Lyndsey Altice had just given birth to 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.
Birth story: Twins Surprise
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 – ᴛᴇʀʀɪʙʟᴇ morning sɪᴄᴋɴᴇss and a month of ᴅᴇʙɪʟɪᴛᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴍɪɢʀᴀɪɴᴇs.
Lindsey had the support of her sister as she went to the hospital to get checked in and get settled in for her birth.
“They hook me up to the baby monitor, only one heartbeat. The doctor’s 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 labor happen with a compound presentation. Kate had her baby born at home with a compound presentation, so I told my midwife I wanted 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 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’.”
“Then I had another huge contraction, one nurse said, ‘Oh it’s probably the ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇɴᴛᴀ 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 ᴇɴᴄᴀᴜʟ. I was just in sʜᴏᴄᴋ, the staff was sʜᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ and I wish I had someone taking pictures of my husband because I’m blind and couldn’t see his expression.”
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. 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 to any babies, let alone twins! We were free to go after 24 hours, with no N.I.C.U 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.”
