I live in Ireland and have only just watched the one where Carol gives birth to her babies. Having just had a baby myself I was really surprised that there was such a huge amount of time between delivering both twins (and I dont think you would be given an epidural in between). To my mind twins are usually born within half an hour of each other (not several hours as the show suggested- an epidural can take up to 45 mins to set up). Sorry to be a nitpicker but er are usually pretty good at their technical stuff and I think that they've sacrificed accuracy for dramatic purposes (maybe I'm wrong) Any thoughts?

-- joanna (jocpharm@iol.ie), February 12, 2000

Answers

Response to carols labour- wasnt it strange?

Believe it or not, there is documentation of twins being born several days apart! My children's pediatrician also delivered her first twin natually and the second was born by c-section which required and epidural.

-- mitzie wheeler (mitzie@goldenrulebooks.com), February 12, 2000.

Response to carols labour- wasnt it strange?

Since Carol came in delivering "precipitously" as it is called, and the second baby was not coming immediately, it was not unusual for her to be given an epidural. A bad epidural might take 45 minutes to set up but usually the mom gets "relief" within a couple of contractions or 10 minutes or so. It is also not unusual for the twins to be so far apart or for one to have to be delivered by Cesarean Section, especially with there having been a tight cord around the neck which would keep the baby from coming down into the pelvis. (Isn't that what was causing the fetal distress? That's how I remember it)

-- Karan (shirkfamily@onebox.com), February 12, 2000.

It was the first twin that had the cord around its neck. The second twin had a prolapsed cord ("cord gets pushed out before the baby"), probably caused when the baby rotated to a lotus position (which I believe means it was breech) and the cord was washed out when her water broke again being the baby's head wasn't engaged in the birth canal to prevent that from occuring.

-- ... (marcysux@aol.com), February 13, 2000.

Yes. the prolapsed cord is what happened. It is a very dangerous situation and one that requires an immediate c-section. It is however VERY rare. So to is a twin that is not delivered within minutes of the delivery of the first. Usually the second twin is in the birth canal before the first is entirely out, thus preventing the cervix from contracting. It is also VERY unusual that her uterus would not begin to contract even with pitocin and all of the pieces of placenta removed. I could buy one of the above happening, but all three added up to a rather unbelievable labour. But, this is ER and they were looking for some way to intensify the normally beautiful, but slow and uneventful labouring process. Oh well, it was strange, but this is ER and it would have been strange if something unusual did not happen. However, what is srange to me is where are Carol's babies now (seems like they dropped off the planet) and HOW did she get her figure back so quickly after the birth of twins. Now THAT is strange!

-- 2222 (rachelrr@ivillage.com), February 13, 2000.

One other thing... Carol was delivering Fraternal twins -- 2 seperate sacks. If the twins were identical, they would have been born closer together.

-- judie (jasbel95@aol.com), February 13, 2000.

Twins don't have to be born close together. I read awhile back (probably 1-2 yrs ago) about twins born 3 MONTHS apart! Ok, before you start thinking I'm talking alien births here - it was that one twin was born very premature (3 months), but the remaining twin was in a separate sac (they were fraternal, not identical) and Drs. were able to stop the contractions and the cervic returned to normal. Mother was placed on bed rest and 2nd twin was born on his due date. So there you have it - twins born a looooonnng time apart!

-- Lolina (lbmorgan@tcsn.net), February 15, 2000.

Actually, it isn't that uncommon for the second twin to be delivered an hour or so after the first. Identical twins can also have two amnions (sacs). Nuchal cords(cords around the neck) are very common. If the fetal head has not entered the pelvis, a prolapsed cord is very likely. Twin gestation can cause an increase in risk of uterine atony following delivery. Although the combination of those things together wouldn't be common, it's not really that much of a stretch.

-- alison (alisonroo@aol.com), February 17, 2000.