Miracle Birth -- Super Twins

 

Are you looking for a miracle? You stopped at the right place. Let me tell you about an occurrence that is miraculous and documented as true.

“Rebecca Roberts, 39, and her partner, Rhys Weaver, tried for several years to get pregnant with their first child together. The couple was then thrilled last year when they learned that Roberts, after being put on medication, was expecting.”

Wait, there's more … much more.

“When Roberts had her third ultrasound at 12 weeks pregnant, she said her thrill turned to shock when doctors discovered a second baby. She was stunned when she found out she was having twins as two earlier scans showed no hint of a second fetus.”

And, this wasn't a hidden child or a simple medical error.

“Roberts' pregnancy was diagnosed as superfetation, a phenomenon where a second, new pregnancy occurs during an initial pregnancy. In order for it to happen, eggs are released from the ovary on two separate occasions. 'They fertilize and then implant into the uterus,' according to Roberts' doctor, David Walker, an OBGYN at Royal United Hospital in Bath.”

(Katie Kindelanvia. “Mom gives birth to rare 'super twins' born on same day but conceived 3 weeks apart.” https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Wellness/mom-birth-rare-super-twins-born-day-conceived/story?id=76772681. ABC News. April 1, 2021.)

"It was really, really shocking to be told there were two babies instead of one," Roberts, 39, of Wiltshire, England, told "Good Morning America." "Then they told me there was a three-week size difference between the two babies that the doctors couldn’t understand."

Weaver and Roberts conceived her twins – daughter, Rosalie and son, Noah – three weeks apart. They have been told a fertility drug she was taking may have caused her to release an egg while already pregnant. Extremely rare, superfetation is thought to affect around 0.3% of women – the actual number of times it has happened is unknown. Only about a dozen such cases are documented worldwide. Often the second baby dies during pregnancy and only one of the babies is born.

The couple were told by doctors that their younger twin, a daughter they named Rosalie, may not survive. Roberts said ...

"What came after getting pregnant was just such incredible hard work … It was quite scary. With twins it’s scary already and then because of my age and the fact that they were conceived at different points, and then we were told that all the odds were against Rosalie."

But then, against all odds, the miracle continued.

When Roberts was 33 weeks pregnant, doctors induced labor because Rosalie had stopped growing properly due to a problem with her umbilical cord.

Rebecca Roberts gave birth successfully last September to a son, Noah, who weighed 4 pounds, 10 ounces, and Rosalie, who weighed just 2 pounds, 7 ounces. The older twin measured three weeks older than the younger twin, believed to be one of the biggest age differences among known superfetation twins.

Rosalie spent the next 95 days in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU), while her brother Noah spent just over three weeks at a different NICU.

The family was finally reunited just before Christmas, when Rosalie came home. The twins are doing well.

"They're my super twins," said Roberts. Every day I look at them and think, ‘Wow, I’m so lucky.’"

Roberts said she sees an incredible bond already between Noah and Rosalie, who is growing and catching up to her brother in size.

(Katie Kindelanvia. “Mom gives birth to rare 'super twins' born on same day but conceived 3 weeks apart.” ABC News. April 1, 2021.)

Superfetation

Superfetation is common in other animal species like fish, hares, and badgers. Its likelihood of occurring in humans is controversial. It’s considered extremely rare.

It is documented that a normal ovulatory response can result in following cycles of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation even if an early pregnancy is present.

(Dmowski, P.W., DeOria, L. & Rana, N. Embryo implantation during menstruation in the absence of adequate estradiol and progesterone support, with subsequent normal response to ovulation induction and superfetation.” Fertility and Sterility 68:3, 538-541. 1997.)

For this to happen successfully, three very unlikely events need to take place:

1. Ovulation (release of on ovum by an ovary) during an ongoing pregnancy. This is incredibly unlikely because hormones released during pregnancy function to prevent further ovulation.

2. The second ovum must be fertilized by a sperm cell. This is also unlikely because once a woman is pregnant, their cervix forms a mucus plug that blocks the passage of sperm. This mucus plug is the result of elevations of hormones produced in pregnancy.

3. The fertilized egg needs to implant in an already pregnant womb. This would be difficult because implantation requires the release of certain hormones that wouldn’t be released if a woman were already pregnant. There is also the issue of having enough space for another embryo.

The chances of these three unlikely events occurring simultaneously seem nearly impossible. This is why, of the few cases of potential superfetation reported in the medical literature, most have been in women undergoing fertility treatments.