Double celebration

JAMES HILL, Clarendon:

A Christmas miracle.

Yes. We’ve heard it hundreds of times before – the annual cliché tagged to almost any good news in the heights of the Christmas season – but if ever there was a Christmas miracle, it truly has to be this.

And the story takes us to Carty Hill in the small village of James Hill in Clarendon, where Anthony and Kereca Simpson hold their precious bundles of joy as they relive the events with The Sunday Gleaner.

Grateful and relieved, they are cognisant that things could have gone terribly wrong when the pair of twins arrived on Christmas Eve, two months earlier than their estimated due date.

Kereca – who is fondly called Bella – was alone at home when she started experiencing labour pains.

In fact, she had been feeling twinges of pain the day before, and when her aunt, Herminn Williams, questioned her, Kereca dismissed the concern, stating that she was all right.

“She come to mi house, and I was readying to go a May Pen and mi seh, ‘Mine, y’know’,” Herminn said, recalling the events leading up to the birth of the twins, adding that her niece just told her she was going back home.

The next day, the phone call she got was the last thing Herminn expected.

“Dem seh Bella have di baby a di house and dem tell me dem tek a cab and carry her gone a Spaldings Hospital,” she recalled.

However, at that time, Herminn was unaware of the full extent of the events that had unfolded at the house regarding the birth of the twins.

Eighteen-year-old Dornaleigh Williams – who has been nicknamed ‘The Doctor’ by the children’s father, Anthony – and her twin brother, Dorrell, were at home when they heard cries coming from the direction of Kereca’s house, which is located atop a hill next door to them.

Dorrell rushed to investigate and promptly returned with the news that Kereca was giving birth.

No time to be nervous

Dornaleigh said she had no time to be nervous or afraid as she washed her hands, grabbed some gloves, a pair of scissors, and a towel and rushed to assist.

She had no idea what they were going to do, but she was determined that she and her brother would do all they could to ensure that the babies were safe.

“My brother tried calling the Frankfield Police Station ‘cause she needed to go to the hospital. I had to watch in case anything happened. I was trying to call different persons who had an idea on emergency delivery and I wasn’t getting anyone,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Dornaleigh said that at that point, Kereca started pushing again, and this time, the second of the twins made their arrival at about 2 p.m. – one hour after his sibling was born.

When it was time for the umbilical cord to be cut, the twins told The Sunday Gleaner that they were nervous, and fearing that that procedure could place the baby’s as well as Kereca’s life at risk, they turned to the Internet.

Dornaleigh cut the umbilical cord and assisted in the process of tidying up the after birth as a nurse arrived at the scene.

They made frequent checks to ensure that the babies were breathing as tension remained high.

Shortly afterwards, they were able to get a vehicle to transport Kereca and the twins to the Spaldings Hospital.

Kereca, who had little to say, but smiled as the others related the story, noted that she was very worried by the early arrival of her twins.

For the parents, it was the latest twist in a journey that offered more than one surprise as they had only just found out three weeks earlier that they would be having twins. Before then, they had been preparing for just one baby.

Anthony, who works out of the community, said that he had planned to return home for Christmas to take his older daughter to the grand market festivities and to spend time with the family until New Year. He never thought their schedule would have been turned upside down.

After going on the road, he reached home just in time to see his wife and newborns being shuttled away in the taxi.

Still, he takes full responsibility for the twins deciding to crash the party as with a chuckle, he confessed: “Mi come home and was playing with them.”

Kereca laughed in agreement.

Still, all’s well that ends well, and Rochelle Danielle Simpson and Rusheed Simpson are now thriving and enjoying the attention of their doting parents.

As for ‘The Doctor’, Dornaleigh, who attends Knox Community College, she wants to be a forensic scientist and while she is proud of the role she played in the twins’ birth, she will continue along her path.

Dorrell currently attends evening classes at the Armadale HEART Institute.

Their mother, Charmaine Meredith, was proud of the role her own twins played in the safe deliveries.

“I wasn’t around, but I was very shocked when I heard the news that they went to assist and the babies were delivered. I am still in awe,” she told The Sunday Gleaner last Tuesday.

“The experience was life-changing and rewarding, knowing that our quick-thinking skills and ability to remain calm while under pressure assisted with the delivery of twins,” said Dornaleigh. “Furthermore, it holds a lot of sentimental value to us as our mother also had a traumatic experience while having us. We are elated to have been instrumental in the delivery of these babies. It’s truly a blessing that we were able to help.”

cecelia.livingston@gleanerjm.com