A woman in Texas gave birth to twins...two weeks apart. LaTroya Woolridge's story made headlines recently for her miraculous birth story.
According to reports, Woolridge went into an unexpected labor January this year, citing that she drove herself to the Memorial Hermann the Woodlands Hospital because her husband was at work. She was only 24 weeks pregnant then.
"I began to have intense labor pains," Woolridge told Inside Edition. "Even though it was my first pregnancy, I knew the pain was not normal. I drove myself to the hospital. I was vomiting,"
Woolridge's first born, a baby girl named Amara, weighed only one pound and three ounces when she came out of Woolridge's womb.
"Twenty-four weeks delivery is more than four months early, and it's really right on the borderline at where babies will survive," said Dr. David Weisoly, a neonatologist and medical director for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NACI) at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands, according to ABC 13.
Because of its danger, the doctors decided to delay the birth of Amara's twin. The medical procedure is called delayed interval delivery. There is currently limited literature regarding delayed interval delivery, and an intentional delayed delivery of the second embryo in twin pregnancies is very rare.
A case report published in NCBI noted that delayed interval delivery should be made when the first neonate is born before the 24th week of gestation, aiming the prolongation of second twin's delivery until the 28th to the 32nd week.
Arthur III was born via C-section two weeks after Amara. He weighed two pounds and two ounces.
"Each day, my OB-GYN, Dr. Richter, and my maternal-fetal medicine specialist, Dr. Amber Samuel, would come in with updates and would remind me how much every day in the womb counts," Woolridge who underwent complete bedrest after Amara's birth told New York Post.
The twins were placed at NACI to keep track of their health. Arthur III now weighs six pounds and 11 ounces while her twin sister, Amara, is five pounds and six ounces.