Wyoming mom welcomes record-breaking twins: ‘I've always had big babies'

In a birth center in Ogden, Utah, Hope Henderson delivered twins so large that together they weighed nearly 19 pounds — a combined birth weight that appears to surpass any recorded twin delivery among Wyoming residents in at least five years.

Her son, Clay, weighed 9 pounds, 4 ounces. Eleven minutes later, his sister, Leah, arrived weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces.

According to the Wyoming Department of Health, records reviewed by Operations Manager Lindsay Mills show that the previous largest recorded set of twins born to Wyoming residents in 2024 had a combined weight of nearly 16 pounds.

Yet for Henderson, a 31-year-old midwife from Evanston, the babies’ size felt less like a miracle than the culmination of months of careful preparation, and perhaps a little family genetics.

“I’ve always had big babies,” she tells TODAY.com.

Her older daughters, Joy, 4, and Ann, who turns 2 in July, weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 9 pounds, 13 ounces at birth. Henderson is 5 feet, 9 inches, and her husband, Raleigh Henderson, stands 6 feet, 4 inches.

Even so, carrying nearly 19 pounds of baby was another matter entirely.

By 32 weeks, Henderson says, she already felt as though she had reached full term.

Twin pregnancies are often associated with earlier deliveries and smaller babies. Many are delivered before 40 weeks. Henderson, however, kept going.

Then she kept going some more.

The twins were born on March 3, about a week after her due date.

Throughout her pregnancy, Henderson remained active, attended births as part of her midwifery practice and paid close attention to nutrition.

“I was hitting my protein goals every day,” she says. “I was really taking care of myself.”

Her blood pressure remained healthy and her blood sugar levels were normal. Ultrasounds showed strong growth and adequate amniotic fluid.

Meanwhile, her growing belly became something of a local attraction.

People stopped her at the grocery store. Strangers stared at the community pool, where she sometimes floated in the water simply to take the weight off her body.

One woman who had twins herself later approached her and remarked that she had never seen anyone as pregnant as Henderson had been.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she recalled thinking.

When labor finally began, a snowstorm was approaching northern Utah. Henderson and her husband drove about an hour to Arrivals Birth Services in Ogden, a birth center operated by Chris Miller, a certified professional midwife whom Henderson chose for her extensive experience attending twin births.

The labor moved quickly. After Miller broke her water, Henderson entered the birthing pool and delivered Clay within a contraction or two. Eleven minutes later, Leah arrived.

Henderson says what stands out most isn’t how large the twins were, but how closely they matched they were in size.

“Normally, one twin is a lot bigger than the other,” she says. “They grew so evenly.”

Today, just months later, both infants are thriving. Exclusively breastfed, they have already surpassed 14 pounds each.

As for Henderson, she says one of the biggest surprises came after the birth.

“I didn’t tear at all,” she says. “No vaginal lacerations. Huge plus for me and my healing.”

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY: