This woman discovered her twins have different fathers: What is Heteropaternal Superfecundation?

Babies are the joy of life, so naturally, every parent is ecstatic when they finally get to meet their newborn child. The same was the case with this 19-year-old woman who was prepared to welcome, not one, but two babies. However, what she didn’t prepare for was the unexpected surprise that she would receive after her twins were born.

Unexpected DNA revelation

As reported by Express a woman gave birth to twins but didn’t suspect anything was wrong. However, 8-months after their birth the woman was asked, by the ‘father’ of the kids to perform a DNA test on the children. Upon the arrival of the results of the test, this woman’s whole life turned upside down.

The results showed that the ‘father’ was biologically related to only one of the babies. Leaving the identity of the other baby’s dad a mystery. The woman later revealed that on the day the twins were conceived, she had sex with two different men. According to the Daily Record, she said:

I remembered that I had had sex with another man and called him to take the test, which was positive.

However, the twins have only one of the fathers, registered on their birth certificate. The rare phenomenon that this woman experienced is called heteropaternal superfecundation.

Understanding Heteropaternal Superfecundation

As evidently proven by the case of this woman, it is possible to have twins with different fathers, especially if the mother had sex with two different men within short intervals of time. This condition is so rare that only 20 cases have been known so far, from all over the world.

As per Daily Record, an expert elaborated:

Two eggs from the same mother are fertilized by different men. The babies share the mother's genetic material, but they grow in different placentas

The woman’s pregnancy was completed without any hitch. However, the doctor recently decided to come out with the story, now that the twins are over a year old.

Read more:

⋙ This couple had biracial twins twice in a row, and entered the Guinness World Records

⋙ This woman gave birth to twin girls who were born in different years

Sources:

Express: Woman gives birth to twins with different dads after having sex with both on same day

Daily Record: Woman gives birth to twins with different dads after having sex with two men on same day