I realize I share mostly about food, but I’m always shocked at how many questions I get about raising twins. This year, I’m collaborating with other twin mamas for some real talk. This month: Our birth stories!
On the 15th of every month, Real Talk with Real Twin Moms will bring you answers to questions moms of twins have. Everything from finding out you are having twins, to delivering twins, the struggles and rewards, and even marriage after twins. We are ready to get real about what it’s like raising twins, and hope it helps you through this adventure! To kick off the Real Talk with Real Twin Moms Series, learn a little bit about these moms, along with their answers to this month’s question.
April: Delivering Twins: How was your delivery with twins?
Looking back at my birth story with the twins, I cannot believe it actually happened. It’s one of those things that you kind of forget all of the pain and chaos once the babies are born. Now that I’m pregnant again, I barely remember how it felt to have TWO babies in my belly 9 years ago.
We had quite a crazy couple of days around the twins’ birth. They had to induce me at almost 39 weeks and it was a long 18 hours of labor…and of course my doctor was out of town! Dealing with a language barrier with a new doctor, lazy residents who didn’t believe I was actually in labor, plus no food or water for almost 20 hours, I was SO ready for them to be born.
I was induced on my mom’s birthday (January 31) and we were almost positive the twins would share the same birthday! After inducing me, the wouldn’t give me ANY pain medications except for Motrin. Ummm, I take that for cramps! Also, I’m someone who chugs water all day long, so I was beyond parched. (Since they weren’t sure how the delivery was going to go, I couldn’t eat or drink anything, just in case of an operation). Finally at the 12 hour mark, I convinced the nurses to figure out a way for an epidural.
To pass time, we brought my laptop in and binged The Office–still one of our favorite shows. It was a LONG 18 hours, but finally Olivia was born early the next morning, followed 22 minutes later by Maddie. I’m so happy I was able to follow my birth plan as much as possible and I had two healthy little ladies. The pain was worth it!
Natasha from Houseful of Nicholes
Natasha is an African-American blogger living right in the heart of Chicago, where she was born and raised. She’s currently raising four children who were born in 2000 – a boy, Nathaniel, 2008 – a girl, the ladybug , and twins (boy and girl) Lil Miss and Sir Twizzler 2010. She has been with her husband, Shomari since 1994, with one Ross and Rachel break somewhere in there.
Houseful of Nicholes came to be in 2010 when she found out that she was pregnant with twin children. She couldn’t find a place on the internet that she resonated with, as far as planning for expanding a family by two people at once, let alone one that came from the point of view of an African-American family. Since then, she’s shared their growing pains, their wins (potty training) and everything in between that it takes to be a wife, and mom of four in the city.
My delivery wasn’t what I wanted at all. One of my twins was breach, therefore I had to have a c-section. I cried for a month, and let my husband pick the date. I felt like a failure for a bit of time before the delivery, and for a while after too. It just made me feel bad that my body didn’t do what it was supposed to do. Glad that I had someone to talk to me and make me realize that while I didn’t have the dream delivery that *I* wanted, I was still the mother to two babies at one time, and they were born healthy, they were full term, and they didn’t have to go to NICU for anything. They were HUGE for twins (six pounds a piece) and they are now happy 6 year olds running around the house each day and making our life a little busier each day.
My recovery wasn’t as bad as it could have been because I did listen this time. Since I had a delivery that I wasn’t used to, I rested like I was supposed to. It was nice to have my mom with me to help with recovery. I healed nicely, and while I still wouldn’t pick a c-section for my preferred method of delivery, I realize that it’s just a different means to the same result.
Sarah from Sarah in the Suburbs
Sarah was born into a military family and raised all over the world, but will always call the southeastern United States home. After graduating from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in Apparel Merchandising, Sarah married her husband, Neil, in January of 2009, and they began to make plans to build their life together in Montgomery, Alabama. Little did they know that twins, a job change, and a move further north to Birmingham were in the not too distant future! Sarah and Neil welcomed their fraternal twin girls in February of 2011, and, just over a year later, Sarah and her family moved to Birmingham following her husband’s acceptance of a new job. With Neil’s love of the mountains and Sarah’s love of the beach, Birmingham is the perfect location for them to raise their family and be equidistant from the two places they love the most. Sarah’s blog focuses on her love of travel, parenting, with little bits of pixie dust thrown in for good measure!
My delivery wasn’t ideal. I definitely had a fantasy in my head that involved gentle music playing in the background and slow, purposeful breathing. In reality, I went from 0-60 in 3 seconds flat because I developed pre-clampsia and had to have an emergency c-section. My girls were delivered at 32 weeks and spend about 3 and 1/2 weeks in NICU. The mixed blessing of their early birth allowed me time to recover from the c-section (a MAJOR surgery, y’all, don’t let anyone tell you different) without having to jump in and take care of newborn twins 3 days post op. While it wasn’t my ideal, I wouldn’t change it. My entire motherhood journey has taught me lessons throughout. The good, and the not so good, have made me he mom I am today.
