An American woman has become just the 11th mum to be pregnant with, and give birth to, two babies at the same time, who were not twins. Julia and Todd Grovenburg were shocked to find themselves pregnant with two babies conceived two and a half weeks apart. Yes, that means Julia was pregnant when she fell pregnant!
The rare condition is known as “superfetation”. This means a woman has become pregnant while already being pregnant, at odds of around a million to one.
“Initially, at our first ultrasound, the technician suggested we were 11 weeks pregnant,” said Julia, reports the Mirror. “But since I’d been taking pregnancy tests routinely every month, Todd and I knew that number wasn’t accurate because I’d had my period in-between the time frame.”
But when the ultrasound nurse asked for a second opinion, things became even stranger.
“Our doctor said, ‘Well Julia, you’re not having twins but you are having two babies.’ He found the news incredible, like it was some medical breakthrough he’d discovered,” Julia said.
Julia and Todd were alarmed by what this could mean for the safety of both their babies and their doctors were baffled by the situation. They were referred to a specialist but as the babies due dates were so far apart, December 24th and January 19th, there were fears early labour could be fatal for one or both.
Though nerve-wracking, Julia’s double pregnancy progressed well and she gave birth on December 2nd by caesarean, to two babies at very different developmental stages.
Now a year old, Jillian and Hudson are still reaching their milestones at slightly different rates.
“They’re still very young but everyone can tell that Jillian is the older one. I have to remind myself that they’re not progressing at the same level for a reason,” Julia explained.
Todd and Julia have decided to let their babies decide if they’d like to be known as twins or not. But for the time being their parents are treating them as individual siblings with different birthday cakes and development goals.
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