You know how they say usually going into labor is nothing like the movies where your water breaks and you rush to the hospital and deliver shortly after? Well, that crazy movie scene is what actually happened with our birth story! It was WILD!! Today I’m sharing our twin birth story – hang on, it’s a doozy!
I unexpectedly went into labor at 34+5 weeks pregnant, labor was 3 hours long, and pushing was 1 hour. We had planned for a home birth for months because my pregnancy was low risk. Not to mention, I had no signs of going into labor early! So, it was a complete surprise. Their birth turned into a twin vaginal delivery at a hospital, and I’m SO proud of my birth and how it went, even though it went very different than I had hoped. Someday, I WILL have a home birth, and I can’t wait for that day! :)
If you prefer to watch the video we made telling the story, watch below! Or keep scrolling to read it all! :)
Here’s our twin birth story of Annabelle Joy & Felicity Rose, part 1:
I was sitting in bed on my phone, up way too late and was about to put my phone away.
At 11:35pm, all of a sudden, I felt a very noticeable and audible POP in my stomach. I immediately jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. There was bloody show. I googled what I thought it was, and was pretty sure labor was beginning… I texted my midwife and she said to keep her posted if anything else happens. About 5 minutes later at 11:40pm, fluid started coming out (like someone dumped an 8 oz glass of water out of me), which was my water.
I’ll be really honest, I really started panicking and got really upset for the first 5 minutes. I remember telling Michael, “this isn’t how it’s supposed to go, why is this happening.” Honestly, I had spent months preparing and dreaming of a home birth. But I was 34 weeks he and I knew that it was too early to stay at home and deliver our girls safely, for them and for me. I quickly calmed myself down because I knew the more worked up I got, the more painful labor would be.
My contractions
One thing I did at the beginning while having contractions in my bathroom was grab a comb to hold to help distract me during contractions… it made its way all the way to the hospital room, and let’s just say by the time it was over with, the comb had lost the battle and there were small plastic pieces all over the floor, lol!
Once my water broke, contractions started in the next 5 minutes. They IMMEDIATELY started out being ~1.5 minutes apart, and lasting 30 seconds – 1 minute long (in this post is a screenshot of the app from when I tracked some of them). Very quickly, I barely had enough time to catch my breath and could complete maybe one task at a time in-between to get out the door to the hospital. (One thing I did remember… my camera!! Haha)
My contractions really felt like strong period cramps, and kind of similar to some of the pelvic aches & pains I had all week. So I didn’t know if they were really contractions at first. But after 10-15 minutes or so, I realized that’s what they DEFINITELY were because they got really strong. So we and our midwife got moving quickly on leaving for the hospital.
We headed to the hospital…
While I was working through contractions and trying to put on clothes & shoes, Michael immediately started throwing together bags to go to the hospital. We had nothing packed or prepared and he did an AMAZING job at packing (my favorite things he packed were my fuzzy robe and slippers).
We left for the hospital around 12:30am, and met our midwife and doula at the hospital. Every time a contraction came, I had to stop and fell to the ground in this sitting position that seemed the best way to ease the pain. With my contractions, I found that they were very manageable to work through when I had a chance to relax in-between. But because almost every in-between was filled with getting out the door, going into the hospital, talking to doctors, making decisions… it was very hard to relax and ease into most of them before they were so intense.
When they checked me shortly after arriving at the hospital, I was already 8cm dilated. (Yeah, like barely 2 hours after my water broke!) After arriving, we had to come up with a plan with the doctors for delivery. At first, they pushed for an automatic C-section since it was twins, but they were willing to attempt a vaginal delivery if I got an epidural. I never planned on getting one. Knowing it would be a compromise to attempt the type of delivery I wanted, for some reason I immediately had so much peace about getting it and that it was the right decision.
After giving me the epidural, they wheeled me into the OR room (that’s where they have you deliver twins in a hospital, in case of a C-section). After being rolled in, I was checked again, I was now at 10cm dilated!
Ready to push…
Michael was with me the entire time, I have never felt more supported by him. It’s like he knew what I needed from him without me having to tell him. My midwife was able to come in the room to be with us and she even took some AMAZING photos for me with my camera (the one thing I managed to think about and get before we left home).
I started pushing around 2:45-3am, and the epidural didn’t kick in until I started pushing. And really, the only difference I noticed from it was the period like cramps during contractions went away, but I still felt all of the pressure everywhere. I definitely wasn’t completely numb and didn’t feel anything!
Welcome to the world, girls!
I pushed for about 1 hour before Annabelle made her appearance head first! I could feel her coming out of me, and some pain from when she was part of the way out to being delivered, which I am actually super grateful for. I felt like it gave me a piece of the birth I had wanted, to experience what it’s like to give birth. The doctor even asked if I wanted to reach down and feel her head as she was coming out. That was one of my favorite moments of the birth. Well, that and them telling me around then that she had brown hair! The doctors also were great at guiding me to push and work with my contractions since I had an epidural.
After Annabelle was born, the doctors attempted to flip Felicity to a head first position. But ultimately she came out breech, feet first. She was born 5 minutes after Annabelle. She was born with a fracture in her leg because of it, but otherwise a healthy girl and her leg is already healing (baby bones heal much faster than ours).
Both girls were 4 lbs 9 oz at birth. They both were brought to my chest at different points so we could meet them right after birth before being taken to the NICU. At one point during the birth, I remember my midwife telling me to look over and I saw them holding up Annabelle with her newborn hat on being weighed (sooo cute). Annabelquicklyle did have a CPAP for the first 8 hours or so, but didn’t need it.
Thankfully I only had a first degree tear and my recovery has been really great! Which I am very thankful for since we’ve been at the NICU so much in the following weeks, so I haven’t been able to just lay in bed for long stretches of time.
Our birth…
went NOTHING like we had planned, which is something that’s still really hard for me to grasp. One thing I didn’t realize is how much I wanted a home birth not only for myself, but because of all of the amazing benefits for our babies. Going into labor early was one of my biggest fears in pregnancy, and it did happen… but there are still so many things God did through our birth, and in the days after. And I know someday, I will have the home birth I am excited to have!
If there’s one big thing I took away from our birth, I am SO glad, and proud, of how I educated myself about birth, both for a home birth and a hospital birth, and how I took care of myself while pregnant. Throughout everything that happened and every decision I had to make, even while in labor, I knew what I was agreeing to and what the risks/benefits were. I didn’t feel like things were happening to me. Instead, I was totally aware of what was going on. If there’s one thing I wish every woman could experience with birth, it would be that! The experience would have been a lot scarier if I had zero idea about anything. I’m genuinely excited to give birth again!
Want to see more about the girls?
Meet the twins!
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