In the UK, a mother gave birth to twins. Nothing too surprising so far. Nevertheless, the fact is that these two children born on the same day were conceived three weeks apart. This extremely rare phenomenon has a name:"superfetation".
Lately, we were talking about the fact that there have never been so many births of twins as today. Indeed, the global twin birth rate has increased by a third since the 1980s. Nevertheless, this type of birth sometimes reveals very rare phenomena, the latest reported by the American daily ABC News on April 1, 2021. The media mentioned the birth of "super-twins" , namely a girl and a boy born on the same day but conceived three weeks apart.
Rebecca Roberts and Rhys Weaver – her partner – had been trying to have a child for years. After undergoing treatment, Rebecca (39) finally got pregnant over the past year. No problem on the horizon but after twelve weeks of pregnancy and the third ultrasound, the doctors discovered the presence of another baby . However, the difference in growth with the first child was about three weeks.
Gynecologist David Walker of the Royal United Hospital in Bath (UK) described his first reaction to the sight of the second child. He said he wondered how he could have missed it.
This case is superfluity, a extremely rare phenomenon that is diagnosed when a second pregnancy occurs while a first is already in progress. The eggs were released at two different times, before being fertilized and then implanted in the uterus. Moreover, this phenomenon is so rare that the number of cases is not even listed!
Over time, the pregnancy became more and more difficult for the mother. Thus, the doctors triggered the delivery at the 33rd week, 6 weeks earlier than usual. The fact is that the younger of the two children had stopped developing due to a serious problem with the umbilical cord.
The first child Noah weighed 1.86 kg at birth, and little Rosalie, only 1.2 kg . Doctors quickly placed both babies in a neonatal intensive care unit. Noah will have stayed there for three weeks, and Rosalie about three months . Finally, the whole little family was able to get together for the 2020 Christmas holidays, and everyone is fine.
