'We pulled into the car park. My husband told me to get out but I couldn't: the baby was coming!' Kathleen's twin birth story
Kathleen had a C-section all planned for the birth of her twins. Her twins, though, had other ideas – making a dramatic early entrance at 35 weeks. Here, Kathleen shares her experience of a fast, natural twin labour and delivery
Kathleen, a member of the MadeForMums Top Testers Club community, gave birth to her twins Ivy and Rose after a fast 3-hour labour at 35 weeks.
One twin was delivered in the hospital car park; the other was born just under 20 minutes later, on the labour ward. It was Kathleen's second labour experience: she also has an older daughter.
This is Kathleen's twin birth story:
"When the sonographer at my 12-week dating scan asked if there were twins in the family, I started laughing hysterically and my husband started crying. There are no twins in either of our families so we were utterly flabbergasted. It was the biggest shock of our lives!
"I made it to 35 weeks. We started the day by taking our toddler daughter to Pets at Home to see some animals and then popped into a couple of shops. By coincidence, my husband had been due to meet some friends that day but it had been cancelled due to train strikes. Never have I been more thankful for the strike on that day!
"On the drive home, I had two mild contractions. My husband offered to drive but I insisted I was fine! The drive home was around 10 minutes and, as we pulled up, I said we needed to ring the hospital and also the grandparents so there was someone to look after our daughter. We got home and put our daughter down for a nap and called the hospital.
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As I went upstairs to make the call, my waters broke and contractions came thick and fast
"This was a totally surreal moment as I don't recall my waters breaking with my first labour. I'd only just been to the loo so I knew I hadn't just had an accident.
"I thought, 'Oh my god, this is actually happening!'
"Thankfully, my hospital bags had been in the car since I was 28 weeks pregnant, so there was no last-minute panic trying to find things. We phoned my parents but they didn't pick up as they were in the garden but thankfully my father-in-law was able to come around to watch our daughter.
"Our hospital was half an hour away. My husband drove as quickly as he could. We left the house at about 1pm. On the drive there, the contractions were non-stop. At one point, I wanted to cry – just for some release – but I wasn't able to. I tried to listen to the songs on the radio to focus on something but it was impossible.
"While we were in the car, my parents phoned back and we updated them, so they drove over to collect our daughter. It took everything in my power not to shout or moan as my husband was talking to them on the phone.
"As we reached the hospital, I could feel my body pushing. I knew one twin was breech as we had had a scan just 2 days before, so we needed to be at the hospital.
"We pulled into the hospital car park and this was when I realised that baby number one was coming! My husband had got out of the car and told me to get out but I told him I couldn't as the baby was coming. I'm not sure how I knew at that moment: it was completely instinctive but my body just took over. I got my underwear down in time for my husband to see the baby arriving bottom first!
I personally don't really remember this but my husband recalls catching Ivy! He delivered her and thankfully she started crying after a second or two
"We wrapped her in my Primark cardigan and my husband shouted, 'Help, help, my wife's just had a baby and there is another one on the way!' Two people outside the entrance rushed in to tell the person at reception.
"The crash teams descended on the car parks and got us into the hospital to deliver the next twin.
"They quickly cut Ivy's cord and my husband went with her to get her checked over. I felt bizarrely normal after the birth and the staff helped me into a wheelchair. I even recognised a few of the staff from some of my previous appointments.
"We got into the delivery room and they scanned me to check that Rose was still head down and before I knew it my contractions had started again. She arrived 16 minutes later.
"Ivy weighed 4lb 5oz and Rose weighed 4lb 14oz. It was from the planned C-section that we had envisaged: 3 hours from the start of contractions to cuddling both babies!"
Pics: Kathleen Nelson. As told to Janet Mtima
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