An Indonesian woman gave birth to a 19-pound, two-ounce baby behemoth on Sept. 24, but that's only the second weirdest pregnancy tale in September. The strangest belongs to Julia Grovenburg, a 31-year-old Arkansas woman who has a double pregnancy. No, not twins — Grovenberg became pregnant twice, two weeks apart. Isn't that supposed to be impossible? Almost. There have only been 10 recorded cases of the phenomenon, dubbed superfetation. In Grovenburg's case, she became pregnant with a girl (whom they've decided to name Jillian) and a boy (Hudson) two weeks later. The babies have separate due dates — Jillian on Dec. 24, Hudson on Jan. 10.
Dr. Robert Atlas, chairman of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Baltimore's Mercy Hospital, says he's never encountered a case of superfetation during practice. He says such pregnancies occur both when a woman continues ovulating after becoming pregnant and when that second, fertilized egg is able to implant itself in the lining of the womb — two things that wouldn't happen in a normal pregnancy. Typically, hormonal changes prevent further ovulation and thicken the lining of the uterus to preclude a second embryo from attaching. Why did that not happen in this case? No one's really sure.
Despite the rarity of Grovenburg's case, Atlas told TIME the phenomenon shouldn't be cause for concern. Grovenburg's babies should behave much as twins do; in all likelihood the second baby will be born slightly premature when Julia goes into labor for the first time. Since the difference between the two is only two weeks, the second baby will be nearly at full term anyway. Indeed, the last known case of superfetation had a happy ending. In 2007, a British woman gave birth to a boy and a girl conceived three weeks apart, with no undue complications.
source: time.com
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