In the field of freaky pregnancies, it is difficult to create a scenario that is directly from an episode of I did not know I was pregnant. But this one deserves an honorable mention: a woman who gave birth to a baby while she was already pregnant, only to bring the “twins” into the world with two separate payment dates.
This is the kind of thing that is told to you, simply does not happen, but it did happen to 39-year-old Rebecca Roberts, who struggled with infertility for more than a year before she finally became pregnant. She and her partner were delighted with the first ultrasound appointment, but the second was unexpected. The Washington Post reports that the English couple was shocked when the 12weekly ultrasound appointment showed Roberts carrying another – less developed – baby.
Of the Washington Post, emphasizes ours:
But it was not a typical set of twins, Roberts learned. Her pregnancy was diagnosed as superfetition, a rare condition in which a woman who is already pregnant has another baby.
Her obstetrician, David Walker, said Roberts’ pregnancy was one of very few cases of superfetition recorded in the medical literature.
Superfetition is actually so uncommon that Walker first struggled to diagnose it. In his 25 years as a midwife, it was something he had never seen before.
“It just does not happen,” Walker said, adding that it took several scans before he could diagnose the condition with confidence.
[…]
Usually hormonal and physical changes during pregnancy prevent a different conception. That was not the case for Roberts.
“Instead of stopping ovulation, she released another egg about three or four weeks after the first one, and the egg miraculously managed to fertilize and implant in her womb,” she said. Walker said.
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The extra baby was a welcome surprise, but the complications that came with it were not. Superfetition is rare, and the younger twins usually do not catch it.
About 33 weeks after pregnancy, the umbilical cord does not work for the younger twins and a C-section was performed to prevent further obstructions. So on September 17, Roberts gave birth to Noah – the older, bigger twin – and Rosalie – the younger, smaller, surprising twin. The twins were detained for three days in a neonatal intensive care unit, Noah, for 95 days. But now the twins have been home for a few months and they are happy and healthy.
And yes, the age difference is clear. Check out this recent Instagram post with the twins:
As the couple the Post:
“Although they were born on the same day, there is definitely an age difference between them,” [Roberts] added. “This is remarkable.”
Rosalie is still much smaller and less advanced than her brother, “but she catches up with him quickly,” he said. [Rhys] Weaver, a mortgage adviser.
Body, man.