Lindalva Pinheiro Da Silva, 35, gave birth to twin boys 24 days apart.
Silva underwent a special delivery after her water broke 24 weeks ahead of her due date. She worried that she might lose the twins, as doctors said the chance of survival for such early delivery was only 50 percent.
Medical officials at Tuft Medical Center in Boston attempted to delay her delivery, but failed to do so. The first baby came out four days later. The baby, named Alexandre, was so small at 1.10 lbs that his father, Ronaldo Antunes, could hold him in the palm of his hand.
"They brought him to me to give him a kiss," Da Silva said to ABC News, recalling the whirlwind delivery after just three painless pushes. "He was crying, but he was very tiny and I was very scared. I said to my husband, 'He's too tiny.'"
Alexandre was confined to the neonatal intensive care unit and waited for his twin brother to be delivered. But Silva's contractions faded and her cervix closed, indicating that the second baby would not be born yet.
Doctors estimated that it would take at least one hour to a week for the second baby to come out. Da Silva didn't worry because she was told that the longer she had to wait, the healthier her second baby would be.
Da Silva remained in good health and could walk on her own to visit her baby in the NICU. Twenty-four days after Alexandre's birth, she started feeling the contractions again.
The second baby, named Ronaldo, was bigger at 3.3 lbs and healthier than his twin brother.
"They're my miracle babies," said da Silva to ABC News. "Ronaldo because he stayed inside, and Alexandre because he's a survivor."
Alexandre and Ronaldo's case is not the first time that twins were born days apart. In April 2013, twin girls Amy and Katie Elliot were born 87 days apart from Ireland. Twins named Hanna and Eric were born 84 days apart in 1995.
