She experienced a phenomenon called superfetation, which is extremely rare. Rebecca Roberts was 12 weeks pregnant and at her third scan when suddenly the ultrasound technician went quiet.“I thought something awful had happened, It was something incredible.” Roberts, 39 saidRoberts had become pregnant while she was already pregnant. Their babies were conceived three weeks apart. It’s a phenomenon called superfetation, and it’s extremely rare. According to Dr. Lisa Thiel, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Spectrum Health in Michigan, there are only a few confirmed cases.
Superfetation is when a second pregnancy implants a few days or weeks after an initial pregnancy occurs. A new egg is fertilized by a new sperm the reason this is so rare is because hormones are released by the woman’s body to prevent further ovulation and a thick mucous is created at the cervix to prevent any further sperm from entering the uterus at that time. Superfetation has been mostly seen in women who had IVF.“When one fetus is conceived by IVF, and then a month later, a second fetus appears, doctors know that the embryo appeared after a natural cycleWith a spontaneous pregnancy, it’s a little trickier to confirm. But it can happen.”Roman explainedRoberts recalled her own shock at learning she was expecting not just one, but two babies.
Had they somehow missed a second heartbeat in an earlier scan? She couldn’t believe it. She was shaking so hard they had to lead her down the hall.She told about her pregnant Journeys.” It was real, really real. Nothing was comfortable any more! Sleeping, standing, sitting, ahhhh couldn’t even do that without aching. Even eating, one of my favourite things in life was food and I hurt so much after foodbeing on all fours offers some relief, there’s only so long you can drop to the floor and do that though. Got to get back up again. Itchy skin, is an everyday thing.
Slap on the moisturiser and let the air get to my stomach was all I could do for relief.”On 17th September 2020 she had a c-section, I was 33+6 and my beautiful babies were born. Twin 1: baby boy ,Noah, 4lb 10oz. Twin 2: baby girl Rosalie, 2lb 7oz. Rosalie was considerably smaller than Noah, not only was she 3 weeks younger than him, her umbilical stopped working properly and she didn’t grow much for about a month before they were born. She looked extremely premature and spent the first 2 weeks of her life in a special baby hospital as she had gotten into a bit of trouble.
Because Rosalie being younger than Noah was so rare, they need to rule other things out that could be the reason she was always 3 weeks behind him in size. They had run genetic tests. Rosalie was clear of any abnormalities so that put that straight. The twin specialist is still convinced she was conceived later and these babies really are miracles.
When they were 3 weeks old Noah came home from the NICU. Rosalie spent a total of 95 days in NICU and made it home a few day’s before Christmas.When they were 6-month-old siblings are inseparable. “They have such a special bond. It’s not that they just lay together — they hold hands. They’ll reach out and touch each others faces,” Roberts said. Now at nearly 2 years old, and they are brother and sister of a baby boy George more than 8 months.
