Mum gives birth to twin daughters three days apart
By Madhurima Haque|
One mum has shared the story of her incredible twin pregnancy, with one baby being born three days after the other.
US mum Carmen Martinez welcomed her first twin daughter, Gabriella (Gabby) Grace Hernandez on March 7, while her twin sister Isabella (Bella) Rose Hernandez arrived on March 10.
"Gabby was the first one born at 24 weeks and four days, and Bella was born at 25 weeks, exactly," the mum told Fox News Digital. The twins were due on June 23rd, but arrived three months early.
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Martinez said she showed signs of early labour a week before the girls were born, but managed to delay the birth so that the babies could develop more.
"[My doctors] checked everything, and they were still there fine," she said. "There wasn't any kind of distress or anything. But they had their own separate placenta and their own separate sac, and it was just for Baby A that it ruptured and not Baby B."
Gabby was born weighing less than 2 pounds (0.9kgs) and was immediately taken to the NICU. Doctors then advised the mum to keep her twin sister inside for a little while longer so she could develop, even prescribing the mum magnesium to slow her contractions.
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After Gabby's birth, Martinez could feel Bella moving around in her stomach as she rested.
"Bella was having her own party," she said, "It's kind of like she had the whole belly to herself, and she was having a good time."
Bella was finally born on March 10th, weighing 1 pound and eight ounces (0.6kgs).
Dr James L Tadvick OB-GYN at Hendrick Health, the doctor who delivered both babies, commented: "I've only seen this one other time in my career."
The twins are currently receiving special care in the NICU while their mum returned home. She admits the separation from the twins has been difficult.
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"Gabby and Bella were given a 30 per cent chance of survival for being so small and so early," she said.
"They're almost three months (old) now. They're doing good. Gabby's weighing four pounds, 11 ounces now, and Bella (is) four pounds, eight ounces. So, that's a big jump from being a pound and a half at birth."
The babies will be staying in the NICU for "a little while longer" so that they can "get stronger and develop their lungs", but mum Carmen says, "We're just ready for them to come home."
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