Daily US Times: Baby Noah was all alone at first, growing beatifically in his mother’s womb. But Surprise had been waiting for Noah’s mom as she conceives after a year of trying.
Noah’s first close-ups, taken by ultrasound at seven and ten weeks into the pregnancy, showed mom Rebecca Roberts (39) and dad Rhys Weaver (43) the baby they had tried for more than a year to conceive.
At three months into the pregnancy, baby Noah suddenly had company.
An ultrasound taken at week 12 of pregnancy showed that Noah had an unexpected little sister — fraternal twin Rosalie.
Rebecca said: “I got pregnant whilst I was already pregnant, which was absolutely crazy … because that’s not supposed to happen,”
Getting pregnant while already pregnant is so rare that one 2008 study found fewer than 10 recorded cases in the world. This is called a superfetation.
Rebecca said that doctors told that she actually conceives the second child about three weeks apart.
She said: “They realized that the baby was growing at a consistent rate of three weeks behind the first one, and it was then that they said to me, they think this is a superfetation pregnancy.”
“I couldn’t believe it had happened to me,” the new mom added with a laugh, adding that “But it did — it’s lovely. It’s like winning the lottery.”
“I was elated to be having one child, but even more so for twins. The job is done in one go! And then Rebecca did some research, and we realized how unique and how lucky we were,” Dad Rhys Weaver felt the same.
Atlanta gynecologist Dr. Lillian Schapiro said superfetations are rare for a variety of reasons.
First, women typically ovulate only once per cycle, releasing one or more eggs simultaneously. If fertilization by the man’s sperm is successful, the egg or eggs then implant in the uterus, the pregnancy begins and no further ovulation occurs.
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