Unassisted Births of Unexpected Twins

by Laura Kaplan Shanley

(courtesy of the author)

Ever since my book Unassisted Childbirth was published, people have been sending me their birth stories. Each story is special in its own way, but occasionally someone sends me something that totally knocks my socks off. When Kym Smythe wrote to me a few years ago saying she had just had an accidental unassisted birth of unexpected twins, I was appropriately blown away. What could be more fascinating - or unusual - than unexpectedly catching your baby and then discovering that you were carrying twins? Believe it or not, in the past few years, I've come across other women who have experienced the same thing. Here are some quotes from some of their stories.

"I continue relaxing, moaning and groaning very loudly and my husband comments, 'You sound especially melodic this morning, Dear.' I try to smile but the contractions are just one right after another. I 'sing' some more to let the baby out. I tell Tom I need to push. He doesn't hesitate one second and walks around the bed to get in better position. I birth her head just as he puts his hands there. Her body quickly follows as she is a tiny 7 lbs., 5 oz. 'Hmmm...where's that 10 pounder I thought I was having?' Oh well, that's over so we get organized with blankets, hat, herbs and a bowl....Then I feel a strong contraction and suddenly, without pain, I feel the birth canal fill up. I think to myself, 'That does not feel like a placenta.' I look down and there, still in her veil and face up, is another precious baby! I scream, 'Oh my God! It's twins!' She has turned to the side and I support her head, breaking the bag of water as her body slips out. Then I realize that I am still holding the first baby. Everyone comes running back into the room. We gasp, laugh, giggle and cry and at 6:20 welcome another 7 pound baby girl. For just one split second I think, 'Now that's it, right? Just two?!' -From "Twins Can Be Born Naturally!" by Audrey Trepiccione ( The New Nativity II, July 1995)

"The next contraction started slowly but increased steadily. I pushed and still nothing happened. I had just one more very strong contraction, and told Denis I must push very hard or we will never have this baby. When I did finally push, the bag burst, and out came the baby. She literally shot right out of me. I was so filled with complete joy sharing a moment so beautiful as this with my husband. Alison cried heartily and loud. While Denis was in the kitchen getting the things necessary for tying the cord, Aunt Martha called. It was exactly 9:00 AM. Denis told her to come on over. Denis returned to our bedroom. My stomach was still quite large and lopsided. We were expecting the afterbirth to follow. Denis told me to push slightly and again he saw a clear looking sac. I felt a very slight cramp, gave another push, and out came a second baby with the water bag broken over her face. Denis peeled the bag away and she started to cry. Well, you can just imagine the surprise on our faces. Two babies born at home with everything going along perfectly. We were beside ourselves with joy." -From "Our Double Blessing," by Alyce Leonhardt (Happy Birth Days, edited by Marilyn Moran)

"I had pictured laboring in front of a cozy fire, but as my contractions had become so intense we decided to move upstairs to our bedroom. About six and a half hours later, at 5:40 AM, our Angela was born. In the privacy of our own bedroom, we were able to kiss and caress her into the world with no outside interference....Two and a half minutes later, much to my shock and surprise, Ashley literally shot forth into her daddy's hands. I held both babies, already nursing Angela, while Jerry called a good friend and neighbor for help. Maureen arrived to hold one baby while we handed another to Debbie, our oldest daughter. Somewhere in there Jerry had managed to tie off and cut both cords with double thick dental floss....We are still amazed, almost 26 months later. And yes! twins are double work, but oh what joy! I could go on, but you know how we moms are about our children. I and my beloved are indeed, and at last, happy homebirthers." -From "Our Story of Twin Girls," by Barbara Milton (The New Nativity #56, 1990)

"As Doug was hanging up with the midwife, I had a much more intense contraction with an overwhelming, out of nowhere, urge to push! I grunted to Doug that I felt like I had to push and that I didn't know if we were going to make it to the birth center. I tensed my whole body trying to resist the urge to push. When I relaxed, at the end of that contraction, Kendall Grace literally slid out and Doug caught her as I was still standing in the shower with the water running. Kendall looked up into my eyes, cried a bit, then settled down. Doug and I looked at each other and said something to the effect of - oh my God, we had a baby. We were amazed! Then we took a minute to think - what do we do now. Doug threw a towel over us and we shuffled her over to our bed. Not knowing how long the cord was, I was afraid to stand up straight so I laid down with Kendall on my chest and we put lots of blankets on top of us. Doug called the midwife to tell her we had a baby and see what to do next. We prepared to deliver the placenta. While gathering more blankets and towels, Doug woke up Kyle and tried unsuccessfully to rouse Cary. Now Kyle and our dog Bernie joined us in bed. As I felt a contraction I pushed. A little fluid and a bit of the membrane came out. A few minutes later I pushed with another contraction. I had been expecting a 'squishy little push,' but we were all in for the surprise of our lives. I thought, 'Oh no, that's not a placenta... that's another head!' At the same time, Doug was on the phone with the midwife saying, 'Uh oh, there's another one!' (We were NOT expecting twins.) Carlie Ann's head was delivered with that push and the rest of her came with the next one. She wasn't crying right away, but responded quickly to being rubbed while on my chest. Doug admits to making sure a third baby wasn't on the way." -From "Home Sweet Home Home," by Kym Smythe

Note from Laura: This last passage doesn't exactly qualify as "unassisted births of unexpected twins" but I thought that it was interesting so I'm including it here. It is from a newspaper account of a birth of sextuplets that took place in 1958.

Birth of Sextuplets Reported in IranHEHRAN, Iran, April 1, 1958 (Reuters) - The evening newspaper Keihan said today that a woman, 32, in South Iran gave birth to sextuplets, four boys and two girls on Friday. Keihan said the mother, Fatemeh, wife of Heman, gave birth to the children while attending sheep in the fields near Ahwaz in southern Iran. She wrapped the children in her black veil, and sent her sister to the village for help to carry them home.