Everybody Was Bemused by What Had Happened in This Woman’s Delivery Room

Everybody was bemused by what had happened in this woman’s delivery room. You can prepare your body and mind for pregnancy, both physically and emotionally, for years, yet when this magic happens, all you can do is expect the unexpected. When a Michigan couple, Matt and Nicole Zizimer, gave birth to their first child, they weren’t the only ones that were shocked by what occurred in the delivery room. The doctors were simply bemused by what they’d seen after the surgery.

A Special Surprise

September of 2017 was definitely a special and remarkable month for Matt and Nicole. When Nicole found out she was pregnant and expecting her first child, she was in 7th heaven. But the future mom didn’t want to just spring the news on her husband; instead, she wanted to capture this charming moment in a specific and creative way. Yet, the woman had no idea they would be taken by such a big surprise nine months later.

Even if you’re trying to make a baby for years, seeing two lines on a pregnancy test is literally an unforgettable moment. Nicole was walking on air when she knew she was expecting a baby and wanted her beloved man to experience the same emotions.

“This was my first pregnancy, and it was all new to me,” Nicole revealed to ABC’s WZZM 13.

The woman decided to surprise her husband on Labor Day weekend and bought him a little surprise. The couple met online 12 years ago, and since that time, they’ve deeply loved each other. Nicole couldn’t wait to share this exciting news with Matt and give him a surprise gift.

“She gave me a shirt that said ‘World’s Greatest Father,’ and that’s how I found out,” Matt happily shared with ABC’s WZZM 13.

How sweet! As you can imagine, that Labor Day weekend became a life-changing moment for both of them, but this was just the first surprise of many they had to get.

Preparing for a Natural Birth

Seemingly, Nicole found out about her pregnancy quite late. Her due date was January 30th, 2018, so the two had only five months to get prepared to welcome a newborn to their home. In a while, it was the holiday season, and Matt and Nicole, along with their families, had a lot of fun that December.

There were just a few more weeks until Nicole and Matt would become happy parents. They had to buy a lot of new stuff for their child: a baby crib, a babysitter, and some charming baby clothes. Yet, those things weren’t the only ones the couple had made sure to be prepared for.

Time was ticking while the due date was getting closer and closer. The couple decided to stay away from doctors and hospitals as much as possible and have a natural birth in their own home. They found a midwife who had to help them on the delivery day and during all the process.

On the week of Christmas, Nicole started to feel bad.

“Nicole had the flu for three days, so she hadn’t eaten anything or really slept since Sunday,” Matt shared on Facebook.

She was fatigued, ill, and out of sorts, yet the main thing that bothered her the most was really bad stomach pains. A few days later, on Friday night, she finally figured out what exactly was going on.

“My beautiful pregnant wife, Nicole Zizimer, woke me up on Friday early morning at 12:30 AM to tell me her water broke. Yes, that was four and a half weeks early, as we were due on January 30th, so we called our midwife,” Matt wrote on his Facebook page.

A Change of Plans in a Blizzard

In the middle of Friday night, Nicole’s water had broken, which meant only one thing: the stomach pains that had been lasting for the past two days were actually the contractions. Since the woman was barely at 36 weeks, the couple went to the hospital, as it was quite dangerous to stay at home.

“We decided to go to Gerber Hospital in Fremont because they work well with our midwife and think more on the natural side of things,” Matt further said.

You may read hundreds of books and watch millions of videos, but you’ll never really be prepared for having kids. The most touchy and risky part of the pregnancy is the birth itself. Sometimes your body knows better what you need and does what it needs to do, despite all the plans you might have mapped out. The same happened to Nicole and Matt. Despite their birth plan, the couple would quickly realize how true the phrase “everything happens for a reason” really is.

The hospital, which would follow their personal desire to do things as naturally as possible, was far away from them, while the Midwestern midnight winter weather wasn’t definitely on their side.

“I don’t know who remembers Thursday night into Friday, but along the lakeshore was a complete blizzard. So first, I had to snowplow and snow blow the driveway because we got 10 inches of snow, and then we drove two hours to Fremont in a blizzard,” Matt revealed in his Facebook post.

Familiar Faces and Unbearable Pain

Even though the couple had to face a lot of challenges that night, there was still some good news heading their way. The couple got to the hospital around 3:30 to 4:00 AM, and Nicole’s contractions started to become stronger and painful. Luckily, a very close person to Nicole and Matt worked at the same place they were at.

“So 7:00 AM comes around, and Nicole’s brother Raymond walks in because he’s filling in for a 7-to-7 shift at the hospital. So right then, we knew we were at the right place, especially since he never works at Gerber, typically downtown GR,” Matt happily revealed.

Yet, Nicole’s brother wasn’t the only familiar face that worked at Gerber Hospital that day. There was one more family member that was working the hospital overnight when Nicole arrived.

“His wife Emily is a nurse at Gerber, and she’s working the 7-to-7 night shift, and sure enough, she was our nurse for the whole night,” Matt wrote.

