A 19-year-old woman had the surprise of her life when she found out that her eight-month-old twins had different fathers. The mother was totally flabbergasted when she received the results. After she had time to process the DNA results, she realized that she had become pregnant with twins after sleeping with two different men on the same day.
No one could have imagined these results with the twin boys looking so similar. However, when doubts about who the real father was, the mother, who remains anonymous, asked for a DNA test. The test came back positive for just one of the twins.
After receiving another positive test result for the other twin from another man, she came to realize that they were all part of a rare medical phenomenon called heteroparental superfecundation. This particular case would be the twentieth recorded case known to man.
Doctor Túlio Franco treated the mother during her pregnancy. Dr. Franco mentioned that a slight difference in size between the two unborn children was noticed during the pregnancy, but they barely gave the dissimilarity a second thought.
This phenomenon was first recorded in 1810. That particular case involved a Caucasian female twin and a mulatto or mixed-race female twin. With the culture being quite different in the 1800s, one has to wonder what happened to these twins.
It may have been difficult to know if twins had more than one father in the past. With DNA paternity tests on the rise, some suggest we could see an uptick in what we thought was a rare event. With that said, how does this actually happen?
In some menstrual cycles, two eggs can be released. Dr. Franco explains,
“This pregnancy happens when two eggs from the same woman are fertilized by different men. In this case, the genetic material of the parents is different and the eggs of the mother are also different. The babies develop together in the same pregnancy, but each one in its own placenta. “, explained the doctor.”
This is translated to English from Portegese. The source is G1 News.
In 2015, the same thing happened to another set of twins in New Jersey. In this particular case, the judge ruled that a father of one twin only had to pay child support for one child. That ruling makes sense.
The case brought Karl-Han Wurzinger, a DNA expert, into the limelight. He quoted an academic study he published that found that this “phenomenon” actually happens in one of 13,000 sets of twins. He spoke to CNN,
“It is more common than we think,” Eddleman said. “In many situations, you would never know because there is no reason to do a paternity test on twins.”
In the case of our original story, according to the mother, one of the fathers of the twins has claimed both of the boys as his own. He reportedly signed the birth certificates and supported the mother and the children with their daily necessities.
Two twin brothers, one mother, two fathers… What will happen to them? Only God knows.
This story syndicated with permission from For the Love of News