A couple from Wiltshire, England witnessed a rather unique pregnancy when Rebecca Roberts and Rhys Weaver gave birth to twins conceived three weeks apart.
A normal pregnancy turned into a shocking surprise when the couple in their 12 week ultrasound appointment fond out they are having twins, one of whom was considerably less developed than the other.
In the first ultrasound check up the couple and the doctor saw just one healthy baby fetus but in the next routine checkup, they found that Robert was suddenly carrying two babies. After a lot of scans and check-ups her pregnancy was diagnosed as superfetation, a rare condition in which a woman who is already pregnant conceives another baby.
Their doctor, David Walker raised his concerns as superfetation is so uncommon and also as one of the twin was three weeks smaller.
The reason why this miracle occurred to Robert could be hormonal and physical changes during pregnancy which actually prevent another conception from occurring. But that wasn’t the case for Roberts. “Instead of stopping ovulation, she released another egg about three or four weeks after the first one, and the egg somehow miraculously managed to fertilize and implant in her uterus,” Walker said to Washington post.
Although Robert’s children had different due dates, she had a C-section and gave birth to both babies on September 17 as the smaller fetus growth started showing complications. The babies, a boy – Noah and a girl – Rosalie were kept under observation in the neonatal intensive care unit. Noah remained in the hospital for over three weeks, while Rosalie stayed for 95 days.
The actual number of superfetation cases is not exactly known, but according to a report published in 2008 in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, fewer than ten instances of the phenomenon worldwide had been recorded at the time.