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Double Footling Twin UC Waterbirth

5K views 15 replies 15 participants last post by  dayiscoming2006 
#1 ·
They are three now, as of this past December, but there have been some requests lately as I shamelessly plug a show we were all in. Twins By Surprise, we are the final story, the last 20 minutes,
The Grand Finale
and it airs on TLC

I had a UC with my third baby, and it went so well I wanted nothing else but to do it again. I was studying everything pregnancy for the 3 years in between and felt confident that I knew what I was doing, and making sure I understood the issues I thought were important for my history (supposed bleeder). I did get some birth supplies before they were born, felt it was important to have something to cut the cord after reading that in identical twins they might share the same blood supply and one could bleed out while waiting for the second to arrive. I saw a midwife twice in the beginning. I did not have an ultrasound but I did let her listen with a doppler when I was about 9 or 10 weeks I think. Only heard one heartbeat but..and I don't know if she noticed this... when she first touched it to my belly there was a thump, she said baby kicked it, so she moved it and the distance was wider than my hand that she moved it. makes me wonder... after that I did my own prenatal care... pee sticks for protein, blood pressure, fundal height, didn't worry about weight.

During the week before they were born i was doing this testing more often because I started swelling. My BP was a little higher and I wasn't spilling protein, but my eyes were getting funky but then they always do when I am pregnant. Friday morning i decided next business day I would call if I couldn't get it to stop over the weekend. I was going to school at the time and figured that might have had something to do with it...I would have more time now to rest and lay down etc because the thursday marked the last day of the quarter with 2 weeks til the next started, which I was doing online.

About 9:30 pm that Friday night, after a quick run to the local walmart with my aunt, i started having mild contractions. I took my family home and rested. All through the night they were getting more intense and I couldn't get very comfortable, but was able to sleep off and on. (I know same as almost every story out there lol)

At around 6 my boyfriend (9 years and no ring but when I write significant other people get confused). anyway, he had to go to work, stating it was better to go to work and be called home than to miss altogether (point system for disciplinary reasons) so I let him go because he only worke like 15 minutes away. I busied myself boiling everything (scissors and yarn and bulb syringe) after he left. By 7am I started timing the contractions and in just those few minutes I did that with they went from 5 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart. was more like 20 minutes I think. We didn't have a phone or my phone was out of minutes or something, so I woke up my oldest to go to the neighbor to call. They didn't answer the door so my panic set in. I felt sure I couldn't do it completely by myself (hindsight kicks in here and it almost could have been better to have) but he wouldn't come home if I couldn't get a hold of him. Finally they left a message on his voicemail.

It was only minimal panic though, so I waddled through the house some and back to the bathroom to sit on the toilet. Made a little nest between the tub and toilet with my favorite and softest blanket. Filled the tub with warm water, took a shower while it was filling. Anything I could think of to find the most comfortable position. Finally he came home, he says about 8:30 but I didn't know what time it was and the time that followed flew by.

Being able to relax that much more because he was finally home got things moving even faster. I sat on the toilet and rocked. Interesting because all through my pregnancy I thought it would be nice to have a labor I could enjoy because my older 3 were born within 2 hours and their contractions came with no pain, just a little discomfort and pressure. Be careful what you ask for lol. So yeah, it hurt.. until my water broke. I reached down and felt 2 little crossed feet. I was sitting on the toilet so I got up and went back into my warm tub half full of water and kinda squatted but not a full squat. Eric, the boyfrient, was like oMG breech what do I do? I yelled at him not to touch (he would not read anything to prepare for catching and wouldn't talk to me about it either through my pregnancy). Last thing I needed was for him to go yanking on baby feet. she slid into my hands quite nicely, and I held her a few moments until the contractions started up again.

I already noticed that the top of my belly still felt pretty hard. I had not told Eric of my idea there might be twins because I didn't want him to force me into the hospital or something. I knew immediately the hard belly was another baby and as I mentioned the hard belly to him I couldn't hide the stupid grin of feeling like I was right lol Then I told him it was another baby that was coming. I sent him to get the things I boiled only to discover yarn right off the skeen was not a good idea, it broke, so he went again and got some zip ties. He started with 'baby A' cord and as I squatted on my blanket nest to put her down

Her sister fell out on top of her. They both started screaming bloody murder and pinked right up but were ok. It was only a couple inches drop too so I checked her out and she was ok, just angry. I kept her cord intact for several hours. Still she cried when I cut it =(

They breathed fine, pinked up beautifully, nursed strongly but were very small. Faith was 5 pounds 5 ounces and Crismas was 3 pounds 10 ounces. She became weak the next day and stopped nursing so I had to take her to hospital. The size difference was due to Cris cord insertion, a velamentous insertion, and was related to the twinning. It only occurs in identical twins that are separate in the inner membrane with the outer covering them both. There were born at 35 weeks and 1 day based on data from charting my cycle.
 
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#4 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Gena 22 View Post
What a story! Great birth, hope the TLC shows it well.

They didn't being UC and all. They went to commercial at the moment the first set of feet were seen, saying something like "a very dangerous situation..."

They also had the actors showing us freaking out. The first thing they did wrong though was show us with 3 girls in the beginning.. my oldest is a boy, perhaps his long hair confused the producer that visited us for filming lol

Its a rating game though I am glad they showed me saying something and then showing their expert after me like backin me up. That was cool. There is a thread about the show on the UC forum. I have more comments there about it.

But the experience was awesome and I chose to do it again with my youngest, about to turn 1 in a few days. Hmm, haven't even written his birth story, perhaps I will do that soon.

Thanks for the comments ladies =)
 
#5 ·
great story. thanks so much for letting america into an educated person's life! let's hope you inspired many! did you see the canada stance on breech and csections?


Rebecca
 
#12 ·
I did see this (I think) . Very empowering to know this IS possible (even though they have to add their drama to it
.) I'm glad this was included on TLC since it is so mainstream. I wish they would do more home/UC baby stories.
 
#14 ·
I saw your story!! So wonderful and incredible!! You are such a strong woman to stay so calm in the face of such a big surprise, twice!!!
 
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