39-year-old mom Rebecca Roberts and 43-year-old dad Rhys Weaver were excited as they wait for their firstborn child named Noah. Ten weeks into Rebecca’s pregnancy, the couple have seen snippets of Noah’s first close up photos.
But they were all surprised when after three months, Noah had a company inside Rebecca’s womb.
An ultrasound taken at week 12 showed that Noah had an unexpected little sister — fraternal twin Rosalie.
“I got pregnant whilst I was already pregnant, which was absolutely crazy … because that’s not supposed to happen,” Rebecca said in a CNN report.
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What happened was called superfetation. It is when a woman gets pregnant while carrying a baby. It is so rare that based on a 2008 report, there are only 10 recorded cases in the world.
Doctors told Rebecca that the babies were conceived 3 weeks apart.
“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,” she said.
“I couldn’t believe it had happened to me. But it did — it’s lovely. It’s like winning the lottery,” she added.
Rhys also felt the same joy of having two babies born at the same time.
“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,” he said.
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In the same report, superfetations rarely occur because the woman typically ovulates only once per cycle.
“If a woman has twins two eggs are released at the same time. And in the unusual case of triplets, those eggs are all released with one ovulation,” Atlanta gynecologist Dr. Lillian Schapiro told CNN.
Twins happen when the egg splits into two during ovulation. In Rebecca’s case, one egg has been fertilized and then she ovulated again which was also fertilized.
“Another egg was also fertilized — became another embryo — and at different times both embryos implanted in the uterus,” the doctor said.
“We have almost never seen where two embryos start developing at different times. That is just nothing short of amazing,” the doctor explained the rarity of the event.
The babies were delivered through cesarean operation. They also spent time in two different intensive care units.
Now the two are both seven months old and started talking to each other.
“They’re both talking, which is really really sweet. It’s lovely. They interact with each other really, really well. It’s beautiful to watch,” said Rebecca. (TDT0
