Giving Birth to Twins

Dramatic and beautiful birth story from Norway about giving life to two little wonders.

This story starts one week before the birth itself. I was admitted to the hospital for observation for my contractions as I was just in week 36. I felt the pain getting stronger and when they checked me they found out I had a 4 centimeters opening, and the twins' dad and my mom had to rush to the hospital as they were both attending the birth to support me.

As we were waiting for things to progress in the delivery room, we set up the computer to see a handball match. The pain came and went but things never progressed so as the night came I got sleeping pills and the midwife told me to just sleep and wait. The next day the pain was non-existing so we went home to relax and wait more.

The days went by without any action, and almost a week later I was so exhausted and fed up and felt desperate to get a date for the birth to be induced. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat and I simply couldn't take it anymore. The doctor gave me a date and that made me super relieved, I was finally able to relax knowing the birth was just a few days away.

Pee or water breaking?

The day before I was getting induced I went for a pee, but the water just kept running, and I quickly realized the water had broke. I called my husband and my mother, and one hour later we were all at the hospital again. I didn’t feel comfortable in the birthing bed so I got a normal hospital bed, but the contractions were still pretty manageable so we went for a little walk in the halls and the stairs to speed things up.

Walk the stairs to get the birth starting

After one trip down the stairs I felt a sudden pain in my back, it felt like someone had kicked me hard, and I fell down to my knees. Back at the delivery room the midwife could tell me my cervix was now 6 cm dilated and the contractions now came closer together and with greater force. I wanted to stand up and lean forward, but they had to measure me to see how the twins were doing, so I had to lay down in the terrible birthing bed. Both twins were doing fine. I then got out of the bed and was standing again, to let the body work. I was diagnosed with extreme morning sickness, and this didn’t stop even if I had gone into labor, so they taped a sick bag around my mouth, as the contractions came closer and closer and I had little time to regain my strength.

Epidural for the pain

I’ve never been great at tackling pain, so after a few hours the midwife got the anesthesiologist so I could get epidural. When you give birth to twins you have to have epidural, but I would have gotten it anyway. I was still worried about the needle, but it went super fast and smooth. Minutes after he arrived and injected the needle I was free from the pain, and it was glorious.

My blood pressure fell slightly and my legs felt numb, but this stabilized after a short while. When the midwife checked me I was fully dilated, but they wanted the first twin to get lower in the pelvic before I started pushing.

Bounce, bounce, the pain away

They gave me a bouncing ball to sit on and I was bouncing around looking at my phone while my mom and husband kept an eye on the contractions on the screen. The contractions were going through the roof, but I felt no pain and thought epidural was the best thing since sliced bread.

When it was time to push the babies out, the room filled up with health professionals. Even if a twin birth is not that unusual, it still requires a few more people. We had the midwife, two obstetricians (birth doctors), one pediatrician (child doctor), the babies dad and my mother.

Fire!

We had just put me in the birthing position as the fire alarm went off. We all stopped for a moment, looked at each other, and started laughing. We didn’t have time for the fire alarm now! While we continued to laugh the midwife checked and it was luckily false alarm.

They turned down the intensity of the epidural so I would feel the contractions, and with one doctor on each side and the midwife in the front, I was ready for the final. The first twin was lying in a good position, and the final pushes were some of the most painful and intense moments I ever experienced. They later told me some profound words came out of my mouth, but at one time I thought “I’ve seen this on TV, I can do this” and then I used my strength to push and not scream. 20 minutes later the first twin came into this world. 2580 grams and 43 cm long, my first little boy saw the light of day with a roar. At some point during my pushing, the midwife had cut me, which I didn’t know. Probably this was for the best.

They laid my son on my chest for a little while, then they took him away and all the focus now shifted towards the baby still inside me. Twin number two was lying at the very top of the belly, and he was lying on the side, so they tried to get him to move by pushing hard from all angles on my belly which was extremely uncomfortable. He didn’t move and I was told that they probably had to take him out with a cesarean, something I was strongly against.

Midwife from heaven

While they were still trying to punch him around, a new midwife came in, as the first ones shift was over. The second midwife was extraordinary, and she decided to try and break the water to see if this would help. He came down so her plan worked, but he was now in a breech position. They still allowed me to push him out since the first twin had created some room in the birth canal. 20 minutes later he was out, but the head got stuck and the midwife had to manually get his head out, something that was equally painfully as the whole pushing process.

When 3 minutes feels like 3 hours

Contrary to his brother, twin number two made no noise. He was floppy, and they took him away behind a curtain as three more doctors came rushing into the room. This reinforced my already growing panic, and the three minutes before the midwife uttered the magical words “he is OK” was the longest in my life. Seconds later I heard his little screams behind the curtain. My little boy had a rough start and his lungs only gave him 50 % oxygen, so he needed some extra help from the doctors, and then I finally got to meet my boy who came into the world 50 minutes after his brother, 2750 grams and 45 cm big.

Together again

Twin two had to lay with a cap and probe the first night while his father was watching over him. But early the next morning he was declared all well and we could finally reunite these two wonders who had been living closely side by side inside the belly.

Even if there was some drama at the end, I look back at the delivery as a dream birth, I didn’t have a lot of pain for long, I had a super effect of the epidural and the process went by quickly, 9 hours after the water broke at home the whole thing was over and we had finally got to meet our two heart breakers.