She and her husband Raleigh welcomed twins early on the morning of March 3.

And not just any twins — record-setting twins for the state of Utah.

Clay was born at 1:23 a.m. weighing  in at 9 pounds, 4 ounces. His sister Leah followed 11 minutes later at 1:34 a.m., weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces — a record birthweight for twins in the state.

Henderson opted to have a water birth at a birth center in Ogden and brought in a midwife for the birth of her twins.

Photo supplied, Hope Henderson

“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,” she said. “I know midwives that do twins and do breech and do all of that stuff.”

She said that once the twins were born, her midwife — who had nearly 40 years of experience — was surprised by something.

“When I had the twins come out, we put them on the scale and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve never had two 9-pound twins like that,'” Henderson said. “She said the last twins that she delivered that were that weight were over 18 years ago and they were 8 pounds each.”

Henderson said a call to the Utah Vital Records office, which handles birth certificates, would confirm matters — Leah and Clay Henderson were the only set of 9.5-pound twins ever born in the state.

While Leah and Clay may have been the heaviest set of twins in Utah, they’re still a little ways from the record. This distinction, according to Guinness World Records, belongs to the twins born to Mary Ann Haskin of Fort Smith, Arkansas, on Feb. 20, 1924. Patricia Jane Haskin weighed 13 pounds 12 ounces at birth and John Prosser Haskin weighed 14 pounds at birth.

Photo supplied, Hope Henderson

Still, Henderson said that her thoughts were largely elsewhere when the news was delivered to her.

“I was so freshly postpartum that I was just happy that my twins were there, they were both healthy and everything went smoothly,” she said. “So it just kind of made me laugh because so many people have been asking, ‘Oh, when are you going to get induced?’ or ‘Oh, you still haven’t had the babies yet.’ Normally, people see 4-pound twins or 6-pound twins. It made me laugh because it was like so funny I’d just had two full 9-pound twins — made it to my due date on top of everything.”

She said the twins are both healthy and have been doing well in their first month.

“They nurse great, they’re pretty good sleepers, they’re over 10 pounds each now, so they’re growing fast,” she said.

Henderson said the biggest takeaway from this experience is that a healthy approach to pregnancy does wonders.

Photo supplied, Hope Henderson

“It goes to show that if you eat good prenatally and you exercise and you take care of your body and you have a good mindset — I had the mindset I was going to make it full-term — that you can have a good birth and you can have healthy babies,” she said. “I’m pretty grateful my body was able to grow two healthy babies.”

She added it was also a great lesson about twins.

“Twins can be a normal birth weight,” she said. “They don’t have to be tiny. They don’t have to be 4-pound babies that go to the NICU. You can have a full-term twin.”