a set of boston fraternal twins who beat all odds by being born 24 days apart in a rare, lifesaving delivery procedure have celebrated their first birthdays alexandre and ronaldo antunes had a special birthday party at the tufts medical center on thursday while gathered with the staff who helped their family during their births last march the oldest by nearly a month, alexandre, was born prematurely on march 2 followed by the arrival of his twin brother on march 26 scroll down for video  alexandre (left) and ronaldo (right) antunes had a special birthday party at the tufts medical center on thursday while gathered with the staff who helped their family during their births last march  lindalva pinheiro da silva, the boys' mother, held back tears as she thanked the doctors and staff for their work during her pregnancy while at the party on thursday at tufts medical center  dr jonathan davis (center), chief of newborn medicine at the hospital, said he had never seen delayed interval delivery this successful  lindalva pinheiro da silva, the boys' mother, went into labor 16 weeks early last february and had a delayed interval delivery, which is rare she held back tears as she thanked the doctors and staff for their work, according to cbs boston 'one year later we are here celebrating,' said ronaldo antunes, the boys' father 'it looks like it was yesterday it's unbelievable grateful to be here celebrating their first year' nurse joann loiselle said: 'to see them [alexandre and ronaldo] going from tiny and fighting for their lives to thriving with what looks like no deficits is almost a miracle dr jonathan davis, chief of newborn medicine at the hospital, said he had seen 'exceptionally rare' delivery attempted several times, but that it was never quite successful he said: 'it's the first time in my career i've seen it this successful i've seen it attempted a number of times and it was never quite successful, and in this case it made a huge difference' alexandre and ronaldo were to be pinheiro da silva's first children with ronaldo, and she was thrilled to be pregnant with twins ronaldo antunes (above with son ronaldo), the boys' father, said he is grateful to be celebrating his sons' first year  lindalva  (pictured with her husband, ronaldo, and twin babies) was just 24 weeks pregnant when she went into labor her twins beat all odds by being born 24 days apart in a rare procedure  but when her water broke in february, the excitement turned to fear 'i panicked,' pinheiro da silva told abc 'it wasn't time it was too early i knew i could lose the babies' lindalva gave birth to premature alexandre, who was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit, as doctors were able to keep ronaldo growing inside of his mother's womb during the unique technique miraculously, both twins managed to survive and, despite one being nearly a month older than the other, are doing well pinheiro da silva has spoken out about the technique doctors resorted to in the hope they could save one twin when the first was born at only 24 weeks after she went into premature labor in february  she gave birth to premature alexandre, who was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit, as doctors kept ronaldo growing inside of his mother's womb during the unique technique  miraculously, both twins managed to survive and, despite one being nearly a month older than the other, are doing well  when potassium sulfate injections failed to stop pinheiro da silva's labor, doctors decided to go forward with a rare technique in which one baby is kept in the womb after its twin is born 'when you have a situation where one baby is born and labor stops, you are given this window of opportunity,' dr steven ralston, director of maternal fetal medicine at beth israel deaconess medical center, told the globe 'but it's a rare window most times, labor does not stop' thankfully, after alexandre was born at just 1 pound, 10 ounces, it did happen doctors stopped pinheiro da silva's labor and left the delivered child's umbilical cord and placenta inside her womb pinheiro da silva's first twin alexandre was born at just 24 weeks and weighed only 1 pound 10 ounces  as alexandre fought for his life, his brother ronaldo lived on in their mother's womb growing stronger ronaldo was born 24 days after his brother and weighed 3 pounds 3 ounces  'on the  second day after alexandre was born, his umbilical cord came out,' pinheiro da silva told abc her husband ronaldo 'saw it hanging' 'but they just cleaned it and put it back inside,' she said pinheiro da silva was given antibiotics to combat infection, which can be common  after the procedure however, unlike many mothers, da silva was  fortunate not to require her cervix to be stitched up to keep the baby  from coming for the following three weeks, she remained in the hospital, where she was able to visit alexandre in the neonatal unit then, 24 days after his brother was born, ronaldo came at a much more robust 3 pounds, 3 ounces 'they're my miracle babies,' said pinheiro da silva 'ronaldo because he stayed inside, and alexandre because he's a survivor' abc us news | abc celebrity news 
alexandre ronaldo antunes tufts medical center thursday lindalva pinheiro da silva 24 weeks tufts ronaldo de silva's pinheiro da silva
alexandre and ronaldo antunes, fraternal twins, celebrated their birthdays with family and staff at tufts medical center on thursday . mother, lindalva pinheiro da silva, was 24 weeks pregnant with the twins when she went into labor . doctors at tufts delivered premature alexandre and gave ronaldo a better chance at survival by keeping him in de silva's womb longer . pinheiro da silva and father ronaldo antunes, along with doctors, were happy to celebrate the boys birthdays after 'exceptionally rare' delivery 