Surprise pregnancy: woman conceives second baby while pregnant

Woman gets pregnant while already pregnant 1:26

(CNN) -

At first Noah was alone, growing well in his mother's womb.

The first images of Noah were captured by ultrasound between 7 and 10 weeks into the pregnancy, and showed Rebecca Roberts, 39, and Rhys Weaver, 43, the baby they had been trying to conceive for more than a year.

Then, at three months pregnant, Noah had company.

An ultrasound taken at week 12 showed that Noah had an unexpected little sister, his fraternal twin, Rosalie.

“I got pregnant when I was already pregnant, which was crazy… because that's not supposed to happen,” Rebecca said.

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Rosalie joined her fraternal twin Noah three weeks after her brother's conception.

It is called superfetation when a second baby is conceived while already pregnant and it is such a rare condition that a study conducted in 2008 found that there are fewer than 10 registered cases worldwide.

Doctors told the couple that the babies were conceived three weeks apart, Rebecca said.

"They realized that the baby was growing at a constant rate of three weeks less than the first, and that was when they told me that they believed it was a superfection pregnancy," he said.

"I couldn't believe it had happened to me," Rebecca added with a smile.

“But it happened, it's lovely.

It's like winning the lottery. "

The father felt the same: “I was happy to have a son, but even more so for the twins.

The job is done at once!

And then Rebecca did a little research and we realized how unique and lucky we were. "

An incredibly rare event

Superfetations are rare for a variety of reasons, noted Atlanta, Georgia-based gynecologist Dr. Lillian Schapiro.

First, women generally ovulate only once per cycle, releasing one or more eggs simultaneously.

If fertilization by the man's sperm is successful, the egg or eggs implant in the uterus, pregnancy begins, and no further ovulation occurs.

Conceived when Rebecca was already pregnant, little Rosalie is a "medical marvel."

“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 all released in a single ovulation. "

Identical twins occur when a single fertilized egg divides.

In Rebecca's case, the egg was fertilized and implanted during the first ovulation, and "somehow, she ovulated again during that same cycle," Schapiro explained.

"Another egg was also fertilized - it became another embryo - and both embryos implanted in the uterus at different times."

Another reason superfetations are rare, Schapiro said, is because once pregnancy begins, the uterus is no longer a hospitable site for implantation.

That means that the second embryo "managed to implant and grow at a stage where we would not have thought it could."

"We have almost never seen two embryos begin to develop at different times," Schapiro said.

"That is nothing short of amazing."

Before conceiving Noah, Rebecca had just taken a dose of fertility drugs designed to stimulate ovulation.

While that may be one reason for this rare event, Rebecca noted, it could also simply be a "medical marvel."

"Tiny, tiny baby"

At first, Rebecca and Rhys were concerned about the development of baby Rosalie in the womb, as they were concerned that being behind her brother could affect her health at birth.

"It could be either way," Rebecca said.

“Because the baby is so much smaller, he may have a problem and may not survive.

That is usually the case.

However, they said that this baby is constantly growing, ”he commented.

"It was a relief.

It was a great relief. "

Born by cesarean section in September 2020, both babies had to spend separate time inside neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

Rosalie, who was born weighing 1.1 kg, was sent to a specialized NICU 15 minutes away from the NICU where Noah was, who was born weighing 2.09 kg.

“She was a tiny, tiny baby that could fit in our hands, and even though he [Noah] was small you could see that he was a much bigger baby,” Rebecca said.

"It was very difficult.

I had a major operation and then our babies were also taken to two different hospitals, ”he said.

"So it was very difficult to have to be traveling between the two of them."

At birth, Noah was twice the size of his little sister.

Noah was able to go home in three weeks, but little Rosalie was in intensive care for 95 days, and she managed to get home just before Christmas.

Today, at almost 7 months old, Noah is still ahead of Rosalie, but Rhys commented that “She is a little soldier.

It has its own personality, and I have no real concern. "

Noah can roll now and "he's actually showing signs of crawling, so he might start soon which will be fun," added Rebecca.

“They're both talking, which is really sweet because they talk to each other.

It is lovely.

They get along very well with each other, very very well.

It is beautiful to see them ”.

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