Can a set of twins be born a month or two apart? I am working on my family tree and it appears that one of my ancestors delivered a child one month before having another, the earlier child dying and the latter child surviving. Was this once possible? –Ma Schu
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Delayed interval birthing is not, needless to say, the preferred way to have twins. You can imagine the strain on the mother (“You mean we’re not done?”), and it’s none too healthy for the babies. In one study of 48 delayed-twin deliveries, only 40 of the 96 fetuses survived.
That’s no longer the default approach. Increasingly the feeling is that if labor stops after emergence of the first baby, the mother is game, and all other conditions are favorable, the arrival of the second should be postponed, or at least not hurried–the fetus will benefit from increased time in the womb. In one recent review of six intentionally delayed twin deliveries (Hamersley et al, Journal of Reproductive Medicine, February 2002), five of the second twins survived. On average gestation was prolonged 93 days. Longest delay: five months.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
