When I tell my birth story to some people they just can’t believe that I carried twins for 37 weeks thinking there was only one baby in there. They ask “weren’t you really big?” No. “Couldn’t you feel a lot of movement?” Kind of. But I had nothing to relate it to.
I just think I had a very healthy outlook on my pregnancy. What I did not know, only helped me. I trusted that my body would tell me if something were wrong. My midwives would pick up the signals of anything going bad. Choosing not to have ultrasound or any excessive interventions was a choice I made. All of the prenatal testing in the world would not change the fact that I was pregnant. Negative results would only add stress to my pregnancy. As long as there was a heartbeat and I was feeling healthy that was all that mattered to me. My pregnancy would continue and if there was a road block then we would deal with it when it came up.
Looking back, had I read any of the books about twin pregnancy, I probably would have been on bed rest at 32 weeks like most of them suggest. Instead, I was swimming and walking everyday up until my 37th week. My perception was that I was carrying a singleton, and that is what my pregnancy presented itself as. My mind did not fear anything twin related because it had no idea that was even a possibility. Was I scared to give birth for the first time? Certainly. But I addressed my fears and ackowledged them all.
The two weeks from when we discovered the twins to when I had the cesarean, were stressful. I will not deny that. I was just waiting for labor. Full term for twins is 35 weeks. Why was my body not going into labor? I will never know the answer to that question. All I can think is that my visualizations and birth affirmations worked. They kept my fearful mind at bay and my body went along with perception that all was good and healthy. I just happened to get two for one that time.
Affirmations can be so empowering.
My body knows how to birth my baby.
My baby knows how to be born.
I relax and fully turn my birthing over to nature.
I am safe even though I may be scared.
I put all fear aside and welcome my baby with happiness and joy.
Bless,
Jess
Perhaps part of why full term for twins is 35 weeks is because of stress inducing earlier labors, and given that you had maintained a very positive outlook, your babies were able to grow as long as they needed.