In the United States, a mother-to-be was surprised to discover that she had fallen pregnant twice in the space of a week. On the ultrasound, not one, but three babies showed up on the screen. How can we explain such a phenomenon called superfetation? Explanations with Dr Tiphaine Beillat, obstetrician-gynecologist.
She was experiencing a very typical start to her pregnancy, until she discovered that she had fallen pregnant a second time when she was already pregnant. During the year 2020, when she already knew she was pregnant, Dee Michelle, aka @deeandtplusthree on the Instagram and Tiktok networks, and her companion Antonio Livingston were very surprised to discover that they had conceived two more embryos, in addition to the one that was already implanted in the uterus. At the time, Dee Michelle and her fiancé didn’t know what was happening until the mother-to-be felt severe pain. She went to the emergency room thinking she was having a miscarriage,”but I discovered that my uterus was growing quickly because‘there were two other babies“, declared the young woman on Tiktok. Later, on the ultrasound, it was not one baby, but three babies that the couple saw on the screen. This extremely rare phenomenon does exist, it is about the superfetation, also called superfetation or hyperfetation.
What is superfetation?
Superfetation, or unnecessary pregnancy, is a phenomenon so rare and so difficult to demonstrate from a scientific point of view in humans that its existence is called into question. From a medical point of view, superfetation corresponds to the implantation of a new embryo within a uterus which already contains one. But in most cases, they are not twins since the two embryos come from a different egg and sperm.
Nowadays, around ten cases have been reported worldwide, but the medical profession was never able to prove that these were indeed two different pregnancies and not a twin pregnancy. “Superfetation is very difficult to diagnose because there are twins who have differences in weight and height. The first thing to do is to detect a chromosome malformation or a health problem which would explain why one of the two embryos is smaller. and therefore that they were conceived a few days apart, underlines Dr Tiphaine Beillat. Consequently, “superfetation embryos have different gestational ages (at different stages of pregnancy). The embryo conceived first will mature before the embryo conceived second”, notes the website of the American University Medical Center Cleveland Clinic. Furthermore, there would be no no symptoms specific to unnecessary pregnancyother than classic pregnancy symptoms.
How to explain this phenomenon ?
Health professionals do not yet explain how such a phenomenon is possible. “Superfetation would imply that the woman ovulates twice in a row, a few days apart. However, this is technically impossible since the uterus cannot accommodate a second pregnancy when an embryo has already been implanted there.. Once an egg has been fertilized by a sperm, the endometrium, that is to say the mucous membrane which lines the inside of the uterus, thickens, making it impossible for another embryo to implant. “, indicates the gynecologist. In other words, a woman can no longer ovulate once she is pregnant.
L’childbirth of a unnecessary pregnancy takes place exactly as in the case of a twin pregnancy. A first fetus will trigger childbirth and it will be followed by the second, even if it is less developed.
Thanks to Dr Tiphaine Beillat, obstetrician gynecologist, member of the National Federation of Colleges of Medical Gynecology (FNCGM)