VietNamNet Bridge – Having delivered a boy on May 4, nearly a month later Mrs. Lu Thi Bien, 27 years old, in Ha Giang province, gave birth to a girl. Both babies were born at home, with the second birth monitored by health workers.

Bien is an ethnic La Chi woman living in May village in Hoang Su Phi district in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang.

Mr. Hoang Van Trieu, head of the health station in May village, said the woman gave birth to the first baby on the morning of May 4 at home. The boy weighed about 2.5 kg. She had never been to the health station before the birth.

"Thirteen days after giving birth, Bien went to the health station for a check-up because her belly was still very big. We made an abdominal ultrasound scan and saw a fetus in the stomach so we advised her to go to Hoang Su Phi Hospital for another check-up,” Trieu said.

Doctors at the Hoang Su Phi Hospital confirmed the diagnosis of the May village health station. They said the baby in the womb developed normally. The woman was admitted to the hospital on May 16, 13 days after giving birth to the first baby, who was also taken to the hospital for jaundice treatment.

"Only one day after hospitalization, the woman left the hospital with her baby. Because this is a special case, we asked the health station of May village to keep an eye on the woman," said a doctor from Hoang Su Phi Hospital.

At midnight on June 3, 29 days after giving birth to the first baby, Bien delivered the second baby, a girl weighing 2.7kg, at home. This time she was helped by medical staff. The two children are growing normally.

Dr. Vu Ba Quyet, director of the Hanoi-based Central Obstetrics Hospital, said that similar cases have been reported in the world but they are very rare. Vietnam had never recorded such a case.

Last June, the American media reported that a woman delivered two babies 39 days from each other. According to ABC News, the first boy was born 24 weeks prematurely. Doctors used a special ball and medicine to keep the second baby in the mother's womb.

In May 2013 British newspaper The Mirror wrote about the twins, who were born 87 days from each other.

Le Ha