Lifestyle

Turns Out You Can Get Pregnant While You're Pregnant, So Everything You Know Is A Lie

by Jamie LeeLo
Treasures & Travels

Pregnancy is, like, INSANE to think about, you guys.

If you're anything like me, you've probably lived in fear of unintentionally becoming pregnant, not knowing it and ending up on an episode of "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant," popping out another HUMAN in the locker rooms during your basketball tournament.

OK, I don't play basketball. BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE.

Well, here's a new thing science has added to the list of pregnancy paranoias: Apparently, it's still technically possible to get pregnant while you're already pregnant.

I know. I just added my therapist to my speed dial, too.

The New York Times reported that this phenomenon is called "superfetation."

Basically, in a normal pregnancy, a woman's body is supposed to tell her ovaries to chill out and stop releasing eggs.

However, in the case of superfetation, "seemingly impossible events" could actually take place, according to Scientific American.

For superfetation to occur, the ovaries must still release an egg during ongoing pregnancy. Then, semen must actually manage to get past an already pregnant woman's blocked cervix.

As if this hasn't already been an exhaustive journey, the newly fertilized egg that defied all the odds would still have to attach itself to the already occupied uterine wall.

Marija Mandic

I mean, I can hardly text and walk at the same time, let alone grow a baby and still manage to ovulate.

What's even scarier? Even if the babies are conceived at different times in superfetation, unfortunately, BOTH will still be born at the same time. This means the child conceived after a woman's initial conception risks being born severely prematurely.

Now, before you rush to the doctor to have your tubes tied immediately and kiss procreation goodbye entirely, a report published in the European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found there were only 11 TOTAL reported cases of superfetation to date, the latest being a woman in Arkansas who became pregnant with a girl and a boy two weeks apart in 2009.

Still, you guys. Babies are crazy.

If you need me, I'll be eating birth control like candy. (Just kidding. Don't do that. Seriously.)

Citations: Contrary to What You Learned in Sex Ed, You Can Get Pregnant While Pregnant (NYMag), Pregnancy Upon Pregnancy (The New York Times), Superfetation: Pregnant while already pregnant (Scientific American)