'Super fertile' woman gets pregnant twice in 28 days, delivers both babies on same day
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Superfetation is the term used to describe the simultaneous occurrence of two pregnancies. Days or weeks after the first ovum (egg) is implanted in the womb, a second ovum (egg) is fertilised by sperm.
A "super-fertile" mother gavebirth to her second child just four weeks after her first, and she didn't realise it until the babies were born.Sophie Small, 30, gave birth to daughters Holly and Darcy in August 2020, mistaking the girls for twins at first.
Midwives were puzzled by the twins' disparities in size, with Darcy weighing 4 pounds, 2 ounces and Holly, who was delivered second, weighing a significantly heftier 6 pounds, 1 ounce, reported the New York Post.
Doctors then discovered that the daughters were conceived a month apart owing to superfetation, a condition in which a second pregnancy develops soon after the first.
Small, one of a few women who have experienced the phenomena, told Kennedy News that her pregnancy was "horrific."
She had severe morning sickness and was hospitalised eight times in seven weeks.
I was carrying two babies who were growing at different stages, but we didnt know that, the mom stated.
They couldnt work out why I was so sick. I was expecting twins but one was bigger than the other, she added.
They had their own sacs and placentas, so they could feed when they wanted to.But they [doctors] couldnt work out why one twin was bigger than the other,she further explained.
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Only after the girls were delivered at such disparities in size did doctors conduct testing and find that the kids were not twins at all.
Darcy was a 32-week baby and Holly was a 36-week baby, Small said.
The swimming instructor from the United Kingdom, who is also a mother to Oscar, says sceptics simply don't believe her when she tells them the unbelievable story.
People think Im a nutter [crazy] when I explain, she declared.
They ask how many minutes apart they are, and I say, Darcy is two minutes older and four weeks younger, while Holly was born two minutes after but is four weeks older.
Small claims she knew she was "very fertile" since Oscar was conceived so quickly, and she believes she ovulated again when she was already pregnant with Holly.
What is superfetation?
Superfetation is the term used to describe the simultaneous occurrence of two pregnancies. Days or weeks after the first ovum (egg) is implanted in the womb, a second ovum (egg) is fertilised by sperm. Given that they may be delivered on the same day and during the same labour, babies born through superfetation are frequently thought of as twins, according to
Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 4:14 am