When a nurse trying to stitch her up noticed a second head, she realized she was pregnant twins.
Nicole, 31, and Matthew Ziesemer, 34, had only recently met their baby girl Blakeley when doctors discovered she was still in labor.
Medics looking after the patients During a post-birth clean-up, Nicole noticed “another head,” and Cade was delivered 59 minutes later.
Nicole only had one scan during her pregnancy, on the day she went into labor.
Cabe is supposed to have remained undetected because he was “hiding” behind his sister.
Nicole, from Grand Haven, Michigan, has returned home and is overjoyed with her two new family members.
“It was ridiculous,” the 31-year-old, who worked in insurance before becoming a mother, said. We were ecstatic, but it was a complete shock.
“There were no signs that I was carrying more than one child; in fact, everyone complimented me on how petite I was.”
“We believed the biggest surprise would be the baby’s gender, but we were wrong.
“When they indicated something else was inside of me, it was terrifying.”
“And when they informed us it was another kid, I literally asked her if she was lying,” she continued.
“I just couldn’t digest it all because I couldn’t take it all in and was still in so much pain.”
“However, I can’t picture having only one child now.” It’s as though they were intended to be together.
“I like the idea of them constantly having each other.”
Nicole had planned a natural home birth with only a midwife there, but her waters broke at 36 weeks and she had to go to the nearest hospital, Gerber Memorial in Michigan.
The new mother, who suffered from severe morning sickness during her pregnancy, chose breathing exercises, a yoga ball, and chilly showers over medicines.
She didn’t undergo any scans during her pregnancy, with the exception of one on the day her waters broke, because she wanted a “natural pregnancy.”
The expectant mother, however, chose an epidural and a vacuum after being in labor for over 45 hours.
Blakeley, weighing 4lbs 4oz, arrived two hours later at 10.06pm on December 30.
However, physicians became concerned when Nicole’s pain did not subside after she was delivered.
They were supposed to suture Nicole’s vagina, but Nicole said they discovered’something else was in there.’
While attempting to recover her placenta, medics realized something was wrong and opted to do an emergency ultrasound.
Nicole gave birth to a baby boy weighing 5 pounds 59 minutes later.
Cade, who was having trouble breathing on his own, was transported to Spectrum Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the United States.
“Over the next three days, my husband was largely with Cade while my daughter and I stayed in for observations,” Nicole, who stayed with her daughter, said.
“We were still reeling from the shock and trying to make sense of everything.”
“But the most important thing was for them to be robust and healthy.”
“The strangest thing is that I had a scan the day I went into labor, but it only picked up one kid.”
“They believe Cade was hiding in plain sight behind his sister.”
When the couple, who met online in 2012, were allowed to return home, they went shopping for duplicates of all the baby equipment they had previously purchased for only one child.
Nicole and Matt, a chiropractor, have subsequently learned that her mother’s side of the family has a history of twins and triplets.
“It was great to hear that it’s a kind of a family history,” she added, adding that her grandmother’s cousins had twins and triplets.
“People often wonder if we’d get scans this time if we had another baby.’ However, I don’t believe we would.
“I’d do it all over again unless there were any obvious medical red flags.”
“It was genuinely such a bizarre moment,” Matt continued. My wife was carrying two children the entire time, and I couldn’t believe it.
“With the two of them, my wife does an outstanding job.” I’m not sure how she manages to do it every day.”