Twins Born 87 Days Apart; Set World Record

An Irish woman gave birth to twins with a gap of 87 days between each delivery.

Thirty-four-year-old Maria Jones-Elliott delivered her first baby last June and in the same year August gave birth to another baby.

Dr Eddie O'Donnell, a consultant obstetrician from Waterford Regional Hospital, termed the occurrence as "probably the first of its kind" in the medical history of Ireland and said such incidents were extremely unusual. He said the family is lucky to have the twin daughters born in healthy condition.

"Most people haven't heard of this," said Dr O'Donnell, who was part of the doctors who assisted Jones-Elliott during her delivery. He said that he knew about cases of babies being born in a gap of maximum 40 days. "Two weeks is the longest I've seen (in his medical profession)"

He explained that in a normal delivery of twins, the mother continues to contract until the second baby arrives. But in some cases the contractions stop after the first baby is delivered.

Dr O'Donell explained that the patient then is placed on a drip and an induced birth is tried.

But, in Jones-Elliott's case, doctors repeatedly attempted to induce the second baby, but failed. The couple thought it best to wait for a natural delivery.

Dr O'Donnell said that long duration between births of twins may lead to difficulties. "You can end up losing a twin, it could be stillborn," he said.

"There are also a number of health issues that can present when a child is born prematurely and this can prove fatal."

The 87-day gap between the twins delivered by Jones-Elliott is a world record.