Superfetation: A rare phenomenon which gets you pregnant while you are pregnant

Do you know what superfetation is? Jessica is one of the first people to suffer from this rare phenomenon. Read more to find out.

Superfetation: A rare phenomenon which gets you pregnant while you are pregnant
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Superfetation: A rare phenomenon which gets you pregnant while you are pregnant

This is one of the first times that a phenomenon like this has occurred in the world. An American woman named Jessica had superfetation, a very rare condition, as many doctors have indicated.

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She decided to tell her extraordinary story to the Washington Post. Super fertilisation is an unusual occurrence that has only happened ten times in medical history!

An unusual pregnancy

Jessica Allen is a young married woman who now has two children. She and her husband, Wardell Jasper, lived in California. Soon, she signed up withOmega Family Global in San Diego, California, to become a surrogate mother.

She first met a Chinese couple and then underwent in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). Luckily, the process was quick, as she became pregnant a few months later. However, in the 6th week of pregnancy, Jessica went to her doctor for a routine check-up and the doctor discovered that she had two foetuses instead of one.

The doctor told the Washington Post that:

I was a bit scared, but the Liu's were delighted to have twins. As far as we were concerned, the embryo that had been transferred to me had split in two and the twins were identical. She told the Washington Post.

A rare phenomenon

However, they were not twins, but two foetuses from different parents. It was during her caesarean delivery that everyone realised that the two babies did not look at all alike. This rare case is called 'superset.'

This phenomenon occurs when a pregnant woman naturally becomes pregnant again during the pregnancy of the first. In other words, she continues to ovulate even when pregnant! In other words, the babies had different gestational ages and different parents.

Pregnancy: Woman conceives twice within five days in rare phenomenon Pregnancy: Woman conceives twice within five days in rare phenomenon