- At how many weeks did you deliver?
40 wks + 6 days.
- Why did you deliver when you did (water broke, induction, scheduled c/s, contractions started naturally, etc)?
We (DH, MW and I) decided to go ahead and break my water. I had tried so many types of natural induction over the previous 2 weeks: castor oil 3 times, raspberry leaf tea, sex, acupuncture, chiropractor. I was already 100%effaced and 4 cm dilated and had been for 2 weeks. MW thought that if baby A just put a bit more pressure on my cervix, I would go into labor. I started immediately upon having my water broken.
- Vaginal birth or cesarean?
Vaginal birth at home. Not legal in my state for a MW to attend. I had met with different OB and CNM groups when I learned of twins. It seemed that c/s is almost always the way of things for twins around here. One of the CNMs quietly slid me the name of a MW who would do twins at home. I really did not want c/s simply because of twins.
- Position of the babies when you delivered (if you knew).
Baby A was vertex. Baby B was breech. This was not a problem. My MW had the confidence to deal with breech even if it had been Baby A that was breech. Since it was baby B, the way had been opened for her, and she slid right out so easily in the caul. It frustrates me to think that in the hospital, I would have been given c/s due to baby's positioning when it turned out to be so easy!
- Babies' weights.
8lbs 1oz and 6lbs 5 oz
- Any complications with the pregnancy or delivery?
My blood pressure was higher than it usually is, but not dangerously high. HB MW said that was expected given that my body was going through alot in carrying twins. She said that as long as it didn't get too high, I was fine. I bought a BP monitor that I could put on my wrist, and I would check it a few times a day. If it looked a little elevated, I could bring it down by lying on my left side and concentrating on relaxing. My parallel care group of OBs/CNMs did not think it was okay for my BP to be higher than it usually is.
