A surrogate mother thought she gave birth to twins-but it turns out the boy's half-sister. Here's how a very rare phenomenon can happen.
Most people are familiar with the basics of how a woman: an egg is released from the ovary; the sperm fertilizes the egg; the fertilized egg attaches to the uterine wall, where he eventually becomes a fetus. But what if the process happens a second time, after the egg has been implanted in the womb?
This is what happened to Jessica Allen 31 years of Perris, California. In December 2016, Allen gave birth to what he thought the twins while for some Chinese. The babies were quickly delivered to their legal parents after birth, but when Allen saw their pictures that night, he saw they have a different skin color.
Sure enough, DNA tests revealed the baby who are not twins, but the half-brother. One of the boys was the biological son of Allen and her husband, Jasper Wardell
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Known superfetation, this phenomenon is known to occur in. But it is very unusual in humans. "It's very rare, and there are not many reports about this," said Christine Greves, MD, an ob-gyn in Orlando, Florida. "It's very rare, in fact, that I could not even provide statistics on it."
That's because once a woman is pregnant, the changes in her hormone normally prevent her from continuing to ovulation, Dr. Greves explained. But if a woman does not ovulate again-and if the eggs be fertilized and implanted in her womb, she can carry a multiple pregnancy.
The reason why a woman may ovulate while she was pregnant is not well studied. "It's hard to find literature on this topic is poorly understood and mystical," says Sherry Ross, MD, an ob-gyn in Santa Monica, California. "Superfetation contrary to what we know medically about getting pregnant spontaneously. The truth is that not all medical phenomena have a logical explanation."
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In short, it was very difficult. "Superfetation controversial and difficult to prove," said Dr Michel.
He cites a previous case report in which doctors identify four weeks of awkwardness between the two fetuses. In other words, the fetus appears four weeks older than the others, which suggest pregnancy superfetation. "It will go with the fact that ovulation can occur every 28 days," he explained. But the fetus seems to have a different gestational age do not always evidence of superfetation.
There are things such as twin-twin discordance, Dr Michel pointed out, which means the fetus grows at different levels in the womb. One baby may be getting more nutrients than others, and because it looked bigger (or more) in the ultrasound. "If that happens, it could look like superfetation, but not necessarily caused by it," he said.
If a pregnant woman has an ultrasound early which revealed that only one fetus, and subsequent ultrasound revealed two fetuses that could indicate superfetation has occurred. But once again, the evidence is not definitive, because the doctor might just lose the fetus is both the first time around.
Of course, if the fetus has a different fathers, as in the case of Allen, genetic tests after they were born to give a clear answer.
after an emotional battle, Allen and her husband eventually their baby, Malachi, back when he was two months old. Today their children.
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