Lindalva Pinheiro da Silva was just 24 weeks pregnant with twin boys when her water broke. Miracle Baby Born 39 Days After Mom's Water Breaks.
"I panicked," said 35-year-old da Silva, recalling the afternoon in early March that her life turned upside down. "It wasn't time. It was too early. I knew I could lose the babies."
Doctors at Tufts Medical Center in Boston did everything they could to delay da Silva's labor. Considered the threshold of "viability," an estimated 50 percent of babies born at 24 weeks don't survive, and those who do are at risk for a host of health problems. But four days later, Alexandre was born. He weighed 745 grams --- roughly 1 pound, 10 ounces.
Da Silva said her husband, Ronaldo Antunes, could hold his son in the palm of his hand.
"They brought him to me to give him a kiss," said da Silva, 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.'"
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Da Silva stayed in the delivery room as her son was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit, but the second twin didn't come. The contractions waned, and da Silva's once-dilated cervix closed back up.
"They said, 'Maybe you'll deliver in hour or a day or one week," she said, recalling how a team of doctors listed the benefits of keeping "Baby B" inside. "They said, 'The longer he stays inside, the more he will grow.
