A woman has given birth to 'miracle' twin girls nearly two months apart after her contractions stopped following the delivery of the first baby.
Romania Insider reports that the 41-year-old mum gave birth to her first daughter in November 2014, but the other was born seven weeks later in January 2015.
The mother had carried the twins without any problems, but began having contractions prematurely at seven months.
She gave birth to her first child naturally, and doctors expected the birth of the second twin shortly afterwards.
But to their amazement, her contractions stopped.
Earlier scans had found the twins were in different embryo sacs and had separate placentas, as is often the case for non-identical twins.
As a result, doctors advised the woman to carry the second twin for longer so it could grow inside her womb.
The second twin was welcomed to the world two months later by Caesarean section at the Cantancuzino hospital in Bucharest.
Both babies were underweight at birth, with the first weighing slightly less than 2lbs (900g), and the second weighing 3lbs 3oz (1kg).
They stayed in hospital until the end of January, weighing 4lbs 13oz (2.2 kg) and 6lbs 6oz (2.9 kg) by the time they went home.
Dr Adrian Sorin Crăciun said: "It is extremely rare. I don't even know which medical mechanism stopped contractions for the second twin.
"It was nothing short of God's miracle."
Dr Leila Hanna, a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at BMI The Sloane Hospital, Kent, said this case was 'extremely rare and unusual'.
She told MailOnline: "The majority of non-identical twins have different placentas. They are from two eggs with two embryo sacs and two placentas.
"But the fact that they were born seven weeks apart is highly unusual.
"Normally they come out days apart, not weeks.
"She must have been a bit dilated, had her first child but then contractions stopped, her cervix quietened down and she was not dilated enough to have the second child.
"There is no cause for this, it is just an unusual case."
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