Can You Get Pregnant While Pregnant?

Pregnant women can turn demanding, moody, angry or hysteric in seconds. However, it isn’t us, blame the hormones! Sometimes, though, we end up thinking of the most unfounded things and worry what will happen if they came true! One such thought is can I become pregnant while I am already pregnant, and is it medically even possible? Well, what if we told you it could well be! Confused? Well, don’t be. Read on the post to learn more about the possibilities.

Can You Get Pregnant While Pregnant?

The months of pregnancy affect different women in different ways, and all pregnancies are considered unique and different, even if you get pregnant multiple times. While some women may find it very hard to get pregnant, others will be surprised to realize that even one night of sexual intimacy led to a pregnancy.

But all said and done, what about the possibility of getting pregnant while pregnant? If you thought it is something that is not possible and cannot happen, think again. It will surprise you to know that there have been instances were some women, though a very few, have gotten pregnant, even while they were already pregnant.

The reason behind the strange phenomenon is something that is known as superfetation [1].

[ Read: Can You Ovulate More Than Once In A Cycle ]

What Is Superfetation?

Superfetation is the phenomenon in which there are more than one fetuses developing inside the same womb at the same time. While it may sound strange, the process of superfetation is more common in animals than in humans, and even though it is rare in humans, it still does happen.

How Does Superfetation Happen?

In the process of superfetation, while you are pregnant, you release an egg when you are already a few weeks pregnant. The second egg also gets fertilized, which leads to two different pregnancies at the same time, which is different from the process of having twin babies.

It is not a common occurrence, as when you get pregnant, the pregnancy hormones inside your body instruct your body’s system to shut down and stop ovulation, which is supposed to make pregnancy impossible for the time that you are already going to be pregnant.

Moreover, there is no medical data available on how superfetation does happen even when it is not supposed to be so. However, one medical thought is that in some cases, it is possible that the implantation in the case of the first embryo gets delayed. As a result, the early rise in the levels of pregnancy hormones gets delayed, and leaves room for another conception to take place.

Superfetation In Humans:

Superfetation can cause a lot of risk factors for the second baby. As a result, it can lead to severe problems in the case of lung development and may cause various breathing issues.

While some reports of superfetation do occur in humans from time to time, most of these are discredited by the medical world and various reasons are given for the same, instead of getting pregnant when you are already pregnant. Some cases of supposed superfetation also talk about the different developmental patterns in twins, which is not the same as getting pregnant while you are already pregnant.

[ Read: Pregnancy Hormones ]

Cases Of Superfetation In Humans

Here are a few cases of superfetation, or a case of women gets pregnant while pregnant, have been reported in the medical world:

1. Two Babies Born Five Minutes Apart, But One Conceived While The Mother Was Two Months Pregnant:

• In the year 1960, there was a case of superfetation that was clearly about getting pregnant while already pregnant. A woman gave birth to two babies who the nurse thought of as twins.

• However, one of the doctors present at the time of delivery noted that the baby who was born five minutes before the other one showed all the signs of being premature. To confirm the same, the doctor conducted a few tests and carried out an X-ray examination of the thigh bones of both the boys.

• In the reports, the doctor found that there was a marked difference in the bone age of both the boys, which should not have been the case if they were twins and were to be born at the same time.

• The doctor realized that the baby who was born five minutes later was, in fact, the full term baby, while the baby who was born five minutes earlier was a premature baby and had been born two months before its due date. The baby who was born prematurely was, in fact, conceived while its mother was already two months pregnant with her first baby.

2. Two Babies Born Three Weeks Apart In Essex:

• In the year 2007 again in Essex, a mother gave birth to two babies who were also conceived in a gap of three weeks, when the mother got pregnant again while she was already three weeks pregnant with her first baby.

3. Two Babies Born On The Same Day Through Cesarean In Arkansas:

• In the year 2009 in Arkansas, a woman conceived another baby while she was already two and a half weeks pregnant.

• Once the doctors carried out the required tests, they confirmed that if both the babies were able to go to their full term, they would be born almost one month apart from each other.

• The babies were finally delivered via a cesarean delivery and were healthy.

While there are many remarkable things that happen inside a woman’s body while she is pregnant, superfetation is one of the rarest and most surprising ones!

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