For years women have struggled with the concept of pregnancy, and whether or not they can get pregnant while pregnant.
The responsibility, the biological need for a child and the need for birth control if you don’t want a child are all problems that need to be addressed and dealt with if a woman is to address the possibility and become sexually active
However, there have been strange anomalies in history where weird things have happened to women while they are pregnant, including getting pregnant again. It is possible, although it is extremely unlikely, but if you are sexually active while you are pregnant then you may run the risk of becoming pregnant again.
Imagine going through labor twice in one month, or one year even. The extraordinary experience is difficult and life changing enough already even if you don’t have to do it back to back. The prospects are pretty dim that this will ever happen to you with there only be 10 reported cases in history where this has happened, but it is possible.
Many doctors will complete an entire lifetime of practicing medicine without having ever seen a case of this superfetation. It is a very rare condition which requires several steps to occur which are also very rare on their own. Although it is possible, it is generally safe to say that you won’t get pregnant while you are already pregnant, even though it has happened before.
Can I Get Pregnant While I am Pregnant? Answer: Yes
Julia Grovenburg, a 31year old woman who lives in Arkansas had the experience of a lifetime when she got pregnant again while already being pregnant, giving birth to two children only a month apart. In order for this to happen a woman has to continue ovulating while she is pregnant. Although this isn’t unheard of, it is very rare. However, the ovulation is necessary in order for pregnancy to occur, as with a normal pregnancy. The egg also has to be able to implant itself in the side of the womb, which wouldn’t normally happen during a regularly pregnancy.
Both of these rarities have to occur at the same time along with the fertilization of the egg for a second pregnancy to occur while pregnant. In a normal situation and pregnancy, hormones would stop the ovulation and thicken the lining of the womb so another egg couldn’t attach itself. It is unclear why this didn’t happen for Grovenburg.
Are There Complications?
Although there are not many cases to study, previous cases of superfetation have not shown much complication. The second baby is often born a little premature, not having the same amount of time and room as the other baby to develop. The babies will most likely behave a lot like twins in their years growing up together, although they will not be identical twins because they did not develop from the same egg.
There have been cases of artificial superfetation, but they have only been successful very early in the pregnancy and have only occurred by accident when two artificial pregnancies were attempted before the first pregnancy was known about. The kids are generally known and treated as twins, although this is not true.
Who Gets Pregnant Twice?
Superfetation is more common in women who have undergone fertility treatments. This is because they have more of the hormones that cause them to ovulate, and they have am ore likely chance of receiving too many, causing their ability to get pregnant again while they are pregnant. Often when receiving fertility treatments, more than one egg is placed into the woman, and this creates the chance of more than one egg becoming pregnant, which may occur at different times of intercourse in order to create a baby.
There is usually only one ovule per cycle and therefore only one embryo that is ready for implantation, but because of the straining effects that fertilization can have on a woman’s body, sometimes that changes and things go astray.
If you have had many different fertility treatments in the hopes of getting pregnant, you have a better chance of undergoing superfetation than other woman, although it is extremely rare and highly unlikely. A woman’s hormones will generally work correctly, making it impossible for ovulation to occur and for the egg to implant into the wall of the uterus while pregnant.
What About The Kids?
In no cases have the kids had severe physical problems because of superfetation. The pregnancy is basically the same as having twins with one child’s delivery delayed a little. The only physical complication for the children is that the second child born is often born prematurely, but if there are no other outside complications, they have usually been developed enough to survive and grow outside of the womb.
Psychologically the children undergo the same type of life as twins. They have the same type of development together in the womb and they often share the same type of upbringing, since the child who is born first is not often born enough in advance for them to remember life without the other child. They often form attachments to each other that are similar to a fraternal twin experience.
The Anomaly
If you are a pregnant woman, do not sit there in fear that you will become pregnant again if you engage in sexual intercourse with your partner. The likelihood is so small that it is practically zero, with so many rare oddities having to happen before superfetation is possible. However, if it does occur, it is not particularly harmful to the body or the children, who are often treated as twins and grow up in the same type of psychological setting as twins.
All the pregnancies that have reported superfetation have been successful in their births and their child’s lives thereafter. Superfetation is rare and getting pregnant while pregnant naturally shouldn’t happen, but it is a side effect of the artificial fertilization process, altering the hormonal cycles of the woman’s body.
