The Birth Story

Begin at the beginning.


For the twins, that would be December 12th, 2006. That was the day their older sister entered our life. Here is the birth story if you're so inclined. Dave and I had decided prior to her birth that we were finished having biological children. If we changed our minds later, we could adopt or foster but we were not going to get pregnant again. I was really fine with this choice. We'd used Natural Family Planning for years without incident but we started to discuss making our decision permanent by way of a vasectomy. There were doubts though. Little nigglings in the back of my head gnawing at me. What if I changed my mind? I was just barely 29 years old. A lot could change in 10 years. What if one of our children died? Would we be OK with no longer being able to conceive?

In July of the following year, when Isabella was 7 months old, we moved to Dallas, Texas to begin again. We left our old lives behind and started fresh. We began to change. Dave and I had lived years in debt. We made bad choices over and over again. But Dallas was different. He was making more money and I was more organized and in control. We started to do things differently. So I decided the time was ripe, and that when Izzy was 18 months old I could do the thing I'd been wanting to do since I'd had my first midwife assisted home birth in 2005--I would apply to midwifery school and begin apprenticing. Ah, the best laid plans....

Shortly after the decision to begin school in July of 2008 I ovulated for the first time since we'd caught the egg and made Isabella. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, we'd had sex the night before. My Izzy was only just barely 8 months old and I was overwhelmed with fear for my milk supply, for our relationship, for all my future plans that would get axed the moment the test turned positive. I won't go into all the gory details but let's say the news of an ovulation just hours after having sex was met with a less than happy me. I went out with my friend Jen that week and decided to down a pitcher of margaritas with her. One last time before the little ball of cells was implanted! And sure enough, just a week later, I got a positive home pregnancy test.

Fast forward to December. I'd adjusted to the idea of adding a new Hayes baby and was even happy about it. I would just start school a year and some change later. Through this unexpected event I'd met my midwife Cori. I just adored her and was hoping to become her apprentice at some point in the future. I'd seen her once at 16 weeks and so we met again in January for my 20 week prenatal. I also had an appointment for a routine mid-pregnancy sonogram that same afternoon.

January 15th was an interesting day. We had some clues things were "off" at the prenatal. I was measuring very large for dates. I had gained a lot more weight than is normal for me during pregnancy. During palpation there was what felt like a lot of baby. Cori asked me if I was sure of my dates. I was. I asked her if it could be too much amniotic fluid. She said she didn't think so. We left for the sonogram joking with our friend Donna, who was staying with Isabella while we took the older three kids, that we might come home with an extra baby.

I tried to warn Dave. I really did. I told him I was measuring really big. He blew me off. I always measure big. We'd "suspected twins" in my last two pregnancies because of fundal measurements but we'd come out with just one baby in the end. But this was really, really big. At 20 weeks I was 28cm. I'd only been 17-18 at my last appointment just 4 weeks before. Growth of 10cm in 4 weeks is more than a little bit abnormal.

So you all know what happened next. Twins. One girl and one boy. We named them Claire and Benjamin. I met small goals. First 24 weeks which is just the edge of viability. Then 30 weeks, when I really felt like they could come and be OK. Then 34 weeks. Then the big one. 36 weeks. I was term. I had carried them to the "safe zone" for home birth with twins.

All you have to do is read back through the last weeks of my pregnancy if you want to know how "fun" it is to have two large babies sitting on top of all your bodily organs. Not so much.

I had been having contractions for weeks. At 33 weeks Cori asked me to go on modified bed rest until term and the amazing women from Dallas Area Moms stepped up and helped make that a reality. It didn't really stop the contractions, but they were less frequent and more mild. But once I was up again, they came back with a vengeance. At our 35 week ultrasound we had discovered that both babies had turned breech. Neither baby was engaged so they weren't really getting me anywhere, they were just annoying. I felt like perhaps the babies were not head down anymore because they weren't ready to be born yet. Turns out that it was likely related to SPD.

On Monday the 12th, Cori called to cancel our appointment. She had an emergency with another client to attend to and would call and reschedule later. But by that evening, I was having really intense contractions so she came to check on me as did my doula Delilah. Cori checked me and I was funneled with my outer os (opening to cervix) at a 3 and the inner just 1cm. I was about 25% effaced. Presenting baby was floating and breech. The other was head down. This presentation is contradicted for home birth and I was in a panic. Contractions petered out again that night and I went to bed dejected and very upset.

That week I visited my chiropractor several times and we thought twice we had moved them back to vertex but every time Cori palpated she felt breech. It was hard to tell though, because unlike one baby twins are so squashed together late term that getting a read on them is very difficult. It was a frustrating week. I went through a lot of emotions. Frustration, anger, panic, and finally I just sort of surrendered and gave in to God. Whatever would be would be.

