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Pregnant Woman Pregnant Again: Julia Grovenburg's Superfetation

by Yuliya Talmazan | September 24, 2009 at 09:28 am

5974 views | 15 Recommendations | 7 comments

Julia Grovenburg, an expecting mother from Arkansas, is due to deliver her two babies two weeks apart. Her babies won't be twins, however. Grovenburg's case is a very case of the phenomenon called superfetation, which implies having two fetuses conceived at different times develop in the woman's uterus at the same time. So, technically Grovernburg got pregnant again while already being pregnant. Superfetation is extremely rare in humans, but does happen in the animal kingdom. For the condition to occur, a woman must either have two uteri, or have her cycle continue through pregnancy.

Doctors discovered Govenburg's rare condition during a regular ultrasound -- when they saw two babies developing side by side in their mother's uterus. First, it was thought that the babies were twins, but than doctors noticed different development patterns and concluded that they must have been conceived at different times. It is believed that the second smaller child was conceived two and a half weeks after the initial impregnation. The delivery of the babies poses a great challenge for the doctors who have to make sure that the delivery of one baby does not interfere with the life functions of the other one.

"Mrs. Julia Grovenburg is pregnant with twins and there appears to be a discordant growth pattern, possibly due to superfetation," Dr. Muylaert wrote in a letter to KFSM-TV.

"This is an unusual and rare condition, but the possibility is real. It can only be confirmed after delivery by chromosomal and metabolic studies on the babies. She was evaluated at UAMS in Little Rock for this condition and they confirmed the suspicion of superfetation," he continued.

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marianmo

at 14:31 on September 24th, 2009

interesting story ty

OhioMom (not verified)

at 17:51 on September 24th, 2009

My children were conceived a week apart, confirmed by sonagrams taken while the egg sacs were still attached (sonagrams were to rule out other problems), the dates the hearts could be seen beating (one week apart) and later sonagrams. Also, temperature charts graphed while trying to conceive confirmed 2 separate ovulations. Every calculation of due date confirmed the difference of 1 week. I still consider my children to be twins - although obviously fraternal. I would suspect this happens more frequently than reported.

TheDane (not verified)

at 09:33 on September 25th, 2009

I'm a "twin" with a three month younger fetus present when I was born. He(!?) died - or wasn't big enough to survive. Not sure which. The reason for the rarety of this occurence is that as soon as the first egg attaches itself to the lining of the uterus some chemicals are released to stop any other eggs from maturing in the ovaries (I was told when I was younger).

Shannon (NZ) (not verified)

at 19:44 on September 27th, 2009

I believe this happens more than reported. I have 'twin brothers' who will be 21 next year, and they were confrimed to have been concieved a month apart. Although born on the same day one baby was at 38weeks gestation and the other at 34 weeks. Both were fine. The only difference between them was the size. Even now the older of the 2 still looks like an older brother to the younger one.

mysm (not verified)

at 05:16 on October 1st, 2009

everythings possible with god willing

Elleytoo (not verified)

at 10:16 on October 1st, 2009

I am a twin conceived two months after my sister and born on the same day. We are now 42 years old! I arrived first, four minutes earlier. My Mom had a sonogram, but no tests were done. I don't think they did tests like some of the other cases in 1966-67. The doctor confirmed I was premature at birth due to me having no hair, eyelashes, finger nails, toe nails, etc. My twin was perfectly developed. I was put in an incubator for a few days to be on the safe side. I weighed in approx 6+ lbs and my sister at 8+ lbs....both very healthy! Superfestation definitely occurs! I even remember my fifth grade teacher telling my sister and I we were liars and that this doesn't happen- boy, did he get an earful from my Mom!!!