The arrival of Celine Dion and Rene Angelil's longed-for babies was not without drama.And in an exclusive interview with HELLO! Canada's Alison Eastwood, the impresario talks about the last-minute dash to the hospital, the couple's joy on seeing the twin boys and what their big brother, Rene-Charles thought.- Congratulations from all of us at Hello! and Hola! We are all so excited for you and Celine. How is everyone doing?Everyone is doing fine right now. I'll tell you how it all happened. Yesterday I was about to leave the house with René-Charles - he had a baseball game - and we got the call from Celine who sounded a little panicky – she said "I think you'd better come right now, it's gonna happen!" At the same time the doctor was calling on the other line, saying I should go right way. Fortunately her mom and three of her sisters were staying at the house, so one of the sisters took care of René-Charles, they went to the baseball game, and I left with one of the sisters - Linda – and her mom and we went straight to the hospital.
We went pretty fast on the road It’s a 45 minute drive. We arrived just in time. As soon as I got there they put the green costume on me, Mrs. Dion and Linda and we went with Celine. At 11:11 exactly we had our first one come out and it was very very emotional, of course, when we heard him cry, and a minute later the other one came out - the same thing. You know how it is you want to hear them cry to know that everything is all right.- Did you cut the cord? I cut both cords and they’re in incubators, one is 5 lbs. 10 oz, the other 5 lbs, 4 oz, they’re going to be in there for 3-4 days. And they’re going keep Celine in the hospital 3-4 days.- How was she during and after the birth? She could see what I saw [in the OC]. She did great. But then when she went back in the room it was hurting and they gave her some sedatives. A few hours later she woke up and wanted to see the babies, we went to see the babies together, and she was so happy to see them, and went back to her room. They gave her something to sleep because it was hurting again, so she slept, and right now I’m on way to the hospital!- When did René-Charles see his little brothers? He came to the hospital right after his game and he was thrilled to see them. He said “One looks like dad, the other looks like like mom.” I don’t know about that! They’re not identical twins but they sure look alike.
- You must have been so anxious to get there! She was there with me. She’s coming back home with me. She’s going to come a little later this afternoon.- Who was present at the birth? Her mom was there during the actual birth. And Linda. Linda filmed the whole thing. - For family consumption only I assume! [Laughs] Exactly! - Have you named the babies yet? Not yet – we don’t have names yet, today we’re going to for sure talk about the names. Right now they are Baby A and Baby B.- Were you surprised how quickly the twins arrived? We thought they would stay [inside longer] because they said, it’s always 37 weeks [rather than 40] with twins. She was due on November 8. So it’s a little early – 35 weeks. But everything just started happening yesterday morning when she went into labour. The babies wanted to come out! We’re so anxious to bring them home.René-Charles was also born a little early… Yes, René Charles came out 3 weeks earlier – he was due Februrary 14 and came out January 25. It was also fast. We were at home and Celine felt something and the doctor said, “Come to the hospital,” and she gave birth! - Celine must be looking forward to getting her figure back! [Laughs] Her belly has shrunk quite a bit. - Was she concerned about how her body might change after carrying twins? Not at all, she never thought of that. In fact, there’s a TV special [on her pregnancy] that is going to air on [the French Canadian television channel] TVA.They found a piece of film from 1998 – an interview with her where she says “My dream is one day to have twins, I’d love to have twins and gain 40-45 lbs and have a belly.” That’s exactly what she gained. She didn’t even remember saying that, you see her expression when she sees the clip.- Who will be helping you take care of the babies once they come home? Linda has been with us - she took care of René-Charles, she’s staying with us. She and her husband live about 10 minutes from the house. She’s there every day and they help us take care of him.- Is she older than Celine? She’s eight years older. She’s in great shape. - Does she have children of her own? No - she loves children and unfortunately couldn’t have them. Children love her and they’re attracted by her. Any time there’s a child, automatically they gravitated toward her. - So she’s René-Charles’s favourite aunt? And she’s René-Charles’s godmother also.- Will she be the twins’ godmother? We haven’t decided that yet. - Did you have RC christened? Yes. In Montreal. He was six months old. It happened in July. - So will you do the same thing with the twins? Yes, I expect so. We haven’t decided that yet.- And of course the boys are all American citizens! They have both passports. RC has a Canadian passport and an American passport, the twins the same story.- Celine has twin brothers, doesn’t she? Yes, Celine is the youngest, and six years before she was born, it was twins. Her mom – up until the twins, every delivery that she had was at home. She used to call the doctor and say, “OK it’s time.” The doctor would say “I didn’t even know you were pregnant!” She never went to see the doctor. Today you’ve got ultrasounds – they can even tell you how much they weigh before they are born.One day, when Celine was telling her mom how much the babies weighed, she started laughing. “I don’t believe this!” Every child - and she had 14 – were all in good health. All of them, never had a problem. But with Celine’s twin brothers, the doctor told [her mom], “Now we have to go to the hospital. They were the first ones that were born in the hospital. - Has she given Celine any advice on raising twin boys? Not yet – I’m sure she will have plenty of advice. She is so expert at raising children.- And grandchildren, presumably! How many grandchildren does she have now? She has 36 grandchildren now, and 22 great-grandchildren.- This is such a wonderful story that touches so any people, but does all the attention ever bother you? We are used to that (the attention) – it’s OK, it’s normal. We’re in the public, we’re public figures. It’s great to see that people love Celine and are happy for her. But in our house have have no trophies even though she has over 1,000. The house is a family house. We try not to think about showbusiness. We hardly play any music in the house.- Will she sing to the babies though? I’m sure she’ll sing.- How does René-Charles deal with having such famous parents? I’m not sure that he’s 100 per cent OK with it; he knows we’re public figures and he’s OK with that of course, and now that he’s at school, the important thing is that he can be [a normal kid]. The teachers were telling us that they’re so impressed that he never brags about his mom, and is very generous with the other kids. That’s the way he is – he’s a sweet sweet boy. I know I’m his father, so of course I would think that! – but we’re very proud of him. He won’t feel leftout now that he is a big brother.