In the most unique cases, it is possible to get pregnant when you’re already pregnant. Don’t believe us? It happened to this woman, and here is her story!
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Rebecca Roberts and Rhys Weaver had been trying to conceive for years. With the help of fertility medication, their dreams finally came true and Rebecca got pregnant with her first child. Everything was going according to plan, until their 12-week ultrasound appointment.
Superfetation twins
When the couplewent in for their regular ultrasound scan, someone new had appeared in her belly. Someone who wasn’t there in the earlier appointments. During an interview, Roberts retold the story:
It was really, really shocking to be told there were two babies instead of one. Then they told me there was a three-week size difference between the two babies that the doctors couldn’t understand.
So, how is this possible?
Normally women do not ovulate when they are pregnant because the mucus plug, embryo linings and hormones are all working together to stop ovulation. However, what happens when those automatic reproductive defences do not function properly? Women can continue to ovulate. So, if a woman is having sex during pregnancy and she is ovulating at the same time, that can lead to a pregnancy within an existing pregnancy. Roberts’ obstetrician, Dr. David Walker explained:
Instead of stopping ovulation, she released another egg about three or four weeks after the first one, and the egg somehow miraculously managed to fertilize and implant in her uterus.
Additionally, despite the fact that the eggs were fertilized at different times, they still develop together in the womb, and hence are born at the same time—just like twins.
The chances of this happening are incredibly minuscule, but not impossible. Till date, there are only a handful of known superfetation twins in the world, including Roberts' babies.
Rebecca Roberts gave birth to her ‘super twins’ in September 2020, and she has been sharing her story with the world on Instagram.
