Yep, you read that right! A 29-year-old woman from Uralsk, a town in northern Kazakhstan near the Russian border, gave birth to twins born three months apart.
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The mom, Liliya Konovalova, gave birth to a daughter, Liya, on May 24th, but didn’t welcome her son, Maxim, until August 9th. Liya was born at 25 weeks weighing less than two pounds and required several months of care in the neonatal intensive care unit. Maxim was born closer to term, weighing 6 pounds, 6 ounces.
“My son was in no rush to come out into the world,” Konovalova told news outlet RT. She described him as a “true Bogatyr” – a mighty warrior from Russian folk tales.
The Kazakh Health Ministry shared sweet pictures of the mom and her healthy babies in a Facebook post. In one photo, mom can be seen smiling while holding one of the adorable twins.
This crazy-but-true medical miracle occurred because Konovalova has what’s called a uterus didelphys, or a double uterus. In Konovalova’s case, this meant that each fetus developed in its own uterus.
This is an extremely rare condition. According to an article in Women’s Health citing research from the NCBI, uterus didelphys occurs in less than 0.5-5% of women worldwide.
Pregnancy complications resulting from this condition include miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth. Konovalova told RT that she knew the risks and her pregnancy was hard; she was really anxious when she went into labor.
“…Thanks to our doctors, we prevailed… what they did is a miracle. My kids now weigh around 3kg [6 pounds, 6 ounces] and we’re getting ready to be discharged from the hospital.”
RT says upon leaving the hospital, Liya and Maxim, will head home to join their seven-year-old big sister.