Newborn Twins Go Into Lifesaving Embrace Within Womb & Reach For Each Other After Birth

Apr 20, 2022 by apost team

The relationship between a pair of twins is a unique bond that you can't find anywhere else. These children share their mother's womb and develop in unison throughout the pregnancy. 

It is not surprising that twins will remain close even after birth, and some newborns will want to be next to their twin as much as possible because it is what they remember. This was true for a pair of newborn twins who received a special bath a few days after birth and could not stop cuddling and holding one another while they enjoyed the water.

In a video posted in 2013, a woman cradles two newborn babies while running water over them. This special bathing technique is called the Thalasso Baby Bath, and it was invented by Sonia Rochel. Rochel is a maternity nurse in Paris, France. She shared that the twins seen in the video are a boy and a girl and they reacted to the water just like they were in the womb again and never let go of their sibling throughout the entire experience. 

Rochel came up with the technique of running water over a baby's head with their eyes closed and mouth and nose above water so they can breathe. She found that as soon as the babies felt the water they reacted as if they were back in the womb, and for the twins in the video this meant holding each other again. Rochel also mentioned that the Thalasso Bath is only for babies under two months old and warned that parents should not try to duplicate it at home. 

Keep reading to learn more about this video and another set of twins that grew extremely close while in the womb.

Another set of twins grew very close after they were found to be sharing the same amniotic sac. This meant that the babies were at large risk of one of the umbilical cords wrapping around their neck due to the lack of space. The mother, Vicky Plowright, shared: 

"In the space of an hour I'd found out we were expecting twins, but that they could be in danger. It was torture, thinking that we could lose them at any time."

Fortunately, at the 12-week scan, a specialist sonographer saw that the twins had moved into a lifesaving embrace. Vicky and her husband Chris were thrilled. On the monitor, they could see their two babies holding each other in a tight hug and holding hands. This precious position was also keeping the twins safe. "By staying still in that position, they'd stopped the cords from becoming so badly tangled that it killed them," Vicky said. "It really was a miracle."

For the rest of the pregnancy, Vicky and Chris were terrified of the babies moving and potentially getting strangled. Vicky explained, "I didn't feel I could get excited, because I was so worried we were going to be told at every scan that our twins hadn't survived."

When one of the twins stopped growing due to the lack of space, doctors decided it was best to deliver the babies at 32-weeks. They were born in 2015 and are both healthy and have grown even closer. "They are the best of friends," Vicky said. "Before they even knew the world, they knew each other and grew together in such a small space that I knew they would have a special bond for the rest of their lives."

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The twins seen in the bath video were likely close in the womb as well due to their longing to hold one another. At one point in the video, the babies drift slightly apart and reach out wildly until they are close together again. It is very sweet and hopefully, these siblings will always want to be connected to each other.

Researchers at Umberto Castiello of the University of Padova in Italy studied 3D videos of twins in their mother's womb in 2011. They found: "At 14 weeks of gestation, twins were seen reaching for each other. By 18 weeks, they touched each other more often than they touched their own bodies. Kinematic analyses of the recordings revealed that the twins made distinct gestures toward each other and were as gentle to the other twin's delicate eye area as they were when they touched their own."

The Huffington Post reports that around 25 percent of twins develop facing each other in the womb and this makes them develop as a reflection of the other. They explained, "they may be right- and left-handed, have birthmarks on opposite sides of their body, or have hair whorls that swirl in opposite directions." 

One common misconception is that identical twins have the same fingerprints. However, as they develop in the womb, their fingerprints change. Huffington Post explained, "When identical twins are conceived, they start out with the same fingerprints, but during weeks six through 13 of pregnancy, as the babies start to move, they each touch the amniotic sac, and unique ridges and lines are formed on each twin's hand that result in different fingerprints."

Do you think this video is sweet? Do you have a twin? Let us know and feel free to pass this along to your friends and family.