More of this Feature • Part 2: Pre-Labor • Part 3: Labor • Part 4: The Birth

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From Other Guides • Parenting of Multiples

by Robin Elise Weiss

Ah, where do we begin along this wild road? Maybe it's when I came to realize that my period was actually late. Though I didn't really believe it was possible for me to be pregnant, I thoroughly enjoyed teasing my husband about it. He was calm, cool and collected. I finally broke down and bought a pregnancy test, just to tease him. (Honestly!)

So, as I took the test, I just knew it was going to be negative. I remember running out to show the test to Kevin. He was on the phone with his mother. I'm waving two fingers in the air and screaming, as quietly as possible, "There are two lines!"

Kevin swears he knew what it would show. I was totally shocked. I couldn't be pregnant yet!

So we did what every parent of four other children does upon hearing number five is expected - we ignored it! Finally around week seven we decided to go in for our ultrasound to rule out ectopic pregnancy. After several previous pregnancy losses, including one that cost us my left fallopian tube, we wanted some reassurance all would be well.

The ultrasound did nothing of the sort. It showed a fetal pole, no heartbeat and an area of bleeding. A week later, at a follow up, we saw our baby's beating heart and were thrilled! Then I said that the bleed looked bigger. Kevin and I looked at each other and exclaimed, "It's another heartbeat!" And so this pregnancy began…

Our last three children had been born at home with midwives. We had a lot of questions about this with twins, including would it even be a possibility. There were so many variables. Could we go full term? What positions would be safe to attempt a vaginal birth? How big would the babies be? How would I feel, physically? Mentally? Emotionally?

We eventually decided to seek dual care. We saw our homebirth midwife just as often as if she were our only practitioner. And we saw a doctor the same amount of visits. We had ultrasounds galore to track their growth. We even had a short scare for preterm labor.

In the end, it was decided; homebirth would be our safest choice.

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