On Sunday the 18th I woke to hard contractions very early in the morning. Story here. They didn't stick but by late afternoon I was not convinced I wasn't leaking fluid so I called Cori to come and check. It turned out to just be mucous but in checking me again we found two interesting things. The first was that in the week I had gone from "funneled" to a solid 3cm and about 50%. My cervix was much more forward and Cori didn't have to reach for my tonsils to get there. The second was that the presenting twin was a footling breech.

Not good.

I suggested that we have another sonogram the following day to try and see what was going on in there. Cori just could not get a good read on how they were laying. She could easily find their heads but the body parts were so jumbled up together that we couldn't tell who's butt was where. We suspected Ben had moved to presenting first and Claire was head down. This would not prove to be true, however.

The next day dawned and my doula Delilah came to stay with the kids while we went to check on the twins. I had a complete breakdown on the ride over. People say insane things about me like I'm strong, I'm inspirational, I'm a rock. Bleh. On the way there all I could do was sob that I didn't want to have a c-section. The very thought seemed so surreal.

They were both breech. Claire was still presenting but she was complete, not footling. Cori was feeling her little ankle bones through my cervix but her butt was most definitely the presenting part. The sonographer, Mary, who has many many many years of experience said she didn't think that Claire could drop her feet down. She felt that they were up and fixed and that her bottom was going to present no problem. We decided to go with the home birth.

The next day I awoke to contractions. Mild. Infrequent. But I was having a ton of discharge. I won't gross you out but let's say a pad was required and walking Target that morning was interesting. Dave left for work at 11 for his 10 hour shift. I'm not sure even how I spent the day. I was on the computer a bunch, played with the kids, tidied up the house. I called Delilah at some point to let her know I was contracting a lot and having 'buckets of mucous'.

A bit before 7 Cori called to let me know that she was going to be out of pocket for awhile. Her son was playing in a concert and the hall where it was being performed has no cell phone reception. I reassured her that I wouldn't need her because contractions were still 15 minutes apart and not seeming to pick up. I was settling in that today was not going to be the day after all. Maybe tomorrow.

No sooner did I hang up the phone that contractions picked up to about 10 minutes apart. About 15 minutes after 7 I went to the bathroom because I'd had a big gush of mucous and wanted to clean up. Only this time, it was pink! Never been so happy to see pink in my undies in all my life. I phoned Dave and Delilah to let them know what was going on. At around 8:30 I called Dave to let him know that he needed to come home because contractions were picking up quite a bit. Delilah was on her way shortly thereafter. I had left a message on Cori's voice mail letting her know what was happening and to call me when she got her phone back in range. She rang back and I had her head on over as well.

Delilah got here and started working on my toes. I'd had plans to get a pedicure the next day but it was obviously not going to happen and she wanted my feet to be pretty! We started the movie Juno. I figured if I put something on I really wanted to see the babies would for sure cooperate so I would miss the ending! Cori arrived at about quarter after 9 and contractions were about 6-7 minutes apart.
I was dealing with them rather well and we were talking and laughing and watching Juno between them. At about 9:30 my birth photographer Lynsey called to see if it was time to come. I'd called and left a message for her earlier but I didn't want her to rush over as she lives a ways away and gas is rather expensive! We decided to check and see if I was making progress before she headed out. I was 4cm and 80% effaced but Claire was still very high at -4 station.

I hung out on the ball, watched the movie, drank some juice, chatted and laughed with everyone.
I had to hit the potty every 10 minutes or so and was having a lot of red show. Contractions were about every 5-6 minutes and rather intense. Nothing I couldn't handle though. I was missing large chunks of the movie though, because I was up walking around and going to the bathroom. Around now Cori started to bring things in from the car and Dave was cleaning up our bedroom. That's when it really dawned on me that they were going to really come out. She wasn't going to unload her car full of crap if she thought I was having more prodromal labor. I hopped online and posted that THIS WAS IT!!!!
I wanted to run and shout and laugh with glee. But I was 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant with twins. Better to just sit on the ball and bounce.

At 11 she checks again and I am 5cm and 90% effaced. It's like butter. I'm barely working and my cervix is opening up just as nice as you please. We tell Lynsey to go ahead and move in our direction since it's obviously not going to stop. Cori could feel Claire's feet when she checked, but they were off to the sides and the butt was starting to descend, finally. Cori called all of the other midwives at this point and I'll admit to feeling nervous. One of my big sticking points with the birth plans was that I felt uncomfortable having so many people in my labor space. We were to have two assistant midwives, two students, the people already present and a photographer. LOTS of people for someone who had an unassisted birth last time! And although my contractions slowed a little bit, I just tried to relax and work with my feelings. I was having to work a little harder now though, so perhaps they were just slowing a touch because they were intensifying.

