Briton becomes one of the few women in the world to conceive while already pregnant

Phenomenon is called ‘superfetation’

Rebecca Roberts with her twins Noah and Rosalie (Tom Wren/SWNS)

A British woman has given birth to twins three weeks apart after conceiving the second child while she was pregnant with the first.

Rebecca Roberts, 39, was already expecting with her son, Noah, when she became pregnant with her daughter, Rosalie.

She was told about the second baby at her 12-week scan, after two previous scans had shown just one pregnancy.

“I had two previous scans which showed Noah, she must have just been embedded,” she said of Rosalie.

“I had just been having a conversation with the sonographer about my previous scan so she was aware that I was only having one baby so she was so silent... I thought something awful had happened because she didn’t say anything.

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“Then she looked at me and said, ‘did you know you’re expecting twins?’

“My heart skipped a beat, I actually said to her, ‘is this real?’”

Recalling the moment she told her partner about the second baby, she added: “He didn’t believe me until he looked at the pictures and said nothing.

“He saw twin one and twin two on the picture and he was just as shocked as me. It blew us both away.”

Superfetation, as the phenomenon is known, occurs when an egg is released from a woman’s ovary after she is already pregnant, and then implants alongside the first embryo in the uterus some time later.

It is very rare and there are only a few recorded cases of it happening around the world.

Rebecca gave birth to each of her twins via cesarean section at the Royal United Hospital in Bath on 17 September with her partner Rhys Weaver, 43, in attendance.

“We feel really lucky, it’s so lucky to have twins anyway but to have such special twins, it’s so lovely, it’s wonderful, they are a blessing,” she said.

Rebecca Roberts and her partner Rhys Weaver with the twins Noah and Rosalie (Tom Wren/SWNS)

Rosalie stayed in hospital for the first 95 days after her birth until she was deemed strong enough to go home, with Rebecca noting how small she was.

“It was such a relief as we were always worried that something terrible would happen to Rosalie as she was so much smaller,” she said.

Now, the family has been reunited and they’re all living at home with one another.

“It is hard work having twins but now having the family is together is amazing,” Rebecca added.

“Our lives started then after so much worry and we feel like the luckiest parents ever.”