Did your twins go undetected for longer than usual? Was it a total surprise? Imagine finding out the news when you’re in labor – that’s exactly what happened to this mom!
A viral post currently making the rounds on Facebook tells the story of one mom who didn’t find out she was carrying twins until her second baby was born. Surprise! It’s another baby!
Wesley and Lyndsey Altice, both 33, from Wisconsin, had no idea they were expecting twins. When physicians discovered Lyndsey was still in labor, they were given their first daughter, Ada Maze. Two minutes later, their second daughter Billie June arrived, and the “whole room went crazy”. While mom and dad were in complete shock, Lyndsey’s sister started taking pictures to capture the incredible moment.
When attending her ultrasound medics never realized she was actually carrying twins. But 17 minutes after getting in the tub for her water-birth Ada Maze and Billie June were born – with Lyndsey’s only regret being that she didn’t have a picture of her husband’s face when he saw a second baby born.
Lyndsey said: “I was immediately suspicious when Ada came out so small, I had put on double the weight I did with my last birth so I didn’t understand how she could be so tiny.
“When I had my son Django a few years previous, he was 9lbs and I put on less weight with him so it was really odd.
“The next contraction was almost instant, I knew before the nurses started saying what they thought it was, I could feel the baby coming but could not communicate it through the contraction.
“The nurse thought it was the water sack which she hadn’t seen happen before so we were all a bit confused.
“Then I felt it happening but I couldn’t get the words out, I knew a second baby was coming and then two minutes later there she was.”
“I had a million thoughts that I couldn’t process because I was completely overwhelmed so I just submitted to the moment, I think my face says it all,” she said.
“I must have set a world record for how many times someone can scream ‘oh my god’ in 10 minutes.
“Now we have settled in we are so happy, I would not change a thing.”
She even got a recording of her ultrasound, and after having her babies she checked back and still couldn’t see a second baby when she knew both babies were there.
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 labour they hooked me up to the baby monitor and there was only a reading of one heartbeat.”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.”
“All I can say is thank goodness someone was photographing this once-in-a-lifetime moment. Her face is PERFECTION, and absolutely captures the chaos, wonder, and joy of this incredible story. Although this didn’t line up with her birth plan (in so many ways), she sums it up well when she says, “It was beautiful, I’m not even upset about not having a home birth again. Everything couldn’t have been more perfectly serendipitous.”
Lyndsey is thrilled to have the photos and wants to show them to the children when they’re a little older.
