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Double Trouble: Woman Gets Pregant While Already Pregnant
Forget what you learned in Sex-ed 101. Apparently you can indeed get pregnant while you are already knocked up. But it is something that is that’s rare. Freakishly rare.
A woman in Arkansas went into her doctors office for a routine ultrasound to check on her confirmed pregnancy. After finding the initial pregnancy – a girl – the doctors discovered another smaller fetus growing beside her – a boy.
Doctors are estimating that the boy – who they are calling Hudson – may have been conceived about two and half weeks after the initial impregnation. The second smaller baby was so much smaller than the larger one that they are assuming that they are different gestational ages.
The two babies will have different due dates and aren’t really twins, they just happen to be cohabitating mom’s womb at the same time. But confirmation of this medical miracle won’t be confirmed until after the babies are born and there can be chromosomal and metabolic studies.
Do you think the second is just a tiny twin or could actually have been conceived at a later date?
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[...] Double Trouble: Woman Gets Pregant While Already Pregnant [...]
Best of Strollerderby September 25, 2009 | Famecrawler commented on Sep 26 09 at 4:42 pmHeather commented on Sep 26 09 at 9:56 amComments
Seems possibly the second egg took longer to implant and get started, isn’t that possible? If the first swimmer met it’s egg immediately and the second took awhile, still two weeks is a much bigger difference than I thought possible.
Nicole commented on Sep 26 09 at 1:48 pmI kind of hate when the general public is asked things that they aren’t qualified to answer. What does it matter whether I “think” one or the other scenario happened? I have no clue about the medical details here, and neither does the huge majority of readers. Please don’t encourage me to weigh in when it would just add to the noise.
Larissa commented on Sep 26 09 at 3:52 pmHere here Nicole.
Ali commented on Sep 26 09 at 8:38 pmMost women ovulate more tahn once a month on occasion. That is one reason the rhythm method does not work. We have two ovaries, sometimes each ovary releases an egg around the same time. This is not taht rare. I know a woman who had boy/girl twins that were conceived on different dates. The girl was about 2 weeks behind the boy. Sperm cells can live for a long time in the fallopian tube. Kind of scary that most women are so ill informed about how their own reproductive sysems work they dont know that this can happen. Hey, Nicole, by commenting you just added to the noise.
Amanda commented on Sep 26 09 at 9:05 pmFreaky! And yeah, I agree with Ali, good job on not adding to the noise Nicole.
Catem commented on Sep 26 09 at 11:36 pmMy bet in Vegas would be that it’s a disappearing/smaller twin that wasn’t seen on the first u/s. Maybe a secondary late ovulation but the chemicals triggered by implantation might not allow another implantation (the window is fairly small). The other option is that she’s got an uterine abnormality like DES (synthetic estrogen) exposure can cause (bicornate, septum, etc) where one egg comes down one tube and into one side and the other into the other side. But so many weeks apart? Hmmm, I’m sticking with the twin vote. Hope they both stay healthy, bottom line!
Kae commented on Sep 27 09 at 10:16 amNicole – some people like a debate on things that they know nothing of (ok, make that most people). Why don’t you just….NOT COMMENT?
Black Sheep commented on Sep 27 09 at 1:22 pmI think they are still twins. It doesn’t matter when they were conceived-the twin-ness comes from sharing the womb. Just my opinion, as a mother of twins.
ChiLaura commented on Sep 27 09 at 3:48 pmGive Nicole a break; she’s right. If someone *does* actually know something about this, then please let us know (like Ali), but, really, people, take it easy.
I just want to know if this means that both babies *must* be born at the same time? I don’t know how it could be otherwise. I mean, the uterus isn’t going to take a 2 week break so baby 2 can finish cooking, right? I hope that the kid is healthy and that this woman isn’t induced on baby 1′s 40 week date. Oh, wait, since they are two, she’ll probably be forced to have a C-section anyway.
