Yesterday I posted the story of Mary Schuch’s birthing her twins. Lying in bed last night I thought, “I should share the story of the birth of our twins.” Yes, 61 years ago I also gave birth to twins.
I conceived the twins while Colin and I were doing missionary work in the Philippines but never went to a doctor while I was there. When I was eight months pregnant, we came back to New Zealand and Colin’s parents suggested a particular doctor to visit. He checked me out and never detected twins! This was back in the days when there were no ultrasounds. He then said, “Well, I will be in England when you are due to give birth, so just come to the hospital and whoever is on duty will see to you.” At that time in my life I had never heard of having a home birth.
About a week before my due date I thought I was in labor and went to the hospital. They checked me out and said it was false labor and once again never detected twins! Nobody ever mentioned to me the possibility that I may be having twins. But I must admit I wondered what was happening. I was aware I was so much bigger than with my first baby and wondered how I would give birth to such a huge baby! I hardly had any movement. The babies were so tightly packed together that obviously they didn’t have much room to move.
On my due date (pretty good for twins) I came into labor again and went to the hospital. This time as the nurse was listening to the heartbeat with the stethoscope (doppler) she questioned, "I hear another heartbeat. But it could be an echo. We'll wait and see!" That was the first inkling I had of twins! And still they weren’t sure!
Eventually, and according to etiquette protocol of “ladies first” Evangeline was born---breech birth, which is quite normal for twins! I didn't notice any difference than a normal birth. She was 6 lbs. 13 oz.
The nurse felt my tummy and listened again! Yes, there was another baby still there! Five minutes later, Stephen arrived, a gentleman who allowed his sister to go first. He was 7 lbs. 5 oz. I had been carrying around over 14 Lbs. of babies. How had no one detected?
Colin and I were ecstatic with the excitement of having twins. We enjoyed these moments of elation before we faced the hard work—going home to care for twins and a 17-month-old, with no help. We had just arrived back from the Philippines and were living out of suitcases.
But I look back on those wonderful days when I was so tired that it was painful. And yet they were such wonderful years, full of joy and fun as we watched them grow, along with their other siblings that came along. The twins were so different. Evangeline was brown-eyed and golden-haired. Stephen was blue-eyed and blonde. I remember some folks staying with us when they were little children. I talked about the twins, but they never commented. Later they told me when they discovered that we did actually have twins that they thought one must have died because they couldn’t see two children that looked alike. They were, and still are, so different in personality too. But both are full of personality and the “life of the party” wherever they are.
I always used to say, “There’s only one thing better than having a baby, and that’s having two babies!”
With 50 grandchildren and nearly 40 great-grandchildren so far, we are still waiting for another set of twins!
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Pictures: Left: The twins as babies, Evangeline on the left, Stephen on the right. Right: On their 61st birthday.
PS. Maybe others of you have wonderful twin-birthing stories to share. Don’t hesitate to share. Send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.