Hope Henderson and her and husband Raleigh welcomed their twins via a water birth on Tuesday, March 3
Credit: Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- A Wyoming mom is revealing more about birthing record-breaking twins with a combined weight of nearly 19 lbs.
- Hope and her husband Raleigh Henderson welcomed their twins via a water birth on Tuesday, March 3.
- “I’ve always had big babies,” she told Today on Tuesday, June 23.
A mom in Wyoming is celebrating the birth of record-breaking twins!
On Tuesday, March 3, Hope Henderson and her husband Raleigh welcomed twins weighing close to 19 lbs. This is heavier than any twins delivered in Wyoming in at least five years, reported Today on Tuesday, June 23
“I've always had big babies,” Hope told Today about the birth of her son, Clay at 9 lbs., 4 oz., and their baby girl, Leah, at 9 lbs., 6 oz.
The 31-year-old midwife's previous children include a daughter, Joy, 4, who weighed 8 lbs., 7 oz. at birth, and Ann, who turns 2 in July, at 9 lbs., 13 oz.
Credit: Getty
“I was hitting my protein goals every day,” Hope told Today about eating healthily and staying active during her pregnancy. “I was really taking care of myself.”
This didn't stop members of her local community noticing her ever-increasing belly as the twins started to grow, however — particularly when she floated around her local swimming pool to take the strain off her body.
“Normally, one twin is a lot bigger than the other,” she told Today. “They grew so evenly.”
Hope told Today that while she felt like she had reached full term after 32 weeks, it wasn't until after 40 weeks when she gave birth to Clay and Leah — just one week after their due date.
Yet it was no easy feat as a snowstorm approached northern Utah just as Hope went into labor, which forced her husband to drive for an hour to the Arrivals Birth Services in Ogden, Utah.
Once her water broke, Hope was placed inside a medication-free birthing pool. After just two contractions, Clay was born, followed by Leah around 11 minutes later.
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Speaking about her decision for a water birth at a birth center, Hope told Standard-Examiner in March, “I'm a midwife myself — I'm a home birth midwife — so I kind of knew that when I found out I was having twins, I still wanted to have an out-of-hospital birth and I had connections."
“I know midwives that do twins and do breech and do all of that stuff," she added.
“I didn't tear at all,” Hope told Today about birthing the record-breaking twins. “No vaginal lacerations. Huge plus for me and my healing.”
Months after their birth, the twins are said to be healthy and have both surpassed 14 lbs. each.
Speaking about how Hope's midwifery experience helped her have a smooth process, Wyoming Department of Health Operations Manager Lindsay Mills told Cowboy State Daily in March, "I think that anybody in the medical field probably would say that (the birth of) twins are not routine."
“Hope took really good care of herself, she was a really good candidate, and the birth went really well," she added.
Mills added to the outlet that the previous largest set of twins born to Wyoming residents in 2024 had a combined weight of nearly 16 lbs.
This is still far behind the heaviest twins in the world born to Patricia Jane Haskin and John Prosser Haskin in Arkansas on Feb. 20, 1924, which weighed a combined 27 lbs., according to the Guinness World Records.
PEOPLE reached out to the Wyoming Department of Health for further comment.
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