Twice the love: The birth of Leo and Becky

My contractions began over spring break. I was at 28 weeks and was pregnant for the first time … with twins! I was admitted to the hospital for pre-term labor and released the next day with anti-contraction medication. The medication was able to prevent true labor until I was at 33 weeks.

It was a Tuesday when my water broke. I had gotten up at 4 a.m. to get ready to take my husband to work, and it was 4:30 a.m. when I yelled for him from the master bathroom.

When he got there, he asked, “Is everything OK?”

“I think my water broke,” I told him calmly.

“You sure?” (For the past week, I’d been debating whether or not my water had broken.)

I felt that uncontrollable rush of liquid within me again and said, without a doubt, “Yep.”

My husband whipped out his cell phone, called a co-worker to cover for him at work and was driving me to the hospital in no time. I was admitted around 5 a.m. The twins were breech, so after hours of tests and time waiting to see if either twin would move from the position, I was finally prepped for a C-section.

It was a long 10 hours. I had only been permitted to have ice (in case I had to be rushed in for a cesarean), and I reached the point that I told my husband, “Get these kids out of me or give me something to eat!”

Finally, close to 4 p.m., I was in an operating room, and my doctor was getting ready to pull my twins from me. I was nervous—I had heard horror stories about C-sections—but my husband was with me the whole time and kept me calm. I had wanted a natural labor but had to agree to the cesarean because both twins were head-up.

During the operation, my husband sat next to me and talked to me to keep my mind away from my worries. We somehow got on the subject of roller coasters and stayed on it as my doctor cut me open and pulled out our wiggling son, Leo, and then our daughter, Becky. The operation went smoothly, and we were all healthy and well!

The twins were weighed, measured and cleaned off, and I was allowed a quick look at them before nurses took them to the NICU. I was taken to the recovery room after the doctor stitched me up.

I remember how tired I was at the time … it felt like I was in a dream—everything was very hazy as I was wheeled, still on my operation bed, into the kids’ room in the NICU. I had just enough strength to touch their tiny hands for the first time.

I was released that Friday afternoon. Sadly, Becky and Leo were not. My homecoming didn’t seem quite as exciting without our babies.

Each twin weighed a little more than 4 pounds, and measured 18 inches long … so they still had some maturing to do. Becky had trouble eating without the assistance of a feeding tube, and Leo struggled with bradycardia.

Unfortunately, our Leo was struggling. He had to go five days without a drop in heart rate before he could be released. It was rough. Every time he’d get really close, like day three or four, he’d have another episode. After 12 days, our Becky was released from the NICU! And we knew Leo would be home not too long after.

Send us your birth story! Whether you had a home birth, hospital birth, 37-hour labor or emergency C-section, we’d love to read the tale of your little one’s grand entrance. Write up your birth story (click here for tips on getting started) and email it, along with a few photos, to birthstory@pnmag.com. We’ll share it on our Birth Day blog and may even print it in an upcoming issue!