An extremely rare pregnancy case took place last week: a woman gave birth to twins 11 weeks apart. Thankfully, Liliya Konavalova was in good hands, and the medical professionals of the hospital in Kazakhstan were prepared to care for her and her babies. Now, everyone is home safe and happy to be together.
Usually, twins are born a few minutes to a couple of hours apart. In more uncommon cases, they will be born days or weeks apart. However, an 11-week delay of arrival into the world is an extremely rare occurrence. Any amount of delay is a health risk for both the mother and the baby to be born, so it was a miracle that everyone made it out okay.
Konovalova gave birth to her first child, Liya, on the 24th of May. She was born after a gestational period of only 25 weeks, so she was prematurely born. She weighed only 850 grams and required a lot of medical attention. Her brother, on the other hand, was born 11 weeks later. Maxim came into the world at a healthy weight of 2.9 kilograms. Unlike his sister, Maxim didn't require much medical attention other than the basic care a baby receives once they are born.
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A major contributing factor to this rare case was Konovalova’s rare anatomical condition. She has uterus didelphys: a malformation of the uterus. The organ formed as a pair, so there are two separate cervices. Often, women with uterus didelphys find it difficult to tell whether or not they’re pregnant with twins, especially since many are unaware that they have the condition. For those that do get pregnant, premature births are a common complication when a woman has this condition.
Thankfully, none of the complications Konovalova experienced had fatal consequences. Now, both children are at a healthy weight and are continuing to grow. She lightheartedly told the media that her daughter was just excited to come into the world, while her son took his sweet time developing in her belly. She is grateful for all the doctors and nurses who helped her through the process, and they truly did perform a miracle because everyone left the hospital healthy.