- When Sandra and her husband David were told they wouldn’t be able to conceive naturally, they underwent IVF to conceive two beautiful children
- Later, Sandra had their last frozen embryo implanted and the couple were thrilled to discover they were expecting again
- During tests, the doctor discovered Sandra had unusually high hormone levels and a scan revealed there was a baby measuring seven and a half weeks, as well as a five week old sac
- Sandra Searle, from Perth, WA, shares how she discovered she was having twins – one conceived naturally and another through IVF three weeks later…
Watching our babies sleeping, I couldn’t believe how lucky we’d been.
Seven years earlier, my husband, David, had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He’d needed chemo and surgery, so doctors had frozen his sperm.
He’d got the all-clear and we’d started trying for a family, but then discovered I had a low egg count and were told we wouldn’t be able to conceive naturally.
Following IVF, we’d been blessed with Georgia, four, and Fred, two.
It felt like we’d won the lottery twice. And now, we had just implanted our last frozen embryo.
“We already have enough but if it happens again, I would be so happy,” David said, and I agreed.
Read more: How my husband’s joke became a reality and we ended up with two sets of twins
When I went for my blood tests 10 days later, it was good news. I was pregnant!
But my hormone levels were abnormally high and there was a concern the pregnancy was ectopic, so I was sent for an early scan.
David held my hand as the sound of a heartbeat filled the room.
“There’s a baby measuring seven and a half weeks,” the sonographer said.
“But we only did the cycle five weeks ago,” David said, surprised.
Then she said she’d found a five-week-old sac as well.
“Do you understand what is happening?” the sonographer asked.
“I’m not sure,” I replied.
“You’re pregnant with twins, but they were conceived at different times,” she explained.
“How is that possible?” David asked.
We asked to speak to my gynaecologist at the IVF clinic, who called us.
“Did you have sex during the IVF process?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “Not during the treatment.”
Then it hit me.
“Does it mean that when we started IVF, I had already fallen pregnant naturally?” I asked.
The doctor confirmed that was the case, even though I had shown no sign of another pregnancy at the start of the treatment.
I had conceived naturally approximately 18 days before the embryo was implanted. Then, I’d fallen pregnant again using IVF.
“Double pregnancy,” I said in disbelief, letting the words sink in.
It’s called superfetation, an ultra-rare phenomenon where two children are conceived at different times in the same uterus, who are then born as twins.
It seemed nothing short of a miracle, but the good news ended there.
“One baby is smaller than the other, so we don’t know if you can hold onto them,” the doctor said.
All we could do was wait and hope.
When I started suffering severe morning sickness, we told Georgia and Fred.
“Mummy is unwell because she has a baby in her belly,” David explained.
At seven and a half weeks, I started spotting.
Both babies were doing well, but at 12 weeks I was diagnosed with placenta praevia, meaning I had a low-lying placenta that could rupture and cause a haemorrhage.
It was a very stressful time but seeing the magical bond between Georgia and Fred kept me strong.
I knew David was worried, too, because we only found a few other cases in medical literature – in the UK, Italy and Canada – so no-one knew what to expect.
Thankfully, after 20 weeks, the bleeding stopped – the placenta had lifted.
We also learned the older twin was a girl and the younger one was a boy.
“I’m getting a baby girl,” Georgia beamed happily.
“And a boy is coming for me,” Fred would grin.
A scheduled C-section was planned, but two weeks before, in April 2023, I went into labour and had an emergency caesarean.
Poppy, our elder twin, was born at 37 weeks and four days, weighing 3010g, and Michael, the younger, at 35 weeks, weighing 2045g.
While Poppy let out a cry, Michael flatlined.
“Is he going to be okay?” I panicked.
I kissed them both quickly before they were rushed off.
Michael needed breathing support and was given the all-clear a few hours later, but they both needed to stay in the NICU.
“It’s a medical miracle,” the doctor said. “You’re a very lucky lady to get two beautiful babies after such an extremely rare occurrence.”
Remarkably, they were only the 10th confirmed case in the world.
The next day, finally able to hold them together in my arms, I smiled with relief.
“Poppy looks exactly like Georgia,” I said.
“Michael’s so tiny,” David said, “but he has my chin.”
After three days in the NICU, Georgia and Fred came to meet them.
Poppy came home after a week in hospital, while Michael stayed another week until he was able to regulate his temperature and feed adequately.
David took four months off work as a schoolteacher to help.
Poppy started smiling at six weeks.
“When will Michael smile?” Fred asked.
We explained he was younger and would catch up in his own time.
Developmentally, he was a month behind Poppy, but caught up to her when she rolled and then crawled.
When a local journalist picked up our story and we appeared in the newspaper, Georgia started calling them her “special miracle twins”.
“They are different even though they were born at the same time,” she told all her friends.
Whenever we went for a check-up, a nurse would comment, “It’s those twins”.
“They’re famous,” David and I joked.
The twins are now nine months old and wear the same size clothes.
Poppy is bubbly, loves attention and is determined, while Michael is relaxed and charms everyone with his cheeky smiles. They both love bath time.
I wanted to share our story to give hope to others.
We went from being told we might not be able to conceive, to having four adorable children. We got a bit more than we bargained for but we’re not complaining.
