An early double delivery

• Forced to rest
• A normal delivery was too risky
• I head a little cry

I had been having period-type pains for a week and hadn't felt too well. I was admitted to hospital for rest on 28th August 1996 and due to go home on the following Saturday.

I started with period pains Friday night which kept me awake. At about 3am I went to the toilet and I'd had a show of blood so I came back to bed and buzzed for the midwife. She gave me two paracetamol and told me to try and get some sleep. I managed to get an hour and half before the pains woke me again.

At 6am, I decided to go and have a bath to ease the pains which were mild but uncomfortable. However, when I came to get back in bed, my waters broke. I couldn't believe how much there was - I almost swam off the bed! The midwife said I would need to go upstairs to the delivery unit as the twins were eight weeks early.

I was taken to a delivery room and put on a monitor. When I was examined, I was only 2cm dilated but this doctor felt, although the twins were breech, I would deliver normally. My partner Chris was called in so that I had some company and my mum came too. I was given an injection of dexamethasone to strengthen the twins' lungs and kept on the monitor.

Later that morning, another doctor came and decided a normal delivery would be too risky and I was to have an emergency caesarean. I had a drip put in and a catheter which was not very pleasant. Then I was given a drug to help with acid in my stomach. At 2:15pm, I was taken to theatre. Mum couldn't come in so I gave her a kiss and she took my things back to the room I would be in after.

I'd asked to stay awake so the anaesthetist gave me a spinal block which numbed me from the chest down. I was put on oxygen and Chris sat by my side. It was a strange sensation when the operation began but, within a few minutes, I heard a weak little cry and my first baby was born! A little boy (4lb 5oz) who we named Daniel. Just one minute later, his little brother Christopher arrived, also weighing 4lb 5oz. Christopher was having a few problems getting to breathe so it was a quick look and they were rushed to intensive care. I was taken back to the ward to recover.

The following day, I saw my babies all wired up in special care. It was a hard time but, just three weeks later, I brought my little boys home. Look at them now, aged 5 and little monsters, you would never know they had once been so tiny!

Where to next?

• Read the full birth story
• Read accounts of different types of birth
• Read accounts of other caesarean births