American Kristen Miller almost broke the world record for the duration of the interval between the birth of twins: the birthdays of her son and daughter are separated by just over five weeks.
According to The Washington Post, the babies were due on June 4th. 27-year-old Kristen’s first pregnancy was uneventful, but at 22 weeks she suddenly went into labor and her water broke. Doctors at the University of Tennessee Medical Center managed to delay the birth by two weeks, but on February 14, almost four months ahead of schedule, tiny Mika was born.
His gestational age was 24 weeks and one day, and his weight was only 500 grams. This is the minimum threshold for the survival of premature babies, but the baby managed to get out. However, Mika’s sister, Madeleine, was still in the womb, and the goal of the doctors was to help her stay there as long as possible. Mika and Madeleine are fraternal twins, which means that each of them has a separate amniotic sac and placenta. However, the chances that Madeleine’s birth could be delayed were very low.
Doctors expected her to be born literally every hour after the birth of Mika, but, fortunately, this did not happen. To reduce the likelihood of childbirth, Kristen had to constantly lie still, and she could not even pick up little Micah.
To the surprise of doctors, after the birth of the first baby, Kristen’s condition improved every day, and the pregnancy was extended by more than five weeks. “We looked at each other every day and said, ‘OK, another day has passed,’” says Kimberly Fortner, head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at the medical center. 38 days after Miki, his sister still decided to be born.