Watch the footage of the twin sisters fighting.
Video credit: The AIO Entertainment
The parents of a pair of identical twin sisters were treated to an amusing if unusual display when a routine ultrasound scan revealed the siblings “fighting” while still in their mother’s womb.
The mother underwent the scan while four months pregnant and the fetuses could be seen seemingly kicking and hitting each other.
The twins’ father, 28-year-old Tao, said he was the one who filmed the footage while accompanying his wife to an antenatal check late last year in the city of Yinchuan, China.
Tao told Chinese news outlet The Paper that he was amused at seeing his unborn daughters seemingly “boxing with each other for a few rounds.”
After filming the ultrasound footage, the dad uploaded the video to short-video app Douyin where it has since gone viral. The video has received 2.5 million likes so far and generated 80,000 comments. Outlets such as China Daily have also helped give the video online traction.
Tao said he certainly didn’t expect his daughters “to be internet stars before being born.”
The girls were born healthy and were nicknamed “Cherry” and “Strawberry” after their mother’s favorite fruits.
An amused viewer joked: “Whoever wins [the fight] can be the elder one when they are born.”
Another one added: “They fight in [their mother’s] belly, but will love each other when they are born.”
Another routine check in January actually showed the twins hugging each other. And during an amniotic fluid test, he said he saw one of them apparently cuddling the other.
Tao told The Paper: “We were so touched. The babies were so small and they knew how to look after each other. I believe they will live with each other in harmony when they grow up.”
Tao also said that his daughters shared the same amniotic sac as well as placenta inside his wife.
This is known as monochorionic monoamniotic twins or Mo-Mo twins and is one of the highest risk twin pregnancies possible. The babies are typically given only a 50 percent survival chance after the 26-week mark.
The biggest risk of this type of pregnancy is that the umbilical cords, which are separate, may get entangled and knotted, resulting in impaired blood flow to one or both babies.
Mo-mo twins occur in approximately 1 in 35,000 to 1 in 60,000 pregnancies, making it quite rare, according to TwinsUK.
Fortunately for “Cherry” and “Strawberry,” they were both born healthy on April 8 at 32 weeks via cesarean section.
The elder sister was born at 2:51 pm, weighing 1,950 grams (4 lbs, 5 oz) while the younger one was born a minute later weighing 1,620 grams (3 lb, 9 oz), according to Yangzhou Evening News.
The doctors at the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University initiated emergency surgery after one of the nurses observed one of the twins’ heart rate suddenly dropping.
During the operation, it turned out a large portion of their umbilical cords had gotten entangled.
He Lin, a deputy director at the hospital’s obstetrical department, told reporters: “The babies have been born safe and sound. It’s their parents’ fortune as well as my fortune. They are the first pair of Mo-Mo twins our hospital has successfully delivered.”
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