Birth Story of Erin April and Alyssa Ann

Erin April December 18, 1990 at 11:27am 5 lbs 3 ozs 18 3/4 inches

Alyssa Ann December 18, 1990 at 11:55am 5 lbs 11 ozs 19 1/4 inches

My husband, Ed, and I have identical twin daughters, Erin April and Alyssa Ann, who were born at 36 weeks on December 18, 1990. I was hospitalized on November 19 with high blood pressure. Further testing showed that it was my chronic high blood pressure coming back and was not in any way related to the pregnancy. Around midnight of the night before my planned discharge, a nurse thought she felt "something" when her hand was resting against my side while she took my blood pressure and pulse. Sure enough, we were now dealing with preterm labor at 32 weeks--and I was feeling none of the contractions.

Further hospitalization was necessary because we live about 35 miles from the nearest hospital equipped to deal with premature births and I had not felt any of the contractions. On November 21, I was transferred to that hospital instead of sent home. Medication to stop contractions had been started at the first hospital and was continued at the second. After it became clear that the medication was doing the job, I was moved to the Obstetrical Special Care Unit.

On December 17, I had been scheduled for an amniocentesis. The doctors were able to get enough fluid from around Alyssa, but there wasn't enough around Erin to even attempt the procedure without risking harm to her. It was decided that I would be taken off medication and allowed to deliver, no matter what the results of the testing of Alyssa's fluid showed. At about 9 that evening I was moved to labor and delivery. I was pretty much told what was going to happen and not given any choices. I had an epidural in place before I felt any of the contractions, and the waiting began........Sometime in the night an internal monitor was started. By 10:30 the next morning I had dilated to 9 and the doctor said it was time for delivery. There were several students in the "team" to witness the birth, and there were two teams of nurses for each baby--one from the full term nursery and one from the neonatal intensive care unit (RNICU).

Erin was born first, with slight respiratory distress, at 11:27 AM. She weighed 5 lbs 3 ozs and was 18 3/4 inches long. Her RNICU team took her there, and she was there for a couple of hours. Alyssa had not wanted to be born yet and was "sticking" to the side of the uterus. Of all the people in the delivery room, not one was comfortable enough using forceps to attempt delivery of Alyssa. Yet another doctor was called in, and he had to scrub and gown before coming in.

Finally, at 11:55 AM, Alyssa was born. She weighed 5 lbs 11 ozs and was 19 1/4 inches long. She had no problems and was taken directly to the term nursery. Before I was out of recovery, Erin had joined Alyssa in the term nursery. When I saw them both together, I noticed that their "teams" had made sure both had the same color ribbons in their hair and receiving blankets of the same design. A few weeks after their birth our family doctor confirmed that they are genetically identical twins.

Erin and Alyssa are now nine years old. They have just finished with third grade. They continue to look exactly alike, but have lots of differences in personality and interests.