Talk about a laborious affair.
Giving birth can be a painful and long-drawn experience, but it was more so for one Chinese woman, who went through the ordeal twice in a week.
Yes, twice.
According to Chinese media reports, the Hubei woman was carrying triplets when she went into labour prematurely at 30 weeks.
However, her contractions stopped after her first child, a boy, was born. Her son weighed just 1.44kg at birth, according to People’s Daily.
Incredibly, six days later on Feb 27, the woman, identified by her surname Chen, gave birth naturally to twin girls.
Chen said she and her husband were elated to discover that she was pregnant in August last year, after four years of marriage.
The additional surprise of finding out they were expecting triplets did nothing to faze them.
But on Feb 21, Chen was admitted to hospital after sensing something amiss. There, she found out that her waterbag had burst.
After delivering her son naturally at about 2pm, Chen’s contractions suddenly stopped.
Chen’s obstetrician, Dr Chen Aihua, made the decision to allow the remaining babies to stay in their mother’s womb as they were still premature.
That didn’t last very long.
Chen went into labour again on Feb 27 at about 10pm, and welcomed her twin daughters to the world.
“I’ve been a doctor for 20 years and this is the first time I’ve come across someone going into labour twice, six days apart,” the doctor told Chinese news media.
Dr Chen explained how the double births could have happened.
“The babies were dichorionic triplets, which means that two of the babies ‘had their own room’ sharing a placenta, while the other baby had his own placenta ‘in another room’,” said Dr Chen.
This allowed for the boy to be delivered first, without risking the safety of his two other siblings.
As all three babies are still premature, the triplets are under close supervision in the neonatal care unit.
Delayed interval births ‘rare in Singapore’: Doctor
According to an obstetrician in Singapore interviewed by Lianhe Wanbao, instances of ‘delayed interval’ births where babies are delivered separately over a few days are “rare” here.
Citing an example of a mother who has delivered the first of a pair of premature twins, the doctor may decide to administer a drug which can stop preterm labour in order to allow the other twin to continue to develop in the womb.
However, the doctor added that the drug’s success rate in curtailing the labour process is often not high.
Photo GallerySmall Chinese village has 39 sets of twins
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candicec@sph.com.sg
