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Mom Gives Birth to Daughter After 40 Hours of Labor, Didn't Know She Was Having Twins

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When Matthew Ziesemer was handed a “World’s Greatest Father” shirt, he knew his life was about to change. His wife, Nicole Ziesemer, was pregnant.

They both didn’t know just how much their family would change after Nicole gave birth.

The couple approached pregnancy and birth with the desire to have as little intervention as necessary. They didn’t even have an ultrasound.



Nicole planned to give birth at home under the care of a midwife. The baby’s estimated due date was Jan. 30.

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Much to the couple’s surprise, Nicole’s water broke on Dec. 29, 2017 around 12:30 a.m.

Since she was less than 36 weeks pregnant, their home birth plans changed.

Instead, Matthew was going to take Nicole to Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial Hospital.

Their Michigan home’s driveway was filled with snow so Matthew had to snowplow before they were able to leave.

They arrived at the hospital around 4 a.m. on Friday. Nicole’s contractions continued into Saturday, and her plan for a natural birth without intervention changed.

Matthew shared on his Facebook page, “We have another check at 11AM and she was still at 7cm and for the first time ever in my wife I saw the look of giving up in my wife’s eyes and it absolutely killed me.

“After watching her suffer for the last 30 hours pushing and breathing and screaming I knew we had to do something else so I consulted several people and Nicole and we decided to start a small dose of pitocin; well this really got contractions going and got her dilated to a 10. “



After pushing for four hours, Nicole received an epidural. 48 hours after her water broke, Blakeley Faith Ziesemer was born on Dec. 30 at 10:06 p.m.

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Dr. Megan Forshee was ready to help with the delivery of the placenta, but instead, she felt a head. Cade Matthew Ziesemer, weighing 5 pounds, was born on Dec. 30 at 11:05 p.m.



Nobody in the room, including the parents, knew about this second surprise baby.

The proud parents of two new babies had the joy of sharing the shocking news with their family, which was recorded on video.

“So even though I’m more of a natural person things happen for reasons and there are definitely times for medical intervention and this was one of those times. God definitely has a greater plan for us and showed us that we don’t control anything in our lives,” Matthew wrote on Facebook.

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Carolyn Fultz is a former contributor for Liftable Media. She holds a B.A. in Communication from Hope College.
Carolyn Fultz is a former contributor for Liftable Media. She holds a B.A. in Communication from Hope College. Carolyn's writing has been featured in both online and print media, including Just Between Us magazine. She resides in Phoenix with her husband and children.
Birthplace
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Entertainment, Faith, Health




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