A Pennsylvania woman who was already pregnant gave birth to twins a week later — a one-in-a-billion medical anomaly.
Deonna Fletcher, a marketing coordinator in Philadelphia, suffered from superfetation, which meant she became pregnant twice in a week.
The first embryo was born six days before the other two, in an event so rare that the Cleveland Clinic says “your chance of superfetation is virtually zero.”
There are only about 10 confirmed cases in the world and they all involved two children conceived at different times.
Ms Fletcher felt like “everything fell into place” after she and her fiancé, Antonio Livington, found out they were expecting a baby in 2019.
Deonna Fletcher, a marketing consultant in Philadelphia, became pregnant twice in six days. She gave birth to three daughters on January 18, 2021
Doctors believe Mrs Fletcher ovulated twice, allowing the twins to be conceived after their older sister was six days old
About four weeks into her pregnancy, she had a transvaginal ultrasound, which revealed one fetus.
However, about two weeks later she started experiencing ‘terrible’ pain in her lower abdomen. She feared she was having a miscarriage and rushed to the emergency room.
A second transvaginal ultrasound revealed two more babies: Mrs. Fletcher had triplets.
‘How is that possible?’ I asked the person who did the ultrasound,” she said Insider. ‘The previous scan had been very thorough. There was no doubt there was only one baby.”
However, Mrs. Fletcher had irregular periods throughout her life.
Sometimes she got two a month, and sometimes she had none at all. The doctor said she had probably ovulated twice, making multiple pregnancies possible.
“Antonio and I were shocked,” she said. ‘There was a lot to process. We had never heard of getting pregnant while already pregnant. But the doctors further confirmed that it was a case of superfetation.”
This happens when a woman goes through two menstrual cycles in a row, each resulting in a pregnancy. For this to happen, the woman’s body would release an egg during her first cycle. After having sex, that egg would be fertilized and turn into an embryo. The embryo then implants in the uterine lining.
During the next period the same thing happens and the new embryo joins the embryo already growing in the uterus.
Normally, hormones change during pregnancy to prevent ovulation, which is when the ovaries release an egg.
Superfetation is so rare that experts aren’t sure what causes it. In most cases, assisted reproductive techniques (ART) are used, including fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), but it is still extremely unlikely with these methods.
Ms Fletcher and her partner, Antonio Livington, welcomed a baby boy, Antonio Junior, in October 2022. The couple has said they do not plan to have any more children.
The girls – Dream, Amani and Amber – are all “completely healthy” and “a bundle of energy,” Ms Fletcher said.
In Mrs Fletcher’s case, the two ‘younger’ babies turned out to be identical twins. “A specialist said my pain early on was related to my uterus expanding so quickly,” she said. ‘We had to make room for three babies.’
Six months into the pregnancy, both her waters broke and she was put on bed rest for about two months. On January 18, 2021, she gave birth to three girls: Dream, Amani and Amber.
Dream, who was conceived first, weighed three pounds. Twins Amber and Amani were three and four pounds heavier, respectively.
The triplets spent more than a month in the NICU, although they are all now “perfectly healthy” at two and a half years old. “They are a bundle of energy,” Ms Fletcher said.
Ms Fletcher and Mr Livington also welcomed a baby boy, Antonio Junior, in October 2022. They do not plan to have any more children.
‘It’s tiring, but fun. Yet Antonio, a photographer, and I are done when it comes to having more children,” Ms Fletcher said.
‘Three girls – two of whom were very unexpected – and a boy are more than enough.’