i felt my twin sister's labour pains
lying on the bathroom floor, i couldn't believe how ill i felt. i lifted my head over the bowl and was sick, yet again. several weeks after helen, my identical twin sister, had told me she was pregnant with her first child, i began to feel waves of intense nausea, often soon after i got up. it was different from any other sickness i'd experienced, and would come on violently and without warning. i knew it was impossible, but it felt like only one thing: morning sickness.
i had no idea helen was going through the same thing - although we were close, we didn't talk to each other that often. she lives more than 100 miles away in hertfordshire and i'm in london. it was a fortnight later she phoned to tell me her symptoms. they were identical to mine.
i see myself as a rational person and i've never had much time for stories about twin "connections". helen and i had grown up listening to the same old questions that people ask when they see that you look the same: "do your boyfriends get confused?" "have you ever kissed the same boy?" we bore it with good humour.
sometimes we have finished each other's sentences, and one year we sent each other identical birthday presents, but nothing of real significance. this felt different. was it in my imagination? it didn't feel like it. i was about to go to my gp when the symptoms began to subside. it was a relief to feel normal again and i put this episode down to a lingering stomach bug or virus. then, a few weeks before i'd been told helen was due to give birth, the symptoms returned, and got worse.
i woke up at about 2am one saturday with chronic stomach cramps. i spent the early hours running between the bathroom and bedroom, overwhelmed with waves of pain, panic and nausea. i even thought about calling an emergency doctor and wondered if it was something i'd eaten, then it began to calm down and eventually i fell asleep.
a few days later, helen rang. she told me that at about the same time - 2am on saturday - she, too, had had crippling cramps and thought she was going into early labour.
we couldn't believe it - i knew it must be a coincidence and yet, this time, i couldn't help feeling our experiences were linked.
then, two weeks later, i was working late so i could take the next day off to be at the hospital for helen's birth. switching off my pc, i noticed the time, 7.51pm. i remember bending down to gather my bags from under my desk, then a gut-wrenching spasm in my lower abdomen. i buckled back in my chair. it passed after a few minutes, but i felt dizzy and disoriented. i made it on to the tube, still feeling horribly sick. i also had a sense of dread: did this mean something was happening to my sister, too?
when i got home, there was a message from my mum to phone her urgently. i called her and she told me helen had given birth to a boy - at 7.51pm, just as i'd turned off my pc and collapsed in my chair. she'd had a healthy baby, but the feelings of dread now made sense to me as my mother told me what had happened - helen's birth had been traumatic and complicated. the baby's heart rate had dropped dramatically when she went into labour and she had to have an emergency caesarean. at one point, it was touch and go. she had lost a great deal of blood and had to have a transfusion. my mum told me she was still in recovery. her husband was sitting outside the theatre with their new son in his arms, waiting for her to come round.
as my mum described the scene, i cried uncontrollably, thinking of helen. i felt now, without a doubt, that i had experienced her birth pains, and part of her trauma, too.
worse was the guilt that while she lay there, i knew she had given birth to a beautiful baby boy and she didn't.
it took my sister a long time to recover. neither of us could quite believe what we'd shared, even though we'd been miles apart. physically feeling some of her pain put me in awe of what she must have been through and we both feel much closer as a result. at least i now know what pregnancy entails - i'm hoping for both our sakes she has an easier pregnancy next time.
原文链接：
我躺在卫生间地板上，不相信自己会病得这么厉害。我把头从马桶上抬起来，可是又晕了。几个星期以前，我的同胞双生姐姐海伦告诉我她第一次怀孕了，我就经常在刚起床后就感觉到一阵阵强烈的恶心。这种恶心与我经历过的任何其它病症不同，发作时非常厉害，而且没有预先症状。我知道不可能，但是就像早孕反映。
我不知道海伦是否也有同样的遭遇，尽管关系亲近，我们相互之间并没有很多交流。她住在100英里以外的赫特福郡，而我住在伦敦。两个星期后她才打电话告诉我她的症状，和我的病症一模一样。
我认为自己是一个理性的人，从来不太理会所谓双生子有“联系”的故事。我和海伦从小听惯了同样的问题，人们看见我们相像就会问，“你们男朋友会搞错吗？”“你们会吻同一个男孩吗？”我们以幽默的心态来对待这样的问题。
有时我们会把对方要讲的话说出来，有一年我们互相送了同样的生日礼物，但没有真正值得注意的大事。这件事感觉不同，难道是我的想象吗？感觉又不像。当我准备去看医生的时侯症状开始消退了，身体恢复常态让我松了一口气，我把病症当作慢性胃虫或病菌放在了一边。然后，在海伦预产期几个星期以前，症状又回来了，而且发作得更加厉害。
星期六凌晨2时，我被慢性的胃部绞痛痛醒，一大早我在卧室和卫生间之间来回奔波，被疼痛、恐惧和恶心所压倒。我甚至想打电话叫急救医生，怀疑自己是否吃坏了。然后，病痛开始减缓下来，最后我睡着了。
几天之后，海伦打电话给我，告诉我在相同的时间——星期六凌晨2点——她也遭受了难以忍受的绞痛，她还以为自己早产了。
我们都难以相信，我以为一定是偶然的，然而这次我不得不感到我们的经验是有联系的。
又过了两个星期，这一天我工作到很晚，为的是把次日的事做完。因为海伦要生产，我可以到医院去看望她。关上电脑的时候，我留意了一下时间，是下午7点51分。我记得当我弯腰去拿放在办公桌下的手袋时，下腹部突然感到一阵激烈的阵痛。我不得不坐回椅子里，疼痛过了几分钟才过去，但是我还是感到头晕和茫然若失。我设法坐地铁回了家，仍旧感觉恐惧和不舒服。我也害怕这是不是意味着又有什么事发生在我姐姐身上？
当我回到家里，看见母亲有留言要我马上打电话给她。我打了电话，她告诉我海伦生了一个男孩，时间正是下午7点51分，就是我关上电脑瘫倒在椅子上的时间。婴儿很健康，但是我的担心没有错，母亲把事情经过告诉了我：海伦是难产，当她开始生产的时候，婴儿的心率剧降，只能紧急施行剖腹产。有一点很令人不安，她大量失血，不得不输血。母亲告诉我海伦还在恢复中，她的丈夫抱着新生儿子坐在手术室外面，等候海伦好转。
母亲在讲述的时候，我想到海伦，控制不住自己哭了起来。毫无疑问，我感到自己经历了她生育的阵痛，还有一部分她受到的损伤。
更不幸的是她躺在病床上，我已经知道她生了一个可爱的宝宝，而她却还毫不知情。
妹妹的身体恢复用了很长时间。我们都难以相信我们分享了何种经历，况且我们住得那么远。身体上感受到她的痛苦使我对她所经历的充满敬畏，我们俩也感觉更亲近了。现在我至少知道怀孕会带来什么，为了我们两个，我真心希望她下次生产不要太难。