We got the labor music going about the time Tina showed up. She's another midwife that lives fairly close to my house. 20 minutes later students Amanda and Kim arrive and at quarter past 12 the other assistant midwife, Bonnie, makes it. She had the furthest to travel.

By 12:30 I'm really starting to feel my labor pick up. I'm swaying during contractions and starting to make a bit of noise. Cori checks me first and then had Tina check as well. This is the first point when we really start to feel feet. They were off to the side still, but definitely in play. However I've got a bulging bag and I'm 7-8cm already. Her butt is still descending but we're concerned she's got room to drop her feet down first. They have me lay on my side and try to relax during contractions. This is really hard to do! Standing and swaying they don't hurt bad at all. Laying down is torture though! Delilah is helping me through contractions and Dave is holding my hand while I try, hard, to relax and breathe through the pain.

At quarter of 1, Lynsey gets there and starts shooting. She's discreet and quiet and I barely notice her. I'm really having to work to stay in bed and stay relaxed so honestly an elephant could have come tromping through and I would have hardly realized!

At one on the nose I feel something big. A huge shift of position, not just a wiggle. Tina checks me again and I'm an 8 but her ankle is now more midline. She's still not presenting foot first, but it's certainly looking like we're moving that direction. I don't know how to feel, I just want off that damn bed! My moaning and noise causes Dave to think the birth is just around the corner so he wakes our oldest child, Gabe. I could have told him it wasn't going to happen just then but he didn't ask. Thankfully Delilah had brought her eldest child along. Vanessa is 12, but had already attended two births before the night of my own. She was there specifically to help with my children and help she did! They got out the basket of goodies I'd bought just for the occasion. First things first! They open the package of sticky lizards and decorate the ceiling of our kitchen! I remember walking in there during labor and wondering what on earth was up there.At 1:30 we decide to try a different approach and I get up to walk. I pace the house slowly in an arc. I'm walking during these huge contractions, eyes half closed and feet shuffling, and then joking with Delilah between them. She laughs and says that we should go mall walking. We decide instead to head up the road to the 24 hour Walmart and scare people half to death! She says I'm making it look easy but honestly I'm getting pretty tired at this point. But I continue walking. Around 2 I'm getting shaky and can't sit on the ball even to rest. Cori and Tina check me (by the way, they have also been checking heart tones all this time and everything is normal and well) and while I'm a good 9, during the contractions my cervix is shrinking back to a 7. The only thing against my cervix is the bag of waters...and her foot. She's officially a footling breech now. But her butt is still RIGHT there so we're hoping she pulls the foot back out of the way. She had room to move it down, so she's got room to move it up.

Cori and I have a little pow-wow between contractions. She makes it very, very clear that I cannot push. Not even a little. My bag is intact and I have a history of strong bags that don't break until pushing. If I push though we'll have to head in to the hospital for a c-section. This worries me for more reasons than the surgery. How fun will it be to do these in the car. And what if my water breaks and then I'm having twins on the side of the road or the back of an ambulance.

I know I can do this. But it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

I'm swaying, dancing almost, and clutching on to the door frame during contractions. I'm breathing hard, talking out loud to Claire asking her to pull her foot up, and concentrating hard on not pushing. They are two minutes apart. I can't pee any more. I know she's moving down. Delilah is telling me to blow. I'm shaking my head at myself at the peak. Don't push. Don't push. Put the energy elsewhere. Move. Dance. Grasp on to anything you can.

At 2:45 I'm done. I can't do it anymore. I'm exhausted and I've used all my energy getting through each contraction. They check me. I'm complete! Tina leans in and gently says "do what your body needs you to do. if it feels good, push". So I do. Gently. It's 8 minutes to 3. Dave is holding my hand, Tina is giving counter pressure on my back. Delilah is giving me sips of juice. I need to pee. I move to the toilet. Cori is with me in the bathroom. I beg her to tell me it won't be this hard with the second baby. She's silent. I realize she cannot give me that assurance. I'm pushing. Pushing. Pushing.

POW!

My water bursts. I stand up quickly because I know she's going to want to check for cord. She does. There is none. As a second thought they check the toilet. Water is clear. We get quick heart tones. Perfect.

Now I'm pushing for real. At first I try to squat by the bed but I'm not comfortable and they can't see anything. They move me to my back on the bed. I have two contractions this way but don't feel like I need to push. Then finally, it comes. I'm moving my hips side to side and around. It's the only thing that's working to make the pain abate. It HURTS. It feels....wrong. Pushing always made me feel better but this is excruciating no matter how I do it. Tina reminds me to put my chin to my chest and that makes it more effective. People are holding my legs up and back. There is one foot visible.

