Stillborn girl, weeks later, live birth boy?

Factual Questions
1

An ad for some bizarre movie brought up a subject that my family has been confused about for a number of years. We are doing some geneology research. Records show that my Dad was born in early February BUT they also show a sister that died (stillborn) in late December, just a few weeks before his birth.

Now, we first thought that there was a mix up in the dates but other records seem to support the view that Grandma had a stillborn daughter and then gave birth to my Dad.

Is this even humanly possible? Did my Dad have a twin that died? If this could have happened, what could/would have caused it? My Dad’s Mom died when he was 3 and his Dad died when he was 5 so there is not much chance of asking anybody else in the family.

I rely on the medical knowledge of the Dope to help us out. Thanks!

2

It seems to me that the only possible explanation is a stillborn premature twin, with your father being the twin that was carried to term.

3

It’s not common, but happens.

Sometimes the demised twin is carried until both are delivered and, on occasion, one is delivered while the other remains in utero.

4

Do twins ever get born weeks apart?

5

Yes they do. Months, too.

I can’t think of any known examples that would not violate HIPPA… In the case of the Chukwu octuplets, one baby was born and the rest followed 12 days later. This was in the Houston Chronicle about a week ago. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6176091.html

6

I’ve heard of it. The last time I heard of it, they were trying to keep the babies in as long as possible, but the one just couldn’t wait. Once it was born, they were able to keep the other one to term. Really weird, but true.

7

I can’t, for the life of me, find reference. But there was in (I think) the 2002 Guinness book of world records, a documented case of twins being born 5 weeks apart.

8

Forgive the aside, but I’d have to imagine this would be really hard on the mother’s body to give birth (though whatever method) twice in such a short period of time.

9

Ooohhh, I’ve never gotten to do this before! The Master Speaks

10

I imagine that giving birth at all is really difficult on a woman’s body.

11

I agree. Between the emotional and physical stress, I think this would be (one of) the hardest thing a woman could do in her lifetime.

12

Oh wow, now I think I remember reading this one a while ago. Cool, thanks!

13

Would that mean there are two separate placentas etc., one for each child?

14

ratatoskK, I think that depends on the kind of twin. Fraternal twins, yes, there should be two placentas, because each twin developed from its own egg. Identical twins, no, there’s only one placenta - this egg split into two after fertilization, thus one implantation, one placenta, tho’ two kids.

I could definitely be wrong, however.

15

Identical twins can have one or two placentas, depending on when the zygote split.

16

Yep, Manda Jo’s right. Fertilization happens about 2 weeks before implantation. If the bundle of early cells (the blastocyst) splits during those two weeks when it’s floating free, then each may implant and make its own placenta from the outer layer of cells (the inner layer of cells goes on to become the embryo). Or one may implant and the other wander off into the abdomen and never be born, or even be expelled through the cervix in a pseudo-period, but those are probably rare cases.

If the blasocyst implants first (at implantation, it’s called an embryo) and only then splits into two clumps, then you’ll have identical twins who share a placenta.

The scientific terminology for humans changes depending on what’s happening to the cells or organism. Twins can be formed at the blastocyst or very early embryo stages. The later the division, the greater the chance for conjoined or deformed twins.

Ovulation/ovum ---->fertilzation/zygote ----> rapid cell division forming two layers/blastocyst ----> implantation and cell differentiation/embryo ----> growth/fetus ----> birth/baby

17

This happened to my mom. She had a stillborn boy, very early - she never said exactly how early. A few months later my sister Michelle was born. She also said that another girl was born (dead) at the same time as Michelle.So although I have trouble believing that part of the story, we often referred to her as the triplet.

18

Thanks everyone!

We’re all relieved that this situation is something that happens “normally” although not frequently. The Dope has resolved our confusion. Yeah Dopers!

We were starting to think that G’ma and G’pa might have been aliens or something!

CedricR.

19

In fact, if you think about it, all twins that share a placenta ARE conjoined. They just happen to share an organ that is easy to separate.

20

Huh. I never thought about it that way, but I guess you’re right! The placenta’s such a weird organ it’s easy to think of it as not part of the embryo, but it really is.