{
  "id": 8333275,
  "title": "Twins Born Weeks Apart in Rare Cases of Delayed-Interval Delivery",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/twins-born-weeks-apart-in-rare-cases-of-delayed-interval-delivery",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-18T22:38:37.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Colombia One",
    "slug": "colombia-one",
    "url": "https://colombiaone.com/2026/09/18/twins-born-weeks-apart-rare-cases-delayed-interval-delivery/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In rare cases, doctors can deliver one twin and delay the birth of the second for days or even weeks, a procedure known as delayed-interval delivery. This method aims to provide the remaining fetus more time to develop in the uterus after the first twin has been born prematurely. The Turkish medical researchers reported a rare case in 2012 involving one of the longest intervals between twin deliveries, with a gap of 101 days. The mother, who had undergone in vitro fertilization, developed contractions at 21 weeks of pregnancy. The first fetus was delivered shortly afterward, while the second was born via cesarean section at 36 weeks, weighing 3,639 grams and exhibiting a normal neonatal course. While delayed-interval delivery has shown survival benefits for the second twin, it also poses substantial clinical risks, as evidenced by severe maternal complications in some cases. Cervical cerclage, a surgical stitch to reinforce the cervix, is one of the interventions doctors may consider after the first twin is delivered, but its role remains debated due to the lack of standardized protocols and observational nature of the evidence.",
  "summary": "Twins are usually born minutes or hours apart, but in rare cases doctors can deliver one baby and delay the birth of the second for days or even weeks. The procedure, known as delayed-interval delivery, aims to give the remaining fetus more x|time to develop inside the uterus after the first twin has been born […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}