Nicole commented on Sep 28 09 at 6:58 amKae, I’d rather express my distaste at people being encouraged to comment on things they know nothing about rather than let it bug me in silence. You advocate censorship? And Ali, as for glibly accusing me of adding to the noise, I don’t agree. My hope was to encourage less “noise” (i.e. anti-intellectual “feelings” masquerading as facts, being treated as equally relevant. For example, I don’t care whether someone “feels” that global warming is happening or not — people are encouraged to believe that their feelings are as valid as decades of research. They’re not, and I think it’s dangerous to validate that impression.) This is why I don’t see my weighing in on the blogger’s request for us to weigh in (a discourse about which I think my opinion is as valid as anyone else’s — unlike my opinion on the twin-or-not question, about which I have no real clue) as contributing to the noise, no.
jch commented on Sep 28 09 at 9:45 amMy husband is a “twin” and his mom and her doctors are pretty sure that they were conceived in this sort of scenario. That was 37 years ago and there were not as many options to confirm that this was the case but everyone involved is pretty sure that 1 baby was conceived, mom still ovulated and conceived another baby the next month (or two months)
HLC commented on Sep 28 09 at 5:04 pmI went to school with “twins” that were conceived approx 4wks apart. This was in the 70′s. Their mom had been taking some kind of fertility med. and.. I guess it happened sometime. I think it might be more common than we know, that fraternal twins are conceived a few days or even a week or more apart. How often do people have those early on ultrasounds? I personally don’t know anyone “in real life” that has had one before 12wks…. most it’s around 18wks. by then twins are often/usually different sizes.
maeby commented on Sep 28 09 at 5:17 pmmaybe its just a little person
Em commented on Sep 28 09 at 9:34 pmHLC – I had ultrasounds at 6 and 8 weeks to try to date the pregnancy.
nutterbutter commented on Sep 28 09 at 9:58 pmComments HLC, those “early on” ultrasounds? They happen all the time when you are doing IVF. I conceived my first using clomid and had an early ultrasound back in 1998, I must have been 6 weeks. I am sure with my triplets it was probably within 2 weeks of the transfer. I don’t think I was any different to all the other mothers rec fertility treatment.
Maverick commented on Sep 29 09 at 7:00 amEver read East of Eden? Two babies conceived by different fathers and born at the same time is a major plot device in that story. So maybe this isn’t so rare, after all.
mommiedear commented on Sep 29 09 at 9:41 amWow! What else is left to happen now? I couldn’t believe the story when I read it but it is possible I suppose and if it is possible it will happen. On http://www.truuconfessions.com moms have confessed to many things like this.
Romase commented on Oct 03 09 at 9:12 pmsite best
Princess_Ariel commented on Dec 24 09 at 1:46 amCommentsAmong dizygotic twins, in rare cases, the eggs are fertilized at different times with two or more acts of sexual intercourse, either within one menstrual cycle (superfecundation) or, even more rarely, later on in the pregnancy (superfetation). This can lead to the possibility of a woman carrying fraternal twins with different fathers (that is, half-siblings). This phenomenon is known as heteropaternal superfecundation. One 1992 study estimates that the frequency of heteropaternal superfecundation among dizygotic twins whose parents were involved in paternity suits was approximately 2.4%
Superfecundation most commonly happens within hours or days of the first instance of fertilization with ova released during the same cycle. There is a small time window when eggs are able to be fertilized. Sperm cells can live inside a woman’s body for 4–5 days. Once ovulation occurs, the egg remains viable for 12–48 hours before it begins to disintegrate. Thus, the fertile period can span 5–7 days. Ovulation is usually suspended during pregnancy to prevent further ova becoming fertilized and to help increase the chances of a full term pregnancy. However, if an ovum is released after the female was already impregnated when previously ovulating, there is a chance of a second pregnancy—albeit at a different stage of development. This is known as superfetation.
Zoe commented on Feb 02 10 at 5:45 pmwow Im so relieved at finding a similar story. I became pregnant and after a blee dwas scanned at Hospital I was aprox 4 weeks pregnant but my AFP levels were high so the scan went ahead 2 sacs were found but one heart beat, they thought they had begun as twins but one had not made it. I returned for a re-scan on the 26 th and 2 sacs and 2 heart beats were detected one baby measured at 9 weeks and is progreesing well. The second baby (tiny in comparison) was so small the sonographer had trouble getting anything substantial enough to measure the age. My midwife read my scan reports and told me the second baby is thought to be only 6 weeks, that 3 weeks differance. I have another scan in one week an hope that second baby is grwing and developing well. Im so releived as no one has explaine this to me? I googled differant aged twins found the terms “superfecundation” and “superfetation! and this article? My twins have the same father, I didnt even think I could have children? lol
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