Noah’s first close-ups, taken with ultrasound at seven and 10 weeks of pregnancy, were shown to 39-year-old mother Rebecca Roberts and 43-year-old father Rhys Weaver. they had been trying to conceive it for more than a year.
Then, three months pregnant, Noah suddenly had company.
An ultrasound performed in week 12 showed that Noah had an unexpected little sister – Rosalie’s twin sister.
“I got pregnant while I was already pregnant, which was absolutely crazy … because that shouldn’t happen,” Rebecca said.
Doctors told the couple that the babies were actually conceived three weeks apart, Rebecca said.
“They realized that the baby was growing at a constant rate three weeks ago compared to the first and then they told me, I think it’s a superfluous task, “she said.
“I couldn’t believe it happened to me,” Rebecca added with a laugh. “But he did – it’s great. It’s like winning the lottery.”
Dad felt the same way: “I was thrilled to have one child, but even more so for the twins. The work is done all at once! And then Rebecca did some research and we realized how unique and how much I was lucky. “
An incredibly rare event
Superfacials are rare for several reasons, said Atlanta gynecologist Dr. Lillian Schapiro.
First, women usually ovulate once per cycle, releasing one or more eggs simultaneously. If the fertilization with the man’s sperm is successful, the egg or eggs are then implanted in the uterus, the pregnancy begins and no more ovulation occurs.
“If a woman has twins,” Schapiro said, “two eggs are released at the same time. And in the unusual case of triplets, those eggs are released with a single ovulation.” Identical twins happen if a freshly fertilized egg separates.
In Rebecca’s case, the egg was fertilized and implanted during the first ovulation and “somehow ovulated again during the same cycle,” Schapiro explained. “Another egg was also fertilized – it became another embryo – and at different times both embryos implanted in the uterus.”
Another reason why superficialities are exceptional, Schapiro said, is that once pregnancy begins, the uterus is no longer a hospitable place for implantation. This means that the second embryo “must have managed to implant and grow at a stage where we would not have thought it could grow.”
“I’ve almost never seen two embryos begin to develop at different times,” Schapiro said. “That’s just amazing.”
Rebecca had just taken a dose of fertility drugs designed to stimulate ovulation before conceiving Noah. While this may be one of the reasons for this rare occurrence, Rebecca said, it could also be just a “medical miracle.”
“Small, small child”
At first, Rebecca and Rhys were worried about baby Rosalie’s development in the womb, worried that being so far behind her older brother could affect her health at birth.
“It could go either way,” Rebecca said. “Because the baby is much smaller, there may be something wrong with it and it may not survive.. This is usually the case.
“But they said this baby is actually growing constantly,” she said. “It was a relief. It was a great relief.”
Born by caesarean section in September 2020, both children had to spend time in separate neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Rosalie, who was born at a low of 2 pounds, 7 ounces, was sent to a NICU specialty unit about 15 minutes away from NICU who took care of Noah, who was born at 4 pounds, 10 ounces.
“It was a small, tiny baby that only fit in our hands, and even though it was small, you could see it was a much bigger baby,” Rebecca said.
“It was very difficult. We had a major operation and then our babies were in two separate hospitals,” she said. “So it was hard work to travel between the two of us.”
Noah managed to come home in three weeks, but little Rosalie stayed in intensive care for 95 days, coming home just before Christmas.
Today, at almost 7 months old, Noah is still in front of Rosalie, but Rhys said, “He’s a little soldier. He has his own personality, but I have no real worries at all.”
Noah rolled over and “is actually showing signs of trying to crawl, so he might be leaving soon, which will be fun,” Rebecca added.
CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen and Justin Lape contributed to this story.