Imagine Todd and
Julia Grovenburg’s surprise when doctors found not one, but two babies
on Julia’s ultrasound – and then told the parents the babies weren’t
twins, ABC News reported.
Doctors
think Julia and Todd conceived baby girl Jillian first, and
two-and-a-half weeks later conceived baby boy Hudson, according to
statements from KFSM-TV in Ft. Smith-Fayetteville, Ark.
Jillian
and Hudson have different due dates, and this rare development is
called superfetation – when a mother conceives another child while
pregnant.
“It does really sound like this
is a true case of different conception times for these children,” said
Dr. Karen Boyle of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. “When the
woman had her ultrasound initially, they saw one sack, one baby
developing, and that baby had a certain gestational age; then they
noticed a second heartbeat in a child that was much, much younger
developmentally.”
Boyle told ABC News she has only heard of 10 reported cases of superfetation.
However,
superfetation cannot be absolutely determined until after the babies
are born, and doctors are able to conduct chromosomal and metabolic
tests on the babies.
