LaTroya Woolridge is a young woman from Houston who was recently pregnant with twins. Like most mothers expecting twins, she expected to have a single birthday to celebrate her bundles of joy. She had no idea her twins would actually be born two weeks apart.
While this is unusual, it’s actually not a record for twins born on different days. Twins in Ireland were actually hold that record, born 87 days apart. When that mother, Maria Jones-Elliott, was giving birth to her twins, her contractions suddenly stopped. Both twins were ultimately born healthy despite one twin spending almost three more months in the womb than the other.
In Woolridge’s case, the twins were born so far apart because her contractions started much earlier than expected. At 26 weeks, she began feeling extremely nauseous and worried that something was wrong. When she went to the hospital, she was shocked to learn that she was in labor almost four months early.
Ultimately, she was given two options: deliver both twins via C-section or give birth to one and see what happened with the other. Because she was still so early in her pregnancy, she chose to give birth to one child while hoping that the second baby stayed safe and healthy. ABC News quoted Dr. David Weisoly, a neonatologist, who said, “Twenty-four weeks delivery is more than four months early, and it’s really right on the borderline at where babies will survive.”
Her first baby, Amara, was born weighing just more than one pound. Thankfully, the other baby stayed put in the womb, giving Woolridge a bit more time.
Of course, now she had to deal with being pregnant while having a premature baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It was challenging, but seeing little Amara gave LaTroya the strength she needed to persevere. Two weeks later, she felt the contractions coming on again. The second baby was coming.
Arthur, LaTroya’s other twin, was born weighing 2 pounds, 2 ounces. Both the babies spent months in the NICU, but both were eventually cleared to head home. In fact, they were able to return home before their original due date.
Because these twins are fraternal twins, they were formed from two separate eggs. They will look as similar as any other siblings because they don’t share a single zygote.
While some people are genetically predisposed to having fraternal twins, it’s unclear if twins run in LaTroya’s family. Sometimes, a mother just releases an extra egg without any warning, which may be the case here.
Amazingly, it’s possible for fraternal twins to have two different fathers. It is rare and would require sexual contact from two different men during the ovulation window, but it has happened before. In the case of Amara and Arthur, however, each child has the same father.
Although these twins have the same father, they do not share an astrological sign. Amara is a Capricorn and Arthur is an Aquarius. They were also born under two different presidents: Amara was born during the Obama administration, while Arthur was born after President Trump’s inauguration. Despite having different birthdays and unique personalities, these adorable twins share the same incredible birth story.
