In the realm strange tasks, it is difficult to overcome a scenario that could have come straight out of an episode of I didn’t know I was pregnant. But this deserves an honorable mention: a woman who conceived a child while she was already pregnant, only to give birth to “twins” with two separate maturities.
It’s the kind of thing you’re told just doesn’t happen, but it’s happened to 39-year-old Rebecca Roberts, who has been battling infertility for over a year before she finally became pregnant. She and her partner were happy at the first ultrasound meeting, but the second was unexpected. Washington Post rEPORTS that the English couple was shocked when the 12– weekly ultrasound programming showed that Roberts was carrying another child – less developed -.
From Washington Post, our emphasis:
But this was not a typical set of twins, Roberts learned. Her pregnancy was diagnosed as superfluity, a rare condition in which a woman who is already pregnant conceives another child.
Roberts’ pregnancy is one of the very few cases of superficiality recorded in the medical literature, said his obstetrician, David Walker.
Superfection is so unusual, in fact, that Walker struggled to diagnose it at first. In his 25 years as an obstetrician, it was something he had never seen before.
“It just doesn’t happen” Walker said more scans were needed before he could confidently diagnose the condition.
[…]
Usually, hormonal and physical changes during pregnancy prevent the emergence of another conception. That wasn’t the case with Roberts.
“Instead of stopping ovulation, she released another egg about three to four weeks after the first, and the egg somehow miraculously fertilized and implanted in her uterus,” Walker said.
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The extra baby was a welcome surprise, but the complications that came with it were not. Superfection is rare, and younger twins usually fail.
About 33 weeks after pregnancy, the umbilical cord for the younger twins did not work and a C-section was performed to prevent any other obstacles. So, on September 17, Roberts gave birth to Noah – the bigger and bigger twin – and Rosalie – the smaller, smaller, surprise twin. The twins were kept in a neonatal intensive care unit, Noah for three weeks, Rosalie for 95 days. But now the twins have been at home for several months and are happy and healthy.
And, yes, the age difference is obvious. See this recent Instagram post with twins:
As he told the couple Post:
“Even if they were born on the same day, there is certainly an age difference between them,” [Roberts] added. “It can be noted”.
Rosalie is still much younger and less advanced than her brother, “but she catches him fast,” he said. [Rhys] Weaver, a mortgage advisor.
Bodies, man.