A single mother was overjoyed to learn she was pregnant again. She had hoped for an at-home water birth, but things didn’t go as planned, and a big surprise was on the way! Lyndsey Altice’s pregnancy was not easy. The mother from Tacoma, Washington, suffered from severe morning sickness and migraines for a month. No one, including her chiropractor, could relieve her pain, but she persisted, knowing that the birth of her child would be worth it. She had no idea what awaited her around the next corner…
Altice, like her first child, desired a water birth. As a result, she never used ultrasounds and instead tracked the baby using other methods, such as the Doppler, a heartbeat monitor. Altice’s midwife suspected the baby was breech near the end of her pregnancy. If a homebirth was possible, the mother immediately went to her chiropractor for help because her baby needed to change positions.
A second ultrasound revealed that the infant had moved, and the mother’s water broke on July 12, 2019. Altice’s midwife gave her 16 hours for active labor to begin, or the home birth would be canceled. To Altice’s surprise, the hospital had a massive birthing bathtub. Nothing gave away the big shock that was about to happen when the medical assistants monitored the unborn baby’s heartbeat. Eventually, the mother went into the hospital on July 13.
Altice’s first contraction came thirty hours after her water broke. Her sister miraculously arrived at the hospital on time, which meant everything to the mother. She stated, ” “She felt she needed to be here because I really needed her.” The kind nurse who had been present when Altice needed stitches after her son’s home birth two years before happened to be in the hospital when she arrived.
It was a different medical facility 40 minutes away, and her presence comforted Altice. The hospital, to Altice’s surprise, had a large birthing bathtub. Nothing indicated the impending big shock when the medical assistants monitored the unborn baby’s heartbeat. Altice’s contractions didn’t last long, and by early afternoon, she was in the birthing tub. After two pushes, a tiny baby girl was born, but the mother wasn’t done.
‘I wasn’t doing ultrasound because I wasn’t a high risk so unless I needed too, if I felt something was wrong for example. When I did have an ultrasound, it still didn’t show Billie-June.’ She even got a recording of her ultrasound, and after having her babies she checked back and still couldn’t see a second baby. Lyndsey said: ‘I think because they were just checking fluid levels and not checking for a second baby, all they saw was that Ada had moved a little.
‘I’m sure if they were looking for two babies, they would have found two. I even got a recording of the ultrasound and you just can’t see a second baby at all, so even when I look, and know she’s there, I can’t see her.
‘When I went into labor they hooked me up to the baby monitor and there was only a reading of one heartbeat.’ Now, with the twins coming up to their first birthday, Lyndsey feels ready to share what happened and explains it was one of the biggest, and best surprises she has ever had. She said: ‘When it first happened we were just having a total “oh c***” moment, but now that we have settled and we know how to look after twins we just love it.
‘It’s a total blessing in disguise, and the kids themselves are great, my son Django adores them and they all get on so well. ‘I love looking back at the photographs because I think they show exactly how I was feeling, there’s no hiding how I felt. ‘I was a little worried about sharing the pictures because it’s such an intimate moment, but I’m thrilled we have them, I look at them all the time. I’ll show them to the kids when they’re older.’