# Twins with different gestational lengths / same birthdate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 1999, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318 "1999-09-17T23:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 1999, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318/1 "1999-09-17T23:02:00Z")
From a royal geneology site: [http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi-bin/gedlkup/n=royal?royal05899](http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi-bin/gedlkup/n=royal?royal05899) Any thoughts on how this is possible? ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 1999, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318/2 "1999-09-17T23:49:00Z")
One of the babies must have died in the womb at three months gestation. The other twin continued to grow to seven months when it died, and was stillborn. * * * I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 1999, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318/3 "1999-09-17T23:49:00Z")
Maybe one died in utero months previous, while the other continued to grow, only to die at 7mos. gestation. Just a WAG. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 1999, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318/4 "1999-09-18T01:10:00Z")
That’s what I said. Ha, Ha 🙂 Beat you to it! * * * I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 1999, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318/5 "1999-09-18T01:59:00Z")
But wouldn’t the mother end up with one hell of an infection (which would probably have been fatal in those days, and she did survive 'til 1714)? ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 1999, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318/6 "1999-09-18T02:18:00Z")
Hey, didn’t something like this happen recently, within the last year or so? The twins lived, IIRC, but they were born a couple of months apart. An early test revealed that one of the twins had some sort of defect(I believe it was a heart defect), that could actually be corrected, if they did a C-section, took out the twin with the defect, and did the surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 1999, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318/7 "1999-09-18T03:40:00Z")
Here’s a short quote from [Parents.com](http://Parents.com) "The death of one twin is not a rare occurrence. Frequencies range from 2.2 to 6.8% of twin gestations. When one twin dies, it may become what they call a “fetus papyraceous”. The fluid is reabsorbed and the fetus is compressed by the growth of the living baby. This happens in single pregnancy losses as well and is the basis for the tabloid newspaper headlines of “80 year old woman gives birth to baby” (or mummified baby). " ---
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 1999, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318/8 "1999-09-18T08:06:00Z")
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwie. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 1999, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twins-with-different-gestational-lengths-same-birthdate/3318/9 "1999-09-20T02:15:00Z")
Qwisp: I’ll add that to my LoTtICHHLMLNK (List of Things that I Could Have Happily Lived My Life Not Knowing.) * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island