Mother Gives Birth To One Twin At 23 Weeks With Second Twin Still In Womb, Not Due Until January


A mother from the Seattle area, Holli Gorveatt, recently gave birth to one of her twins on September 29 at just 23 weeks into her pregnancy. The tiny baby boy named Link weighed just one pound, two ounces at birth. However, Link’s identical twin brother, Logan, is still in his mother’s womb and is expected to make it to full term which would put his birthday in January of 2016. If baby Logan remains in his mother’s womb until January, the identical twin boys will have birthdays nearly four months apart.

Link Gorveatt
Link Gorveatt was born weighing just one pound, two ounces. (Image Credit: Facebook)

The Daily Mail reports that Holli Gorveatt is in the unusual situation of being both post-partum and partum at the exact same time. The new mother was pregnant with identical twin boys when she found out that the pair suffered from a condition known as “twin-twin transfusion syndrome.” According to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital the condition is rare and serious. It occurs in pregnancies when identical twins share a placenta. The hospital notes that the condition causes abnormal blood vessel connections to form in the placenta which allows blood to flow unevenly between the babies.

Due to the rare condition, Dr. Martin Walker performed an operation on the babies in the womb that separated the placenta’s blood vessels so that the blood could flow more evenly between the babies. However, a week after the surgery, Gorveatt went into labor. Doctors delivered baby Link but were able to leave baby Logan in Holli’s womb.

Link Gorveatt preemie
Link is being cared for in the NICU. He is currently too tiny for his parents to hold him. (Image Credit: Facebook/ Holli Gorveatt)

Link was born weighing in at just one pound, two ounces and is currently being cared for in the NICU at Evergreen Medical Center in Kirkland, Washington. Meanwhile, Link’s twin brother is happily remaining in their mother’s womb and doctors expect he will stay there until the twins original due date of January 2016.

According to ABC 7, Holli is still coming to terms with the fact that she is post-partum and partum at the same time. However, she notes that Logan is doing well in her womb and that it has been a week and a half since Link’s birth and doctors are hopeful Logan will be able to be carried until full term.

“It’s very surreal. And to be post partum and partum. Logan’s good, so he’s growing a lot and he’s just kicking, he’s got fluid, he can move around.”

Dr. Martin Walker notes that the surgery was risky but required for the health of both babies. Walker notes that if the surgery was not performed, one of the babies would have received less blood and ultimately would become anemic and weak. However, the other baby would receive too much blood which can cause the child to become bloated and result in heart failure.

“So you have a situation where one baby becomes anemic and weak from blood loss, and the other baby becomes over-stuffed with blood, bloated and goes into heart failure.”

Link Gorveatt
A photo of Link Gorveatt’s tiny footprints. (Image Credit: Facebook/ Holli Gorveatt)

The placenta blood vessel surgery fixed the problem by separating the vessels in the placenta between the two babies evenly. It was also reported that the separation of blood vessels is also credited with allowing baby Logan to stay in his mother’s womb when she went into early labor. Had the surgery not taken place, Logan would have been unable to stay in the uterus and would have been removed with Link. However, thanks to the surgery, Logan can continue to grow to a healthy size before being born closer to the original due date.

What do you think about a pair of identical twin with birthdays that are four months apart?

[Image Credit: GoFundMe]

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