Childbirth is always a moment full of surprises. Sometimes pleasant, and sometimes even unusual! This is the case of this Brazilian woman who gave birth to twins, who share everything…except their father! They have, indeed, two different fathers. Discover this unusual story, relayed by our colleagues of the New York Post.
This mother of Mineiros, in the West of Brazil became pregnant of two different men! A very rare phenomenon, but not impossible. Here is the story of this 19 years old Brazilian woman, who preferred to remain anonymous.
A unique conception
The story of this young Brazilian woman is the subject of much ink, and for good reason: she gave birth to two twins who do not have the same father! The young woman did not suspect anything at first. As the first birthday of her two boys approached, she wanted to confirm the identity of their father. So she contacted him to do a paternity test, and confirm her doubts. Except that, to her surprise, the test was only positive for one boy. This means that the twins did not share the same father! That’s when the mom remembered having sex with two different men on the same day. So she called the second man to get him to take the test too. And there she got the confirmation that her children had two different fathers. The young woman admitted that she was surprised by the results, because her boys were very similar. Her pregnancy went well and her children were born without any problems.
A rare but not impossible phenomenon
This rare but not impossible conception is called heteroparental superfecundation. According to Túlio Franco, the doctor who followed this mother’s pregnancy, this phenomenon occurs when two eggs from one mother are fertilized, but by different men. Therefore, the babies grow in different placentas, although they share the genetic material of the mother. Still according to this doctor, this superfecundation is the 20th case registered in the world of heteroparental superfecundations, as relayed by the French newspaper, La Nouvelle République. Dr. Túlio shared his joy for having had the chance to witness such a case, especially since this phenomenon only happens “once in a million”. In any case, this birth inspired this doctor and his students, who decided to study this case in more depth, to publish a scientific article on this phenomenon.
When we speak about twins, we distinguish two types.
Identical twins: resulting from the separation in two, of an initial egg cell. One thus obtains two embryos, identical.
Fraternal twins: obtained following the fertilization of two spermatozoa and two distinct ovules.
That said, when two twins are born from two different fathers, they are false twins, since two different spermatozoa have fertilized two distinct eggs.
According to the newspaper franceinfo, if the superfecundation is possible, it is also because the woman is able to ovulate several times, during the same ovarian cycle.
Here is how the heteroparental superfecundation occurs.
Once ovulation occurs, the egg can survive for approximately 12 to 48 hours. As for the spermatozoa, their life span can be up to 5 days. However, if sexual intercourse took place 5 days before, this means that a sperm can fertilize a new egg. The second egg can be fertilized 48 hours later by another sperm from another relationship.
The prevalence of heteroparental superfecundation is estimated at 1 in 13,000 cases. In fact, according to a study published in the journal Acta Genet Med Gemellol (Roma), in 1992, out of 39,000 cases of paternity tests that were performed on twins, only 3 cases of heteroparental superfecundation were found.
If only a few cases of heteroparental superfecundation have been reported and recorded, this does not mean that they are unique cases. It is likely that other twins have been born to different fathers, without the parents knowing it. Indeed, cases of heteroparental superfecundation can only be identified through a paternity test.
