As implausible as it may seem, the case of Lilliya Konovalova is real, although so strange that it only happens in one of every 50 million twin births that occur in the world. And this 29 year old woman, has given birth to twins 11 weeks apart, being born prematurely his first daughter and his second baby term.
We tell you why this strange phenomenon occurs that has surprised both the doctors who have treated it.
Twin brothers: one premature and one born at term
Liliya was pregnant with twins and everything was going well, until she went into labor at the 25th week of gestation, giving birth to a girl who was born on May 24 with only 800 grams of weight. Quickly, she was transferred to the NICU of the Regional Hospital of Uralsk (Kazakhstan), while doctors waited for the birth of her twin brother at any time.
In Babies and more Twin birth: what you should know about multiple birthsBut unlike his sister, the boy was in no hurry to be born, and endured in the womb of his mother almost three months more, arriving in the world on August 9 with three kilos of weight and 11 weeks later than his twin.
The doctors who have treated Liliya have expressed their stupor in the case, because the chances of this happening are one for every 50 million twin births, as reported by the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan. Not surprisingly, in the country it is the first case registered.
Liliya already has another seven-year-old daughter whose pregnancy developed without any difficulty and who is eager to meet again soon with her brothers who will be discharged very soon.
The mother has a womb didelfo
The explanation for this strange phenomenon is found in the type of uterus Liliya has, known as "didelfo uterus" or "double uterus". This uterine malformation of congenital origin is characterized by presenting two necks, two vaginas and two separate semi-uterus and with independent operations. And this is what has allowed each baby to have formed in its own uterus, so that the birth of the first did not affect the second, which could come to term without problem.
In Babies and more Uterine or Müllerian malformations: why they happen, what types exist and how they can affect the fertility of women The exceptionality of this case is threefold, since the fact of having an anomaly that only affects one in 2,000 women, adds a twin pregnancy and two births at different times of pregnancy.Although in many cases the woman with a didelfo uterus has a normal pregnancy and childbirth, this anomaly increases the risk of spontaneous abortion and premature delivery.
That is why, when it is diagnosed before the woman seeks pregnancy, reconstructive surgery is usually recommended that allows to unify both wombs and increase the chances of a viable pregnancy. The problem is that, in most cases, the finding of this malformation is accidental, and occurs by ultrasound when the woman is already pregnant.
Other similar cases
Although extremely rare, this has not been the only case of twin pregnancy in uterus didelfo which we have echoed.
Just a few months ago we told you the news of a woman who had given birth to her first child in Bangladesh, without doctors realizing that she had a womb, and that twins were being born in the other cavity, which They came into the world 26 days later than their brother.
With 87 days apart, the twins of Marie Jones-Elliott were born in 2012, also born in a womb. His case reminds us a lot of Liliya, because one of the babies was born prematurely in week 24 of gestation, while the other endured until week 36
In Babies and more The curious case of the German twins who were born three months apart and in different yearsBut not all cases of twin pregnancies in the uterus end up with the birth of babies on independent days. In fact, in January 2009 a Californian woman gave birth in a Michigan hospital to her two twins, who although they grew up in independent wombs, arrived at the world at the same time.
And also in 2006 we published the strange news of a British mother with a womb who had given birth to triplets by caesarean section, two of them gestated together in the same semi-uterus. His case especially amazed the medical community, as the chances of the three babies getting ahead with this uterine malformation were very low.