There is pressure. Pain. It's so intense and I'm inside myself completely. I feel bulging, pressure, PAIN and then--

She's OUT! Delilah and Cori both said that she came out with just a smidge of foot first. Behind that foot she was a complete breech still and I gave birth to her legs and butt at the same time. I once I passed her head out of my cervix she literally shot out. Oh the relief. I barely even noticed the baby they sat next to me. I was just so, so relieved she was out.

But of course, our story does not end here as I have a whole other birth to get through. And 4 minutes after her birth, 2 minutes after my baby Gabe cuts the cord, I feel the first contraction for Ben.

At 3:36 I begin to push Ben out. 3 minutes later his bag of water explodes, drenching Cori and shooting across the room and splashing my bedroom wall.

Meanwhile, Bonnie has taken Claire to the other side of my bed and is checking her over. She's pink and her heart tones are excellent but she's working hard to breathe. She's grunting and has some retractions so they're suctioning her. They get out the DeLee and are doing deep suctioning and I remember worrying about oral trauma and her latch. I want to tell them to stop but I know they need to help her get the junk out of her lungs. I am almost crying and Cori reminds me that she needs me to focus on the next birth. Ben is wanting to be born. Contractions are hard and they hurt. Cori checks and says she feels the head moving down. Bonnie corrects her and says "you mean butt, right?" Cori agrees but when she checks again she says that she was right the first time and we have a head! Ben flipped as Claire came out, as often happens with twins, and he's now vertex!

I immediately tell them I want to get off the bed. If I'm not having another breech then we're back to a normal vertex singleton birth and I can do this however I need to do it! I try squatting first, trying to bring him down into the birth canal. But it hurts so badly. Bonnie says maybe he's flipped posterior and suggests trying hands and knees. I do that on the bed, using Dave to brace me, but it's still not working. And I'm losing my grip of control. I'm crying, shaking my head, begging this child to come out of me. My arms and legs are shaking. I'm so very, very tired. They ask me to lay down on my side so they can get a good read on heart tones and the moment I lay down it's like a little bell went off. I immediately need to push and it feel GOOD! I grab my leg, pull it up, push my chin to my chest and HEAVE! It's 3:59. 8 minutes later I welcome my third son, my second baby of the night, and my last child. Benjamin is born head first, posterior, with a tight nuchal cord around his shoulders. I remember feeling the usual progression of the head first birth: bulging, then burning, then the feeling that my body is being ripped apart from the inside out....then the body is supposed to slip out. Only, this time, it doesn't! He's half in and half out of me and I'm still pushing. Cori is trying to tell me to stop that he's got a cord she can't slip over his head but he just cartwheels out onto the bed. Dave cuts the cord and we are separate the three of us.

Oh, thank you God.


And so, this is the story of the birth of my twins, Claire and Ben. She was 6 pounds 6 ounces. He was exactly a pound bigger. She was longer at 19.75 inches and he just slightly shorter at 19.25 inches. Her head was just a touch smaller at 13 1/8 and his 13 3/4. She snapped back from an apgar of 7 at birth to a 9. He was a 9 and then a 10. I nursed them in turn while the newborn exam was done on the other.

Both were healthy and looked so wonderful. Both placentas delivered at 10 minutes post birth. They were completely separate, joined only by the membrane between them. I had three big gushes of blood upon the birth of the placentas but then it clamped down to almost nothing. I didn't need any pitocin and it wouldn't even be considered a big bleed for a single birth.
It was hard. It was easy. It was...complicated but not. I felt safe and in control the entire time. I am so glad that I had the amazing birth team that blessed me with their calm hands, cool heads, and faith in my ability to do this hard thing.
I knew Cori was watching, evaluating, deciding. But she stayed out of my space. She didn't ever hover. She did the least amount of touching me she could get away with safely. Tina was wonderful. She knew just what to remind me to do just when it needed reminding. And Bonnie. Wonderful Bonnie! She was such an asset when it came time to help Claire. She didn't get worried or push to transfer but stayed watchful and kept my baby by my side. Delilah was always there the moment I needed her. A sip of juice. A word of encouragement. Some humor when things were getting tough. It's like she read my mind.
In the end, I've been called many thing by many people over the past 3 weeks. Apparently I'm a little bit famous and that seems strange. We never planned to do a footling breech birth at home. We wouldn't have done so! That's why we had the ultrasound. But when it came down to it, I think we made the correct choice. Obviously both babies were born safely so we avoided what would have been a "just in case" surgical intervention. And since I've had a hard enough time recovering from what the pregnancy did to my body, I'm very grateful I'm not also recovering from being cut open. With just over 2 weeks of help (and it wasn't consecutive) taking care of 6 children age six and under would be a daunting task if I wasn't back on my feet the way I am today.

It wasn't what I planned. It sure isn't the birth I would have picked for myself. But it was perfect for them and that's all that matters to me now.