Lyndsey Altice had just birthed her baby, and thought she could finally relax – until she felt another ‘ring of fire’, and along came another baby.
The US mum had no idea she was pregnant with twins – several ultrasounds had only picked up one baby, and dopplers had only heard one heartbeat. And the incredible surprise birth was all caught on camera. Hold onto your hats, this is one wild birth story.
‘Surprise, it’s twins’
Mum-of-one Lyndsey, thought it was a bit off that she’d put on a little more weight with her second pregnancy, especially given her son Django was a nine pound baby. This pregnancy had been trying – terrible morning sickness and a month of debilitating migraines.
Lyndsey was planning for a home birth after already having one with her son, and hadn’t intended on having any ultrasounds, but towards the end of her pregnancy midwives suspected her baby may be breech, and so recommended an ultrasound.
“Turns out it was a compound presentation (Superman position not nuchal),” Lyndsey explained. “So I went to the chiropractor then immediately went in to get another ultrasound. My midwife warned me she wouldn’t let labour happen naturally with a compound presentation so I was eager for baby to move so I could have another home birth. The second ultrasound (of all four quadrants and done by a sonographer) revealed baby moved and we were good to go!
“So, I woke up on July 12th with a ruptured water. My midwife originally gave me 16 hours to go into active labor before she would drop my home birth. It got close to 16 and I still didn’t want to go in so she talked to another midwife (Kate) that I had met at the hospital while getting my ultrasound, she agreed to wait 24 hours. Since active labor hadn’t came at 24 hours and she was dropping me anyway, I decided I’d wait a bit longer and went in around 1pm on the 13th. This would be about 30hrs in.”
Lindsey had the support of her sister as she went to hospital to get checked in, and got settled in for her birth.
“They hook me up to the baby monitor (only one heartbeat!). The doctor midwife Kate had taken the night before off to get sleep after talking to my midwife and finding out I would be most likely coming in the next morning. When I had my ultrasound, she was the one who convinced my midwife to let labour happen with a compound presentation. Kate had her baby born at home with a compound presentation so I told my midwife I want HER if I had a hospital birth.
“My contractions didn’t take long to get strong. By 2:20pm I was having the hard contractions. Got in the tub, I wasn’t supposed to birth in the tub but by the time I felt like I needed to push #1 was already already crowning and there was no getting out. So I had my first with two pushes, I remember my first words were, ‘IT’S SO TINY!!’. (Didn’t know sex yet!)
“Then I had another huge contraction, one nurse said, ‘Oh it’s probably the placenta already coming’. Another said, ‘Oh it’s a water bag! I’ve never seen that before’. And in my head I’m screaming, ‘It’s ANOTHER ring of fire!!!’. My second came less than two minutes after my first with another two pushes and she was born encaul. I was just in shock, the staff was shocked and I wish I had someone taking pictures of my husband because I’m blind and couldn’t see his expression.”
Watch the amazing moment Lydnsey gives birth to her surprise twins:
A perfect pair
Ada Maze and Billie June arrived within two minutes of each other, and incredibly they weighed and measured exactly the same. Both were 6lb 11oz and 50cm.
“They had the same blood type and each had exactly three hairs that were about three inches longer than the rest of their hair (STILL have them too!) They restarted the machine three times to weigh them because they couldn’t believe they were exactly the same weight and height!
“It was beautiful, I’m not even upset about not having a home birth again. Everything couldn’t have been more perfectly serendipitous. They both passed their APGAR with a 10/10 which they said they hardly ever give any babies let alone twins! We were free to go after 24 hours, no NICU time. I happily took an extra day because my insurance covered it and I wanted the lactation support and room service. I think I got a visit from every staff member during my stay, I don’t think people believed it actually happened and had to see for themselves.
“I did have a dream while I was pregnant with them that I gave birth to two really tiny baby girls and one extremely big boy. Now I have two baby girls and a three-year-old son! Too crazy.”
More birth stories from the Grapeviner community…
- Birth Story: Diary of an accidental home birth
- Birth Story: I gave birth on a toilet after being told it was ‘trapped wind’
- Birth Story: Becoming a mum against the odds
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