Much two love: My very overdue birth story

From the moment we found out I was having twins, for some reason, I know that I would behaving a c section. I never really thought about giving brith naturally because I knew I wouldn't have to. Not because the c section was elected (I didn't know I would officially have one until I was 32 weeks). But for some reason, my intuition was bang on.

The night before. .

I was pretty nervous more so about the spinal than anything else. I was petrified about having a needle in my back - who wouldn't be?

So my bags were packed and we managed to get a decent nights sleep each. It was pretty normal really. We knew that this time tomorrow we would be parents to twin boys. But there's nothing that can be done to prepare yourselves until they are actually here.

We arrived attested hospital around 7.45 - and checked in at the maternity desk. "Ah your the twin lady?" Yep, that was me. I was shown into an empty room with 6 beds in it. This was where women in the first stages of labour were kept.

I was told I would be seen by the anesthetist, the surgeons and also the maternity nurses to check the heart beats and my blood pressure etc.

Luckily this was only to be my bed only until I went into surgery. After that I had my own suite.

At ths time I didn't know if I was first in or somewhere down the list. I had all my details checked and the heartbeats per minute worked out. The surgeons came to see me and said " right your first in, we will be showing you down in about 10 minutes". Say what now? Ok. This was it.

Surprisingly I was ok about it, not scared or anything. More like I'm about to go in for an exam or step onto stage. I was prepared for it but the was one more step to go and there was no going back.

I had to take off all my clothes and put their gown on. Take in two baby grows, two nappies and two vests.

In an adjoining room we left all our bags and pillows that we bought and I went into the operating room whilst Mark was asked to wait outside.

Now this reminded me of walking onto a James Bond set with machines and dials everywhere. Dials one the walls. It was like there was going to be a nuclear explosion any minute and men were going to be shot down by the good guys whilst the timer counted down to a bomb that was plugged in just by where my head would be!

But that didnt happen. Something a lot scarier was about to start! I sat on the edge of the operating table whilst one person fitted the cannula into a vein in my hand. ok this hurt a lot - jesus christ I thought, "whats the epidural going to feel like?"

The bit I had been dreading was seconds away. I leant slightly forward to expose my spine. I had a small numbing injecting first which really wasn't too bad. I've had worse injections during my pregnancy that's for sure. Next was the larger epidural needle. For those who haven't seen one before its very much like this:

Oh yeah lots of fun!

Anyway - as I'm humming to myself to distract from the mad scientist behind me, I feel a weird sensation in my back. It wasn't pain, it wasn't uncomfortable. It was like something had touched a nerve a tiny tiny bit in my back. That was it - all done! Ok this was going to be a breeze.

I forgot to mention before - in the small room there were about 10-12 people there all who'd come to see me! Well not quite but most of them were for me and 5 were for the twins.

Anyway, as everyone is buzzing about getting things prepped. I am told to lie down on the table. I can still feel my legs but its starting to feel like I've been sitting down for too long and I've got pins and needles.

Mark is asked to come back in and sits on a stool near my head. I can't remember what we talked about but the radio was on and everyone seemed very chirpy. I remember announcing that I can still feel my legs so please don't start yet. Apparently I would still feel touch but not feel pain. This, I still cannot get my head around.

The screen went up and I would never see my belly in the same light again. I still could feel my legs but I was assured it would be fine. The table was tilted slightly to ease nerve compression - I really felt like I was going to slide off! Next the surgeon said that we are just going to go around the room and introduce everyone. How lovely I thought. It was more like a meeting at the pub then a c section! "Hi I'm John and I'm performing your surgery today". " Hi I'm Gemma and I will be looking after twin 1" Now as introductions go, it was very pleasant, however I am convinced that at this point in time they are probable poking my belly with a branding iron or other sharp instruments to see if I was numb.

" um guys, I can still feel my legs, don't start yet - I don't want to be in pain"

" trust me, if you were to feel pain you would have felt it by now!"

"Okaaaaaaaay - someone possibly had their hand in my stomach right now"

This started at about 10am. At approximately 10.15 I heard a large gush! That was sac number one being broken. My first born child was seconds away from leaving the safety of my belly which he had been inhabiting for exactly 37 weeks and 5 days.

He was out. He was crying. This was all a little strange but healthy and perfect. 3 minutes later, twin number 2 arrived. Again, healthy, crying and just as perfect.

It was all a bit chaotic and I really can't remember what was said. The boys were being cleaned up and weighed. Mark was taking photos and someone was hoovering inside my womb. As I really didn't have a great deal of effort in this, there wasn't the enormous rush of love after you have been labouring for 48 hours. I was completely amazed by what had just happened and desperate to see my boys but really trying to make sense of what had must happened. Happier then you can imagine to see what we created and what i had been praying would stay safe and warm for at least 8 months. I had done it. They were bought to my face so I could see them. Then put back in their little plastic safe house whilst I was being sewn up.