Twins with different birthdays are rare, and the chance of twins being born in different years is 1 in 2 million, according to the news release by Natividad. Though the incident is rare, it's not the first time twins have been born in separate years.
Yes, you read that right. Twins (non-identical) can be born at completely different times, sometimes even years apart.
Not many twins can say they have different birthdays, and even fewer can say they have different birth years. There is about a one in 2 million chance that twins will be born in different years, but newborn twins Annie Jo Scott and Effie Rose Scott joined this ultra-rare club on New Year's Eve.
Multiples are generally born only a few minutes apart. If delivered by cesarian section, the interval between births is usually only a minute, maybe two. The interval is generally longer for vaginal deliveries, ranging from a few minutes to more than an hour.
The longest interval between the birth of twins is 90 days, in the case of Molly and Benjamin West, dizygotic (fraternal) twins born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA to parents Lesa and David West (all USA) on 1 January and 30 March 1996.
Twins with different birthdays are rare, and the chance of twins being born in different years is 1 in 2 million, according to the news release by Natividad. Though the incident is rare, it's not the first time twins have been born in separate years.
While the typical definition of Irish twins is two children spaced 12 or fewer months apart, people do sometimes use the term more loosely to include children born 13, 14, or more months apart, particularly if the children end up in the same grade in school.
The longest recorded human pregnancy was 375 days, or just over 12 and a half months, according to Guinness World Records. During this pregnancy, a woman named Beulah Hunter gave birth to a healthy baby girl in 1945.
Superfetation is a rare event that involves getting pregnant a second time while you're already pregnant. It's so uncommon that cases of superfetation often make headlines. Your body does a good job preventing subsequent pregnancies once an embryo is developing inside your uterus.
“There are about 120,000 twin births in the U.S. every year, making up just over 3% of all births. However, twins with different birthdays are rare, and some estimate the chance of twins being born in different years as one in 2 million,” the medical centre added.
Other twin types
It's also possible to have twins that were conceived at different times in a process called superfetation. In exceedingly rare cases, a woman might release two eggs during ovulation, but not at the same time. In such cases, twins may actually be born on different days.
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A pair of twins were set to be delivered in Texas just around midnight on New Year's Day — and ended up being born in separate years. Kali Jo Scott gave birth to her first twin baby girl Annie Jo at 11:55 p.m. on Dec. 31 and then delivered the second daughter, Effie Rose, at 12:01 a.m. on Jan.
It's technically possible for two siblings to be as close as 9 or 10 months apart. After your pregnancy comes to an end, you'll start ovulating again before you have your first postpartum period.
What does Irish twins mean? Irish twins is a slang expression for siblings born less than a year apart from each other. While some people intend it affectionately, it does stereotype Irish culture, making it mildly offensive.
For most women, it's best to wait at least 18 months between giving birth and getting pregnant again. This means your baby will be at least 1½ years old before you get pregnant with another baby. This much time gives your body time to fully recover from your last pregnancy before it's ready for your next pregnancy.
It's extremely rare to get pregnant when you're already pregnant. There have been fewer than ten recorded cases of superfetation in humans.
When more than one ovum is fertilized and implants in the uterus, the result is dizygotic (fraternal) twins, triplets, or other multiples. Although two fetuses develop simultaneously in superfetation, they differ in maturity, having been conceived days or even weeks apart.
World record holder
Guinness World Records – The most premature baby to survive is Curtis Zy-Keith Means (U.S.A.) who was born to Michelle Butler on 5 July 2020 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital in Alabama, U.S.A. at a gestational age of 21 weeks 1 day or 148 days, making him 132 days premature.
James Elgin Gill was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on May 20, 1987, around 128 days early or 21 weeks gestation. He set a record when he was born for the world's most premature baby. 20 James was born so early that he was expected to die at birth or—if he survived—to have multiple and severe handicaps.
The shortest known gestation is that of the Virginian opossum, about 12 days, and the longest that of the Indian elephant, about 22 months.
Therefore, children with a spacing of less than 12 months became known as Irish twins (also known as “Catholic twins” or “Dutch twins”).
Septuplets (7)
The Frustaci septuplets (born 21 May 1985, in Orange, California) are the first septuplets to be born in the United States. Born at 28 weeks, only two boys and one girl survived; one daughter was stillborn and three died within 19 days of birth.
The world's only nonuplets - nine babies born at the same time - are "in perfect health" as they celebrate their first birthday, their father has told the BBC.