Kate Hill from Australian has given birth to twins conceived ten days apart.
She was told she might never become pregnant before receiving hormone treatment for polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition that meant she was not ovulating.
Kate Hill apparently conceived twins at different times despite only having unprotected intercourse once during that time.
It is very rare for a woman to conceive a second time when already pregnant.
Image source Flickr
Most twins are the result of a woman releasing two eggs at the same time, or, less commonly, a fertilized egg subsequently splitting into two.
According to reports, the twin girls, Charlotte and Olivia, were born 10 months ago with different sizes, weights and gestational development.
Kate Hill told Australia’s Seven Network: “We actually did not realize how special that was until they were born.”
Pregnancy normally stops the monthly cycle of ovulation but very rarely a woman can release another egg after conceiving. If this is fertilized it could also implant and develop into a healthy pregnancy.
It is believed only 10 cases of the phenomenon, known as superfetation, have been documented across the world.
Speaking about the rare conception, Kate Hill’s husband Peter joked: “Hole in one, maybe.”
The couple’s obstetrician Brad Armstrong said the condition was so rare he was forced to search for it online.
“I could not find any literature in the medical review websites at all,” he said.
Alexandra Kinova has given birth to quintuplets in the Czech Republic, officials say, a first for the country.
Alexandra Kinova, 23, had four boys and a girl by caesarean section on Sunday, they say.
The births took place “without any complications”, according to doctors at Prague’s Institute for the Care of Mother and Child.
The mother and babies were placed in an intensive care unit but are believed to be in a good condition.
Alexandra Kinova has given birth to quintuplets in the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic’s first quintuplets, who were conceived naturally without IVF, have a 95% chance of growing up healthy, the Associated Press quoted Zbynek Stranak, chief doctor at the neonatal section of the institute, as saying.
The boys’ names are reportedly Deniel, Michael, Alex and Martin, while the girl is called Terezka.
Alexandra Kinova, who is from the town of Milovice, about 12 miles north-east of the capital, Prague, already had one son.
She originally believed she was pregnant with twins, but in March doctors upped it to four – and then five in April.
The father of the quintuplets was present at the delivery despite his train being delayed, according to the newspaper Ceske Noviny.
“I was crying all the way since I feared I would not manage it,” he said.
5-year-old Reuben Blake and his seven-week-old sister Floren from UK are twins that arrive five years apart.
Both children were born from the same batch of embryos created during their parents’ IVF treatment.
While Reuben was successfully implanted in 2006, Floren was kept on ice until 2011.
Now their parents, Jody and Simon Blake, delight in telling well-wishers all about the incredible age gap between their “twins”.
“I tell everybody I can,” said Simon Blake, a business lecturer.
“People take an interest in a newborn baby and with Reuben around as well, I find it very difficult to resist the temptation to say <<Oh and by the way, they are twins>>.
“It’s almost just to see people’s response. They are really amazed and surprised.”
5-year-old Reuben Blake and his seven-week-old sister Floren from UK are twins that arrive five years apart
Jody Blake, a charity worker, added: “It does feel quite surreal.
“I think people are really, really surprised and it almost takes them a few minutes to get their heads around it.
“We obviously had nine months to get it straight and to think <<Gosh, we’re having Reuben’s twin>>, but it’s incredibly special.”
Jody Blake, 38, and her 45-year-old husband began fertility treatment in 2005.
During the medical process, five embryos were created and two implanted in Jody Blake, which resulted in the birth of Reuben on December 9, 2006.
The remaining three embryos were frozen until the couple, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, decided to try for another child in March 2011.
Only one of the embryos survived the defrosting process and 39 weeks later Floren arrived by Caesarean section.
Reuben is fascinated by his little sister. “He knows that she’s been in the freezer,” said Jody Blake.
“He likes to say she has been in the freezer with the chips and the chicken, so he is sort of aware that she is his twin, but obviously he doesn’t really understand how it’s all worked.
“They do look very similar. Reuben was just a bigger version of Floren when he was born, so certainly there are similarities physically.”
Recalling their decision to try for a second child, Simon Blake said: “We wanted to complete the family. We were aware the odds were long.
“You just can’t comprehend that a life could come from some material that’s been frozen for that length of time.”
Doctors who treated the Blakes at the Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine said the decision to freeze remaining IVF embryos was a safer way to have more than one child.
Lead clinician Dr. Valentine Akande said: “We very often recommend storing surplus embryos so that they can be used at a later date.
“Sadly, due to the chance work of nature, not everybody is able to have those surplus embryos and, of course, not everybody meets with success when they are used.”
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