Kimberly from Things I Thought I Never
Kim Gillespie is a Chicago native, whose life journey has taken her from the classroom as an educator, to being a missionary and event planner to stay at home mom. Although she initially earned a degree in economics, she discovered while at Dallas Seminary that she is educator and writer at her core. She loves telling stories about life – and now pursues her love for writing as the mastermind behind Things I Thought I’d Never, an inspirational parenting lifestyle site dedicated to finding the lessons, joy, and humor found in everyday life. She recently relocated to Atlanta, GA with her husband, 6 year- old son, and 3 year old twins girls – who give her plenty of material.
I graciously (and gratefully), had a pretty “simple” textbook delivery. The practice would typically induce twins at 37 weeks because as I was told “WE think they’ve been in long enough” (HE also told me that induction wasn’t that painful. Yes. He.
) However, up until that point there were no indications in the multitude of tests that there was any concern about their health. So, they let me push it out a few days. Then. The day I was scheduled, the support staff went on strike. For 2 days. Still no babies. When I finally went in for induction, it took awhile for things to get moving, so much so that I have no idea of how long I was actually in labor. But once things started…The doctor came in. She asked me to push. Not expecting the babies to be ready. Miscalculation. Twin A was crowning and they whisked me to the OR -just in case (twin B was transverse). First baby came out. Doctor called for ultrasound to check Twin Bs position. No need. She was following right behind her sister. In and out of the OR in 15 minutes with 2 sweet little girls born at over 7lbs each at one day shy of 39 weeks. Definitely grateful because that was NOT their big brother’s story.
Lisa from MomOnTheSide.com
Lisa is a wife and mother to four, including four year old twins, a tween son, and teen daughter. Lisa began blogging almost seven years ago, and has enjoyed sharing parenting advice, easy recipes, printable scavenger hunts, and most recently, a Thirsty Thursday series and a Me Time series becomes moms need to take care of themselves in order to be great mothers.
From the get go I knew I wanted a vaginal birth with twins. I had decided on this for two reasons. One, I didn’t have time for the longer and more limited healing process that came with a C-Section. Two, the thought of being cut open scared me more than the thought of pushing two babies out of me. On delivery day we were told to call ahead at 6AM, to make sure a bed was available. One was, so we headed that way at 7AM to be induced. I was induced with my second child and it took all day so I didn’t have high hopes of anything happening quickly. To my surprise, they did.
By 10AM I was in quiet a bit of pain and dilation was progressing. The nurses came in to check and break my water and that did it. All the sudden the pain intensified and I was on my side gripping the bed rail. The nurses called for an epidural, and thankfully they did because the anesthesiologist was going to be unavailable for an hour or so in a surgery.
Almost as soon as the epidural was administered it was time to head to the operating room where I would deliver. I knew beforehand that is where I would deliver in case of complications. Once in the operating room, I was moved to an uncomfortable surgical table and greeted by my OB.
Melissa from Sippy Cup Mom
SippyCupMom.com is where Melissa shares the adventures of raising an energetic and YouTube obsessed 8 year old son and sassy and sometimes stubborn 3.5 year old twin girls. She also love to share more about parenting, travel adventures, recipes, crafts, technology, product reviews and more!
Throughout my twin pregnancy, I expected to have a vaginal delivery like I did with my son. When I was about 32 weeks pregnant, we found out that Baby A was breech so my doctor said we could wait to see if she turns or she could go in and manually turn her. I felt a little squeamish about that so I told her that if Baby A didn’t turn, I would go forward with a c-section. Baby A never turned so we scheduled the c-section for when I was 38 weeks, 2 days.
We arrived at the hospital at 5:30am for a 7:30am c-section. A lot of that time was answering questions, getting an IV in and chatting with the nurses and my doctor who popped in. Then it was time to head to the operating room! I was nervous that my husband didn’t walk back with me but they told me he would join me soon.
The operating room was bright and cold. They had me sit up on the table to get my spinal and while it was just like when I received my epidural 5 years ago, I still started shaking and almost crying. I had a wonderful nurse who held my hands and told me to breathe and that it was okay to cry. The anesthesiologist kept asking me where I could feel anything in my back until I told her nothing. They quickly had me lay down and they helped lift my legs up onto the bed since I already couldn’t feel them.
Once I was laying back, they worked quickly, putting the drape up and then giving me some oxygen. They called my husband in and gave him a stool, so he could sit down by head and hold my hand. The wonderful anesthesiologist stayed by my side letting me know when I would feel pressure and to remember to keep breathing. He also told me to look to the screen on my right so I could see that my oxygen number was at 100. So even if I felt like I couldn’t breathe, I was getting plenty of oxygen.
Everyone had told me that I would feel a lot of tugging and pressure, but honestly I barely felt anything so I’m going to consider myself very lucky! My OB let us know what was going on and she announced that she was pulling Baby A out. I did’n’t hear any crying or anything so I remember being really worried but she soon started crying and they brought her over to the warmer. There were two warmers and two sets of nurses and a pediatrician for each baby. I thought it was forever in between taking Baby B out so I was shocked to learn that Baby A was born at 7:55am and Baby B was born at 7:56am!
Join us next month for all of the fun details of the first year with twins.
How did your twin birth go? Any tips for someone who is currently pregnant with twins?
This Real Talk is Great, reading about how each woman’s delivery was so different is inspiring. Sometimes you only get to read nightmare stories, its good to know that sometimes delivery can go well too. 🙂
Whats your favorite Twin Mom story?