A 36-year-old Australian woman became pregnant twice, eighteen days apart, after opting for in vitro fertilization.
Already mother to two children born through in vitro fertilization, Sandra Searle despaired of a natural pregnancy after her partner David was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2015.
In agreement with her partner, the 30-year-old decided on in-vitro fertilization without knowing that she had of course become pregnant eighteen days earlier, the media 7Sur7 reported on Wednesday, citing the “Chron”.
Doctors call this phenomenon, which occurs in 0.3% of women, “superfetation,” which means that a second egg can be fertilized during a new cycle while the woman is pregnant.
The woman continues to ovulate throughout her pregnancy, while the unborn babies are not true twins, although they are similar in age, as is the case with Sandra’s two babies, Michael and his sister Poppy.
The boy “had some health problems in the first few weeks, but now they are happy, healthy babies,” said the mother of two other children born through in vitro fertilization.