Even though the couple tried to get to the hospital as soon as possible when Nicole’s water broke, that didn’t mean the baby was ready to come out. In the hospital, the contractions got more painful, yet Nicole dilated really slowly. She hadn’t truly relaxed for four days at that point. Moreover, she was also in agonizing labor pain for hours, which made her change her decision to do it all naturally. The future mom finally opted for pain medication and an epidural in the hope that it would help speed up the whole process.

The medical professionals did their best to make sure this birth was as natural as possible. They tried not to use any type of scans or tests to check upon the baby, but Nicole allowed for an ultrasound, and fortunately, the baby was okay—at least as far as they knew.

Thankfully, the epidural helped Nicole with the pain in her contractions because the pain got unbearable. Nicole pushed for another 2.5 hours after the epidural, and the baby decided to start showing signs of stress for the first time.

“So at this point, Nicole and I are exhausted, ready to do whatever is necessary to get the baby out. So the doctor used a vacuum because of the higher heart rate,” Matt explained.

Welcome, Baby Blakely

Unbelievable, but it was just the beginning. Just imagine for a second what challenges the couple had to go through. First, Nicole’s water had broken a month earlier than they expected. Then, instead of a natural birth at home as they planned, the two drove two hours in a midnight storm to the hospital. What’s more, Nicole suffered through endless hours of labor.

But no worries, all their efforts were paid off; Nicole and Matt were about to become the happiest parents in the world. The couple arrived in the hospital on Friday in the middle of the night. At 10:06 PM on Saturday, they met their first child and named her Blakely Faith Zizimer—definitely a unique and awesome name. The little baby weighed just four pounds and four ounces, and the couple was about to find the reason out.

“My wife was an absolute trooper. I was so proud of her for what she went through and how she dealt with the pain and everything, and I thanked the entire staff at Gerber for all they did for us. They were great,” Matt proudly shared on his Facebook page.

The Ultimate Surprise

But right before Nicole was prepared to finally breathe out, there was still one more challenge left. Once the woman gave birth to her little daughter, the obstetrician started working on the placenta to make some minor stitches. But the medical team noticed something absolutely incredible. There was something different awaiting all of them. What was going on?

“I reached in to check the patient and realized there was a head,” Dr. Megan Forshee, Nicole’s doctor, shared with WZZM 13.

Ta-da! To everyone’s surprise, there was still another baby inside.

“We thought Dr. Forshee was joking, and she was like, ‘I don’t lie about these things,'” Nicole explained to WZZM 13.

So, as it turned out, the family was expecting twins all that time, and it was time to prepare for a second delivery. The couple’s family didn’t know what was going on since they were outside the delivery room. They started worrying as they saw people coming and going from it.

“The entire floor of the hospital was in our room. It was packed, just making sure everything was gonna be okay. It was crazy,” Matt further wrote in his Facebook post. “Nicole, thinking she was done, has to push again, and now her epidural had worn off so her back pain was awful, but she did it,” Matt explained.

At 11:05 PM, almost an hour after Blakely Faith was born, Nicole gave birth to her son, Kade Matthew. Kade weighed five pounds, which meant that together they weighed like a normal child.

A Game of Hide and Seek

So how is it possible the couple didn’t know they had twins? The reason for that was they tried to keep medical checkups at a minimum. But how didn’t they notice it during the ultrasound?

“It was just a shell shocker because no one was expecting it. Everyone in the room thought they’d seen a ghost,” Nicole shared with WZZM 13.

Baby Kade decided to play a little game of hide and seek when the doctors were doing the ultrasound. He literally hid behind his sister, which is why nobody knew he was even there. While everybody was in shock and awe because of this wonderful situation, the doctors needed to focus on baby Kade.

“Since he was pushed out so quickly and never had contractions really, his lungs and fluid in his lungs didn’t come out as good as his sister’s,” Matt wrote in his post.

Even though the babies were born a month premature, they were both healthy and ready to be taken home within a week.

“My first thought after delivering the second baby: oh crap, we need a second crib, a second car seat, a second everything,” Nicole confessed with WZZM 13.

Matt said, “We just had no thoughts there was going to be another child. Our whole house is prepped for just one.”

Firstly, they started worrying about how they were going to take care of the two kids, but these thoughts quickly changed once the parents actually saw and held their new twin babies.

“This has been one of the best days of my life and also one of the biggest emotional rollercoasters I’ve ever been on,” Matt wrote in his post.

A Double Blessing

The new parents decided to tell the news to their family in the same way as they were surprised. They had one baby under the blanket with mom and Nicole when everybody gathered in their room along with some hospital staff. When Nicole opened up with a second baby in her hands, everyone was in shock and couldn’t believe their eyes. Instead of one new family member, they got two!

Amazing twins are a truly unique phenomenon. Matt and Nicole now can’t imagine their lives without these two angels. But the most important lesson they’ve learned from this story was that everything definitely happens for a reason, and that reason is for your benefit. Who knows what would have happened if Nicole had a home birth?

“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,” Matt revealed.