Split-location delivery of twins ‘a blur’

Monday, January 26, 2009 8:21 AM EST
By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Lisa Rondeau relaxed with her twin boys in her room at Yale-New Haven Hospital Sunday, a day after she made headlines by giving birth to son Colton on her kitchen floor.

Rondeau, 27, who saw some of the news reports following Colton and brother Brendon’s birth Saturday, called the experience “crazy” and “a blur.”

But the mother of two older sons — 3-year-old Dylan and year-old Aidan — said she felt at least somewhat prepared for the events.

“I watch a lot of those baby shows, so I know somewhat what to do, and I didn’t have time to be nervous,” she said.

She and her husband, Phil Rondeau, 31, live in West Haven, but they called 911 on a cell phone and were routed to Milford dispatchers because a cell tower in Milford picked up the signal. The phone at first had difficulty connecting, she said, and by the time the dispatchers had called her back, Colton’s head was already out.

“That’s my nightmare — I always have nightmares about calling 911 and it not going through,” she said. “Luckily, they called me back and I just remember them saying, ‘Is everything OK?’ and me being like, ‘No!’”

Rondeau said she woke up at about 5 a.m. Saturday with a contraction and called her doctor shortly thereafter to say she and her husband would leave for Bridgeport Hospital, where she was supposed to deliver. She quickly realized, however, that she would not have time to make it there.

“The contractions were coming faster and faster, and I just felt like I had to push. I fell to the ground,” Rondeau said. “I started pushing and I told my husband to call 911.”

Colton was born at 5:40 a.m., she said, and her husband suctioned out his nose and mouth to make sure he could breathe. He cried a little and then was quiet, and emergency medical technicians — who Rondeau called “really great and nice” — took mother and son in separate ambulances to Yale-New Haven.

“The paramedics were worried ’cause he looked purple,” she said. “I found out later he was actually purple from coming out so fast.”

Brendon was born at 7:01 a.m., about an hour after they arrived at the hospital.

On Sunday, the boys wore matching royal blue jumpers and saw many well-wishers, including their older brothers and grandparents.

Rondeau said she was 35 weeks along when she gave birth, adding that “twins are usually born about that time.”

Her previous two labors had not been unusually short, she said.

“I thought it would probably go fast (this time) because I just had a baby and because I knew they would be somewhat small, but not that fast,” she said.

The story attracted local media attention Saturday, and on Sunday the hospital fielded a call from the “Today” show about a possible feature on the Rondeaus, hospital spokesman Mark D’Antonio said.

The family had also been filming Lisa’s pregnancy for the TLC show “A Baby Story,” although she said her husband did not have much time to take video during the delivery.

Rondeau called the events “a great miracle” and said the boys are “perfectly healthy.” Colton Xavier and Brendon Jax Rondeau, who are fraternal twins, weighed in at 6 pounds, 4 ounces and 5 pounds, 14 ounces, respectively. But she added that, as for babies, “four is enough.”

Although she did not have time for an epidural injection, as with her first two deliveries, Rondeau said there was not much pain during the birth.

“It was actually kind of nice,” she said. “It was a very natural thing.”