A woman has revealed that she was pregnant with two babies, but they were not twins. While one fetus was six weeks old, the other was eight weeks old. This extremely rare occurrence is believed to be a case of superfetation.
Taylor Henderson recounted the unexpected news she received after having her ultrasound when she was eight weeks pregnant.
Highlights
- A woman said she experienced a case of superfetation, getting pregnant while already pregnant with babies at different gestational ages.
- Superfetation is extremely rare, with the Cleveland Clinic stating chances are nearly zero.
- Unlike twins, superfetation pregnancies involve embryos formed at different times.
"I was worried because I had no symptoms at all. I did feel a little bit of nausea with my daughter, and so far with this pregnancy, I literally had nothing other than exhaustion," Taylor, who has a six-month-old daughter, explained.
Image credits: Freepick
"We go in for the ultrasound. Right away, we see the baby. Everything looks normal on my end. The tech [ultrasound technician] then says, 'I'm gonna look over here real quick,' and goes above the baby. She sees this tiny little black area with a tiny little baby inside.
"Naturally, my husband and I are in pure shock [because] the tech just pointed out a second baby. We're just trying to process all of this because one is clearly larger than the other.
"We don't know what's happening. Even the tech is like, 'I need to take some pictures and ask the doctor.' So she zooms in on the little baby, and it's measuring to be six weeks, and there's a heartbeat.
"When we're in the second room, the doctor walks by with the tech to the ultrasound and goes, 'Two weeks apart? That's impossible.'"
Taylor Henderson recounted the unexpected news she received after having her ultrasound when she was eight weeks pregnant
Image credits: taylorlaurenhenderson
"The doctor explained that, from what she could tell, I'm having a superfetation pregnancy."
"[The doctor] explained that she had never in her career seen this in person. She had only read about this happening."
"The doctor walks by with the tech to the ultrasound and goes, 'Two weeks apart? That's impossible'"
Superfetation is a rare phenomenon where a second, new pregnancy occurs during an initial pregnancy. It's so improbable that the chances of experiencing this type of pregnancy are near zero, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
With superfetation, another ovum (egg) is fertilized by sperm and implanted in the womb days or weeks after the first one, bypassing your body's natural barriers that prevent a new pregnancy while you're pregnant, the medical center adds.
Like twins, two fetuses share the same womb and develop alongside each other. Usually, they're also delivered at the same time.
However, unlike twins, embryos don't form during the same menstrual cycle, meaning they will develop at different gestational ages.
Image credits: taylorlaurenhenderson
Image credits: taylorlaurenhenderson
This event is rare in humans and observed in animals much more frequently. Of the few cases of potential superfetation reported in the medical literature, most have been in women undergoing fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization, as per Healthline.
As Taylor explained, her doctor referred to the fetuses as Twin A and Twin B, even if they weren’t technically twins because they had been conceived at different times.
In a subsequent post, the mom shared that between April 3—the date she recorded the video—and April 14, she had gone to an OB appointment where she was told that she had lost the second and youngest baby.
"[The baby] had continued to grow at a normal pace, and the heart stopped beating, which stopped the baby's growth at that point."
In a subsequent video, the mom shared that she had lost the second and youngest baby
She also addressed questions from followers, including how she knew that the babies were not twins. "This was said by my actual OB that these were not considered twins because, since I got pregnant at two separate times, the eggs came from technically two different cycles."
Referring to the possibility of the smallest fetus being a twin that was at a different gestational age, Taylor asserted that her doctor was certain of her diagnosis.
"I'm sure my doctor would know. It was clear at my eight-week ultrasound that there was also a six-week pregnancy [where] everything looked fine, so there was no reason to believe that it wasn't developing as quickly."
Additionally, Taylor said that she doesn't have two uteruses.
Image credits: Lisa Fotios
Superfetation is so uncommon that the chances of experiencing this type of pregnancy are near zero
Image credits: John Looy
According to the Cleveland Clinic, many claimed instances of superfetation turn out to be a misdiagnosis of other conditions affecting twins with differing growth rates.
It's unclear whether Taylor Henderson's case was medically documented.
Bored Panda has reached out to her for comment.
"I've been a labor nurse for 30+ years and never seen this," a social media user wrote
