When Nicole Ziesemer found out she was pregnant, she was excited because their little world was about to change.
Even though Matthew Ziesemer was handed a shirt saying “World’s Greatest Father,” the couple had any idea that Nicole’s delivery could transform their lives.
Like many other couples, the Ziesemer family went overdue. They wanted a natural delivery and they didn’t feel the urge for an ultrasound. They arranged a safe delivery at their home, under the special care of a midwife, and the estimated date for the arrival of the baby was January 30.
Despite the improved medical services and technological innovations, childbirth is a complicated biological process, which can never be smooth and pre-planned. On December 29, almost a month ahead of her due date, Nicole’s water broke at 12:30 am.
As Nicole was less than 36 weeks pregnant at that time, her husband decided to skip the home plan and take her to the Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial Hospital.
The driveway of the couple’s home was snow-capped, so Matthew had to snowplow the driveway, before leaving. They managed to reach hospital around four on Friday morning, and Nicole’s contractions went on until Saturday.
Matthew wrote on Facebook: “We have another check at 11 AM and she was still at 7cm, and for the first time in my wife I saw the look of giving up in my wife’s eyes, and it killed me.”
He further added: “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 40 hours of constant struggle, Nicole was given Epidural anesthesia, and finally, Blakeley Faith Ziesemer came to the world at 10:06 p.m. on December 30. But, before Dr. Megan Forshee could help Nicole with the placenta delivery, she felt another tiny head inside. Cade Matthew Ziesemer, a healthy baby of 5 pounds was discovered on Dec. 30 at 11:05 p.m.
The second baby came as a surprise and boon for the couple as well as the doctor, who was utterly clueless about its existence. The happy parents thereafter shared their shocking and ecstatic news with the family.
On his Facebook page, Matthew expressed his gratitude for God: “So even though I’m more of a natural person, things happen for reasons and there are 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.”