¡¡¡¡HARBIN, Nov. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A 25-year-old Chinese peasant woman with two wombs has become the proud mother of a pair of baby girlsafter 39 weeks of pregnancy in both wombs.

¡¡¡¡Her babies, slightly underweight at 2.3 kg and 2 kg, were born on Nov. 1 after a 45-minute Caesarean section at a maternity hospital in Mudanjiang City in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.

¡¡¡¡Unlike identical twins which are conceived from the same egg, the two sisters are the products of two different eggs, similar tofraternal twins, and may not grow up to be very much alike, doctors predict.

¡¡¡¡Obstetricians at the hospital where the babies were born, said they noticed major differences in the sisters' features shortly after they were born.

¡¡¡¡The mother has a pair of vaginas and wombs by genetic inheritance. She was put under special care before the operation, as the dual delivery could easily have caused damage to the wombs,hemorrhaging or high blood pressure, said Zou Danfeng, the obstetrician who helped the mother through her delivery.

¡¡¡¡Zou said the mother had fully recovered from the operation and was now at home with the babies, but did not give the woman's name.

¡¡¡¡Experts say about one out of a thousand women have two wombs, most of whom are more likely to have miscarriages or premature babies and only one out of a million can have two babies deliveredfull term.

¡¡¡¡By the end of 2000, six two-wombed mothers in China had delivered twin babies, according to Shang Zhifan, head of the Mudanjiang maternity hospital. Enditem