Birth story - Josephine and baby girls

Being pregnant with Monochorionic Diamniotic (MCDA) twins meant the OBs were constantly on our backs trying to organise an induction as early as 36 weeks. I was never going to agree to this and our growth scans every two weeks showed healthy weight babies, deep amniotic fluid, great Doppler readings Etc. No causes for concern.

I had a very long latent phase, for around 10 days after I lost my mucus plug, surges came and went and it was quite frustrating! In the end we opted for ‘Artificial rupture of the amniotic membrane’s (ARM) because my midwife confirmed I was 4cm dilated and the first head was very low in the pelvis. There is always risk if the placenta detaching with MCDA twins and in our last scan the calcification was quite extreme- the placenta looked like a shiny disco ball and quite frankly I had had enough of not being able to stand/sit/walk/bathe comfortably.

We went to the hospital at 10am. My waters were broken at 1:30pm and I made myself a cuppa and listened to some calming music whilst chatting to my other half. I went to the loo at about 2:15 and when I came back I felt a pressure in my pelvis. No surges just yet. I immediately got on the floor on all fours and started rocking backwards and forwards. In my mind this was to try and get the head into a good birthing position. Within a minute I got my first surge. Then immediately they ramped up and I asked my partner to read my affirmations to me. I focussed on his words and went into my ‘zone’ and before I knew it I had had 7 minutes of contractions in 10 minutes and I could feel the head pressing firmly on the top of my cervix. I knew we had no time so I told my partner to get someone quick! He ran outside and told them we needed assistance but everyone ignored him so he came back in. I could then feel my body trembling so I knew it was nearly time to push. I told him to go out again and he came back in with a homebirth midwife who just happened to be dropping something over to the labour ward. This was a result for us since we wanted a homebirth anyway.

She then guided me through the second stage and baby A was out in what felt like 10 pushes. I then sat back against the wall and put her straight to my breast. Contractions instantly started again and my partner was advised to go outside and shout ‘VERTEX’. As soon as he did this more medical staff came into the room but baby B was already being pushed out in only three pushes. She was born in the bag only 15 minutes after baby A. Then almost instantly the placenta came out. We were grateful to have delayed chord clamping until white for both babies and a biological third stage.

It really was a homebirth in hospital! Apart from having my waters broken every other element was unassisted, I suffered no tears to the perineum and I felt that my body took over and knew exactly what to do. Start to finish was 45 Minutes and I’m convinced that PBC helped equip me with the tools to relax myself enough to make that happen!

Our little girls were born at exactly 39 weeks weighing 5.5 and 6.5 lb. We stayed overnight for baby checks but left for home the next morning. We couldn’t have asked for a happier birth.