Author: Tiffany Visser
My drug free natural twin birth
After a mere 16 minutes of pushing I had just given birth to TWO children and I had done it drug free. Here is my twin birth story.
36 weeks pregnant with MCDA twins
On the evening of April 27th 2016 I was getting ready for bed when I turned to my husband Nathan in tears and said I couldn’t do this anymore. At officially 36 weeks pregnant with MCDA twins I had reach the point of exhaustion both mentally and physically.
Mentally because I had spent my entire pregnancy with what I can now identify as perinatal depression and anxiety. I was convinced from the moment I was told that I was having twins that something was going to go wrong and I spent my entire pregnancy googling everything that could possibly happen. I was driven to believe that I didn’t deserve to have two healthy children when there were so many women around me that would give anything to experience pregnancy.
Ironically, I actually had a text book perfect pregnancy – morning sickness in the first trimester is the biggest complaint I have.
Deciding on induction or caesarean for twins
Then came the morning of April 28, my 36 week appointment where I would either be booked for an induction or caesarean. Twin A was head down and ready to go however twin B was still breech – a position he had enjoyed for a majority of my pregnancy. After speaking with a beautiful midwife I decided that I would attempt a vaginal birth with the promise that I would keep an open mind and we will do whatever it takes to have two healthy babies at the end of everything. At no time did I push for a drug free natural twin birth.
My induction was booked for the following Wednesday however due to my complaint of some pelvic pressure she decided to perform an internal exam.
To everybody’s surprise she was able to stretch the cervix to 4cm and feel twin A’s head! I almost cried with joy thinking I was on my way to birth suite! I was wrong.
Instead I was sent home to rest and we would move forward with induction the following week as some women will sit at 3—4cm for some time before delivery. I held myself together, not wanting the midwife see the outpour that poor Nathan had been coping for a number of weeks, thanked her for the time and said I would see her next week.
Drug free natural twin birth: How to “bring on” labour with twins
Fast forward 5 minutes and I was standing in the hospital car parking crying my heart out saying I give up and that these babies needed to come out now! After I composed myself I again referred to my only friend that seemed to be able to give me all the answers – google! How was I going to bring on this labour, I can’t go another week like this.
After a lovely lunch, long walk and multiple trips up and down my stairs I decided it was a good time to have a nap. Around 6.30pm I woke up with what I thought may have been contractions however they were not very regular so I called my family to come over just in case as Nathan had to work that evening.
By the time my mother in law arrived at approximately 7.30pm we decided that yes they were contractions and we would start timing to see if a pattern was forming. For about an hour and a half they were very inconsistent and not very painful at all. Trying not to get disheartened I thought I would go and shower and shave my legs (because a gal needs to be looking her best) just in case this was it.
Google didn’t tell me that a warm shower was a sure way to set things off.
Due to the difficulties that come with shaving your legs when you are carrying around multiple babies I was sitting down on the floor of the shower when suddenly I had a contraction that took my breath away. Nathan walked in as this was happening and was a little confused why I was so happy. This contraction was followed about 3 minutes later by an even stronger one that lasted about a minute.
THIS WAS HAPPENING!
Drug free natural twin birth: Labour and contractions with twins
I got out of the shower, got dressed and went to lay on my couch as I didn’t want to be that woman who arrived at the birth suite not in labour. By this stage my mother in law was looking a little panicked. My contractions were now strong enough I couldn’t talk through them and tears were in my eyes. She insisted that we needed to go and maybe even consider calling an ambulance. I insisted I was fine and Nathan very calmly and quickly got me to the hospital.
Being the stubborn person that I am I insisted that Nathan park the car and I will walk into the hospital with him – by this stage my contractions were less than 2 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. After a slow and painful trip to the maternity ward I was in the birth suite being hooked up to monitors by a student doctor. The midwife jokingly said that I wouldn’t see babies before breakfast as I was a first time mum – if looks could kill!
My student midwife arrived and realised that I needed to get my epidural on board as I had now lost all perspective of reality and was telling Nathan I couldn’t do this. The anaesthetists arrived, I sat up and suddenly felt a gush – my waters had broken. The midwives made the call to do an internal check at this point to ensure everything looked ok.
I experienced what I refer to as an out of body moment. I had no control over what I was doing.
A drug free natural twin birth
In the blink of an eye the emergency button was pushed and I had a full delivery team in my room as Twin A was crowning and I had no pain relief on board.
Oliver was welcomed into this world on April 29 at 12.53am weighing in at 2.7kg – he was absolutely perfect and I was lucky to have approximately 1 minute with him as an only child. After he was born Nathan looked at me and told me what an amazing job I had done and that I was half way there! Again, if looks could kill!
Hamish was very eager to join his brother and after performing a perfect flip from his breech positon was born head first at 12.56am weighing 2.2kg.
I was in shock – after a mere 16 minutes of pushing I had just given birth to TWO children and I had done it drug free.
From all my ‘research’ I had just followed my perfect pregnancy with a text book perfect delivery!
The midwives were all in shock and told me if I was to go back for baby number 3 I needed to be at the hospital before I go into labour.
Whilst I would never recommend attempting to deliver without an epidural due to the added complications that can happen with a multiple delivery, I would love to help educate women on their options for birth. If you happen to stumble across this story from a google search just know that yes things can be complicated but sometimes they aren’t – don’t let the what-if’s interfere with what is a truly amazing life experience.
YOU CAN DO THIS.
You can read Tiffany’s story on ‘Returning to work after twins’ HERE.
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