My Twin Miracle
I am writing my twin birth story as a reflection of the marvelous events that God set in my life and to edify God on the miracle of birth.
Lying on the table with the ultrasound tech putting gel on my tummy begins the excitement of the possibility of finding out my baby's gender. She takes a few measurements here and there and gets a confused look on her face, explaining the measurements are showing my due date was 2 weeks different from previous calculations. She explains she will take the measurements again to make sure of accuracy. Then the look comes across her face which I will never forget. She says, "Oh, I know why the measurements are off." Her expression almost looked sad and for a moment I thought something was wrong so I quickly prepared myself for bad news. Then she looked at me with a quick grin and said, "You're having twins!" or at least, that is what I think she said. There was so much chaos and confusion brought on with a rush of emotion hearing the words she spoke I didn't even know how to respond. All I remember is saying, "Oh my goodness!" about a million times. I was laughing and crying all at once. It was one of the most incredible moments of my life.
I, myself, have a twin sister. The thought of being pregnant with twins felt impossible. After all, we have all heard the old wife's tale about twins skipping a generation. With that in the back of my mind, I kept wondering how this could be happening! God had His plan and I was joyful to have a part in it!
At that time, as with my first two pregnancies and births, I was planning on being seen and delivering at Nativiti. Nativiti is an out of hospital birthing center. My husband and I had chosen Nativiti because of its natural birthing option versus a hospital, which tends to push a delivering mother to take medical interventions, which in my opinion are unnecessary. Unfortunately, Nativiti being a birthing center has no allowance for high risk pregnancies. Thus we were sent on a quest to find a care provider that would provide prenatal care and assist in the delivery of our twin girls.
After interviewing one doctor and then another, it was explained that I would have to have an epidural in the event of an emergency c-section. Having had two completely natural, uncomplicated deliveries prior to my twin pregnancy, I felt this was an unnecessary precaution on our first encounter to demand I give up my right to deliver my children the way I wanted. Some where along the way, we have given in to the idea that we no longer have a choice in the type of prenatal care and delivery of our children. Undoubtedly, there are circumstances that warrant the intervention of medicine. In hospitals, delivering mothers are persuaded to take medical interventions which for the most part do more harm than good and sometimes under false pretenses. My body was created with the ability to physically deliver children and I did not want to alter the natural course taken when giving birth.
We eventually decided our best option was to pursue finding a midwife who would deliver our twins at home and found Chris Duffy. A woman whom herself had delivered her own twins at home without even the help of a midwife! How amazing is that!! After our first meeting with her, James and I knew this was the person who would deliver our twin girls. Or as many midwives would say, "assist in delivery." Honestly, I was the one delivering! Throughout the pregnancy, things were discussed about baby positioning and the possibility of having to give birth in a hospital. Taking your health seriously is something we should all be aware of but especially when our health directly affects the health of the child we are growing within us. Fortunately for us, Natalie and Lacey were both head down and in the best position to have a natural delivery.
Contractions began on Sunday evening November 21st. By Monday morning I knew my body was starting on the process to prepare for the birth of Natalie and Lacey. The team of midwives and family was notified. Since this was my third pregnancy, I thought this labor would go quickly but little did I know laboring with twins often takes longer. After laboring all day, I can remember sitting in the birthing pool at around five in the evening. I looked up at the midwives sitting nearby and said, "I thought labor is supposed to be shorter this time around?" One of the midwives assisting in the delivery said, "Actually with twins it tends to be longer." I sighed and began to prepare myself for the next contraction. I knew each contraction would bring me closer to the arrival of my baby girls which made the pain worth it. In and out of the pool, swaying and breathing, hour after hour leading to 1 am on Tuesday morning.
Sitting in the birthing pool, it was time to begin the pushing stage of delivery. Natalie Marie was born at 1:05 am and Lacey Nicole was born at 1:26 am on the morning of November 23rd. They are identical twins and except for the 1 ounce in weight and half an inch in length at birth and a small red mark on the top of Natalie's left ear telling them apart is nearly impossible. Nothing compares to the feeling after the natural delivery of a baby.
When I look back on the events surrounding the pregnancy and birth of Natalie and Lacey, I feel a sense of humility and of pride. I am humbled at thinking God chose me for this extra blessing and pride at how I gave birth just as God had intended. I believe that like most things, it is all a choice. God knew my desire to have a completely natural delivery. Concluding this story is the true faithfulness of God who knew the wishes of my heart and was there every step of the way. To God be the glory!