| On average, twins are delivered just a few minutes apart — but this isn't always the case. In 1996, for instance, a Maryland woman named Lesa West gave birth to fraternal twins over a span of 90 days. On January 1 of that year, Lesa and her partner David welcomed their daughter Molly into the world, who was born premature. After Molly's birth, doctors were able to stop Lesa's contractions so she could carry the other baby to full term. Three months later, on March 30, Lesa finally gave birth to little Benjamin, setting an all-time record for the longest gap between the birth of two twins. When it comes to triplets, the longest recorded interval between births is shorter, albeit still quite substantial. On September 20, 2004, Kara McBurney of Missouri gave birth prematurely to her son Lorne. Kara then remained in the hospital for weeks until she delivered her son Sullivan 17 days, 18 hours, and 55 minutes later, and her son Isaac shortly after. There have also been two recorded instances of women delivering quadruplets over the span of several days. In general, twins are delivered earlier than single-baby pregnancies, and less than one in every two twin pregnancies lasts beyond 37 weeks. Once the first baby is delivered, it's preferable to deliver the next child in about 15 minutes to avoid complications, and the majority of twins are delivered within 30 minutes. It doesn't always take that long, however: The shortest recorded time between twin births was a Canadian woman named Amanda Dorris, whose twins were born just 22.976 seconds apart on April 6, 2017. | 
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