Twin boys in Boston are celebrating their first birthday with a very unusual twist: they were born more than three weeks apart!
In February of 2014, Lindalva da Silva, pregnant with fraternal twins, went into labor 16 weeks early. She first gave birth to Alexandre, who was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit.
This isn't the first time we've seen a rare twist when it comes to twin births. But this time, doctors were able to keep the second twin growing inside the womb! It ended up helping their medical course because one wasn't born quite so far ahead of schedule. Baby Ronaldo arrived 24 days later.
Dr. Jonathan Davis, Chief of Newborn Medicine at the hospital, says delayed-interval deliveries are exceptionally rare. "It's the first time in my career I've seen it this successful. I've seen it attempted a number of times and it was never quite successful, and in this case it made a huge difference."
"To see them go from being tiny and fighting for their lives," says NICU nurse JoAnn Loiselle. "To be thriving with what looks like no deficits is almost a miracle."
Lindalva is extremely grateful for the work of the nurses and doctors who helped her and her babies. A party was recently held for the twins at Tufts Medical Center, where they were born. The medical staff who cared for them joined the boys and their parents for the special celebration.
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