"More pregnant"?

[Lone Star]

We've all heard, and some of us have said "You can't get any more pregnant" to a pregnant woman. I know I have...

Well, I came across an article that makes me want to reconsider that entire thought process:

Woman gets pregnant — while pregnant

Arkansas woman conceives two babies weeks apart, according to reports

Arkansas couple Todd and Julia Grovenburg found out that they were having a baby and then discovered they were having two bundles of joy — but the babies aren't twins. An ultrasound revealed that a male fetus was conceived a full two-and-a-half weeks after the woman became pregnant with a baby girl, according to reports from local media. The Grovenburgs' obstetrician confirmed the case to Arkansas television station KFSM-TV.

The pregnancy is believed to be a case of a rare condition known as superfetation, or conceiving while pregnant.

The pregnancy may sound weird, but it is possible, according to NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman.

"Here's how it happens — egg and sperm, implant. Of course, that's your first pregnancy. But if you ovulate more than one time a month — and women do — and a sperm happens to meet that egg and they, too, implant, guess what, you get a second fetus," Snyderman said during MSNBC's “Dr. Nancy” Thursday. "You just have to hope it happens within that early window."

Due dates for the babies are the end of 2009 and early 2010, reports say.

My bigggest question at this point would be; would the delivery of the first fetus endanger the condition of the second one?

What would the chances be that the first delivery would cause a premature birth of the second fetus?

[Dustdevil]

A similar case made the news not so long ago, when some chick delivered two babies conceived by different fathers.

[scubanurse]

Grey's had a case with a woman with two uteruses (uteri?) and had two babies conceived by different fathers... IT's crazyness! How would those kids feel knowing they had a sibling 2 1/2 weeks apart in age but not twins?

On a different note... if someone is pregnant with twins or more and one baby needed to come out early because of complications, couldn't they take one twin but not the other? If they weren't identical and there were separate placentas.... just a thought process in which it is possible I am totally wrong.

[chbare]

Highly unlikely, following the delivery of the first child, an unstoppable cascade of events including the release of large amounts of endogenous oxytocin to stimulate uterine contractions and achieve hemostasis would occur. I could only assume this would adversely effect the other uterus.

Take care,

chbare.

[Lone Star]

I may be way off base here, but I'm thinking that there's more than just uterine contractions involved in child birth. (I cant say for sure, since I've never been pregnant!).

Wouldn't these contractions cause adverse effects on the second child (the one that's not ready to be born yet), and would there be a second amniotic sac involved in a situation like this? (Refer to original post)

So many questions....no answers yet....

[P_Instructor]

I thought it was mentioned that there are a number of cases like this, not many, but some. Does anyone know how they turned out, or what was the greatest age differential between fetuses that survived?

[chbare]

There are only about ten confirmed cases in the literature. Most cases occurred within one to three weeks of the original conception. I am unaware of any human cases where there was a great disparity between the different conceptions.

Take care,

chbare.