At first glance, we seem to be looking at an ordinary family photo. The parents are holding their usual twins in their arms. In reality, the photo is far from ordinary.
It became clear that the children’s mother gave birth to them 97 days apart in one of Cologne’s hospitals. This is indeed a rare occurrence.
What is even more astonishing is that Liana, the older twin, was born in 2018, while Leoni was born in 2019.
On November 17, 2018, the twins’ mother, Oksana, gave birth prematurely at 26 weeks of pregnancy. By a stroke of luck, the baby girl was saved.
The little one was unable to breathe or feed on her own. She was fed through a tube. Immediately after birth, she was transported to the Intensive Care Unit, specially designed for premature babies.
During this time, preparations were made for the birth of the second twin. But in vain! Suddenly, the cervix closed, and the contractions stopped. The baby “did not want” to leave the womb.
In fact, 97 days later, on February 22, 2019, Oksana returned to the hospital to give birth to her second child. The baby weighed 3700g.
According to the attending physician, Uwe Schellenberger, in his professional experience, he had witnessed many cases of twins being born separately.
However, the 97-day gap is indeed a record in medical history.
The twins are contenders for entry in the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ under the title ‘the longest interval between twin births’.
