With all of its hormonal challenges, pregnancy still amazes us with its occasional shocks and unusual events. Superfetation is when a woman gets pregnant while already having a baby. It is one of the less well-known miracles of human reproduction. Even though it happens very rarely in people, this strange event shows how complicated fertility is and how amazing the human body is. By looking into this less well-known aspect of pregnancy, we can see how biology and reproduction interact in interesting ways, shedding light on the secrets that still surround the miracle of life.
What is Superfetation?
Superfetation is when you get pregnant while you already have a baby inside you. It only happens very rarely. When you’re pregnant, your body usually stops you from getting pregnant again because it’s too busy making a baby. But in superfetation, another baby starts to grow even though you are already pregnant.
Your body is very good at stopping this from happening normally, so it doesn’t happen very often. When superfetation does happen, it’s usually because doctors used reproductive technology to help and make it possible.
Superfetation and Twins Are Same?
No, but in some ways having kids with superfetation is the same as having twins. It’s like having twins: two kids grow together in the belly of the same mother. Most of the time, both kids are born at the same time. However, superfetation kids are not born at the same time of the month like twins are. In other words, they are growing at different rates inside the mother. Both babies will be born before the one that was made second, as reported in Cleveland Clinic.
Superfetation, a very rare occurrence in humans, has only been confirmed about 10 times. It’s so unusual that when it does happen, it often becomes big news. The chances of it happening to you are almost nil. Superfetation is more common in other animals like rats, small mammals, and fish.
Unknown Pregnancy Facts
- The longest known pregnancy was 375 days long. In 1945, Time Magazine said that Beulah Hunter gave birth in Los Angeles after being pregnant for almost 100 days longer than the normal 280 days.
- One of the shortest pregnancies where the baby lived was only 22 weeks long. The baby faced many problems but managed to survive. Another baby, born even earlier at 21 weeks and 4 days, is now a little toddler.
- The oldest woman on record to have a baby was 66 years old.
- During pregnancy, the volume of blood in the body increases by 40 to 50 percent. This rise helps provide the extra oxygen necessary for a healthy pregnancy.
- The womb can stretch a lot during pregnancy. In the first three months, it’s about the size of an orange. But by the last three months, it expands to the size of a watermelon.
- You have a better chance of getting pregnant when you’re in your 20s. But when you turn 30, that chance drops to 20%. It is important to know that this lower chance is due to both your family history and your partner’s family history. Women’s bodies can’t handle the stress of having a baby on as well as they used to. It’s not a surprise that as you age, your chances of getting pregnant go down. The chances are only 5% after age 40!
- Did you know that pregnant women can start making milk when they hear a baby cry, even if it’s not their own baby? It might sound strange, but it’s just the body getting ready to feed the baby when it arrives.
- You may have heard your friends who are going to have a baby talk about forgetting long-term facts or going to the kitchen and then forgetting why they went there. Remember that this is not going to happen to you. There is such a thing as pregnancy brain! There is no clear reason for this, but it might be because of the late nights, tiredness, and stress of getting ready for a baby. This sign of pregnancy can get in the way of your daily life, so don’t be mad at yourself for it. Keep in mind that you are making a baby.
- In Turkey, more than half of the babies are born by cutting the mother’s tummy (50.4 out of 100 babies). But in Iceland, it’s much less, only about 15 out of 100 babies.
- A lady named Nadya Suleman had the most babies born alive to her alone. In 2009, she gave birth to six boys and two girls in a hospital in California.
- In Benin, more twins are born than in any other country. For every 1,000 babies born there, almost 28 are twins.
