my midwife, bright lighting, and all kinds of equipment. Around 9pm, Louise told me I could push if I wanted to, so I did. It truly felt like I was combatting the pain by pushing. Every time I hit a peak of pain, I would push and it felt good to be able to do something to besides lie there, enduring the pain.

At 9:52, Baby A, Charlotte, was born and it felt like an immense pressure had been released from my belly. For 5 seconds, it felt like Niagara Falls was bursting from me. It was surreal. After Nick cut the cord, the nurses put her on my chest and I held her, in shock and awe. Nearby, I heard someone exclaim that Baby B had just moved into position and was head down, right at the canal. Then I felt another contraction, and heard Louise tell me that I could push again if I felt up for it. So with the next contraction, I pushed once more and Baby B, Clementine, was born at 9:57pm. Again Nick cut the cord, and the nurses put her on my chest next to Charlotte. They both looked healthy and I felt ecstatic.

While Louise did some stitching from the rippage, we lay there for about 2 hours, with skin-to-skin contact and no one bothered us. Then around midnight, the nurses weighed and measured both of them: Charlotte weighed 5lbs 3oz and 18.5” long, while Clementine weighed 4lbs 13oz and 18” long.

Much later that night, we introduced the girls to their grandparents and one aunt.

Giving birth to Charlotte and Clementine was the most fulfilling experience of my life so far.