A set of twins born 87 days apart in Waterford, Ireland have set a record for the longest interval between their births.

Daily Mirror reports that twins Amy and Katie were born almost 3 months apart. Though they are healthy now, the twins had a rocky start in life as their mother Maria Jones-Elliot and Chris Elliot explains.

"The doctors told me there was very little hope of them surviving as they were so premature," Maria told the Mirror.

Maria's water broke when she was just 23 weeks into her pregnancy.

One twin was born four months premature, on June 1, 2012. Amy weighed just over a pound. "Amy was fighting for her life in an incubator and Katie was struggling to survive in my womb," Jones-Elliott told the Mirror. "After hours, Chris and I said, 'Enough is enough. Let nature take its course.' It was the hardest three months of our lives."

Maria described the period between her twins' births: "Amy was fighting for life in an incubator and Katie was struggling to survive in my womb. It was the hardest three months of our lives. But Chris kept saying, 'Where there's life there's hope.'"

Three months later after Amy's birth, Katie, arrived after doctors induced her mother on Aug. 27. at week 36. She weighed 5lbs 10oz.

Two hours after the birth of Katie, they put her in the incubator with Amy, reuniting the twins.

"The nurse took Katie and put her in the incubator, facing her sister as they slept and Amy immediately smiled. There was no doubt that they recognised each other."

Maria and Chris registered their daughters' birth soon after. Their birth certificates say: "Amy Elliott, Twin One, date of birth 1 June and Katie Elliott, Twin Two, date of birth 27 August."

The previous record-holder for "the longest interval between the birth of twins" was Peggy Lynn, whose twins arrived 84 days apart.