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Discoblog
« Should We Be Funding Studies on the Perfect Piece of Toast?
Weekly News Roundup: The Passion of Kirk Cameron »

Woman Gets Pregnant…While Already Pregnant

babyA woman in Arkansas is pregnant with two babies at the same time…except they aren’t twins. ABC News reports:

Doctors successfully located Todd and Julia Grovenburg’s growing baby girl Jillian, but then discovered another smaller baby — what could be Jillian’s younger brother — growing beside her.

The Grovenburgs may have conceived their son Hudson a full two-and-a-half weeks after Jillian, according to statements given to KFSM-TV in Ft. Smith-Fayetteville, Ark.

There’s even a name for what happened: superfetation, or conceiving while pregnant. Unsurprisingly, it’s extraordinarily rare—one doctor said she could only track down 10 reported cases.

Granted, there’s a big problem—what happens to the younger baby when the older fetus is born?

“It [the second conception] can happen up to 24 days later than the first conception, and then you’re putting the second baby at risk for lung development problems,” said [OB-GYN Karen Boyle].

However, in the Grovenburg’s case, Boyle said the difference of two weeks would not put the younger baby at much of a risk for health problems.

Talk about dodging a bullet—though birthdays in the Grovenburg household should be interesting.

Related Content:
Discoblog: Girl or Boy? At-Home Test Reveals Baby’s Gender During Pregnancy
Discoblog: When Technology Gets Creepy: Giving Birth in Second Life
Discoblog: Pregnant Woman Discovers She Has an Extra Womb

Image: iStockphoto

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September 25th, 2009 11:00 AM Tags: babies, reproduction, weird happenings
by Melissa Lafsky in Sex & Mating | 5 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

  • Christina Viering

    Amazing story. I have never heard of this!

  • Helene

    Happened to my mom, according to family lore: my younger sister had a little brother who was stillborn. He was a lot less developed–by, like, two or three months. I always wondered about it: textbooks always tell you that pregnancy hormones suppress ovulation. Now I know.

  • Christian fellow

    tramp!

  • http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/10/20/octomoms-doc-booted-from-society-of-reproductive-medicine/ Octomom’s Doc Booted From Society of Reproductive Medicine | Discoblog | Discover Magazine

    [...] Discoblog: The Next Pregnancy Must-Have: A Three-Dimensional Model of Your Fetus Discoblog: Congratulations! You’ve Given Birth to Your Grandchild Discoblog: Woman Gets Pregnant…While [...]

  • http://Yahoo Jessica

    I admire this. Some women find 1 pregnancy merely impossible, a miracle if it occurs.. But to have TWO pregnancies at one time- simply a blessing. Congratulations to this woman, you have quite the handful.





    • About the Blog

      Discoblog is DISCOVER's compendium of quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. It's written by Veronique Greenwood and Valerie Ross. Email tips and suggestions to vgreenwood [at] discovermagazine [dot] com.

      Discoblog also includes the daily feature NCBI ROFL, in which two prone-to-distraction grad students post real scientific articles with funny subjects. Email your tips to ncbirofl [at] gmail.com. Follow the ROFL feed here.

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