Twins born to different Mothers
Categories: Pregnancy & Birth, Media
I have read about identical twins who were dramatically different sizes at birth, I've even read about twins with totally different skin colours from one another -- but I've never heard of two twins having different Mothers. But, apparently, it happens. For only the second time ever recorded, fraternal twin girls were born to a surrogate and "regular" Mother (regular for lack of a better word -- if anyone can think of one please let me know)
40-year old Amy Bernaba had been undergoing IVF treatment for twelve years, when doctors finally decided that she would probably not be able to carry another baby due to immune system problems. They had an unusual solution: they planted egges fertilized by her husband's sperm into her womb and also into the womb of a surrogate Mother. Against incredible odds, both women became pregnant.
They both had normal pregnancies and delivered on the same day -- giving birth on May 27 in neighbouring hospital rooms.
Little Lauren and Hannah Bernaba are not identical, but look very similar. They're both adorable, too. What an amazing story.
40-year old Amy Bernaba had been undergoing IVF treatment for twelve years, when doctors finally decided that she would probably not be able to carry another baby due to immune system problems. They had an unusual solution: they planted egges fertilized by her husband's sperm into her womb and also into the womb of a surrogate Mother. Against incredible odds, both women became pregnant.
They both had normal pregnancies and delivered on the same day -- giving birth on May 27 in neighbouring hospital rooms.
Little Lauren and Hannah Bernaba are not identical, but look very similar. They're both adorable, too. What an amazing story.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gry 6-09-2007 @ 2:09PM
It's fascinating and all, but I really wonder what the definition of "twins" is. The article says same thing happened a about a year ago, but the babies were born 16 days apart.. So how can THIS be the worlds first twins being born to two different women? Unless "twin" means "siblings born on the same day".
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Eva 6-09-2007 @ 4:39PM
For those of you following along at home, they did not implant (or as you wrote here, plant) embryos anywhere--they TRANSFERRED them. This is a common mistake made by people not familiar with reproductive technology. If embryos could be implanted, then all IVF cycles would end in pregnancy. You can only transfer them and hope they stick.
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Belinda 6-09-2007 @ 10:00PM
How about instead of "regular mother" how about "biological mother"??? Also I agree with Gry, how are they twins? They sound more like siblings born on the same day, twins tend to share the womb. Now if they were IDENTICAL then I can see where you can call them twins. But in the interest of keeping things SIMPLE twins sounds great!!! :-)
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cmlsrl 6-10-2007 @ 12:11PM
Let's see if I remember my science terms (probably not)...Twins actually form from one fertilized egg that splits into two embryos...so yes, this is possible. They don't necessarily have to share a womb if they were created from IVF procedures. Twins do not have to be born on the same day either. I work at a law firm and we have a case where twins were born weeks apart.
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Heather 6-10-2007 @ 1:53PM
Sorry but I have to ague a little bit with cmlsrl.
Twins can happen in a couple different ways 1) one egg and one sperm meet and the egg splits in two. thus identical twins 2) two eggs and two sperm meet no split and you have fraternal twins.
I dentical twins will always be either boy/boy or girl/girl. Fraternal twins can either be boy/boy, boy/girl, or girl/girl.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a doctor, but I love watching shows on discovery health, and they have explained things like that on their shows.
I would have to agree that to be a "twin" they would have to be in the same womb, however, for this article I think the term will fit.
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Beth SG 6-10-2007 @ 1:56PM
My understanding of the story is that both girls were created with eggs and sperm from the same woman & man.
Then, one was transferred to and gestated in the biological mother's uterus and one in a surrogate's uterus.
Perhaps, technically, they would only be definted as full siblings (which they most definitely are) if they would have to be "gestated in the same uterus" to be truly considered twins.
(Only identical twins form from one fertilized egg splitting; fraternal twins are 2 eggs different fertilized by 2 different sperm - genetically no different from any other full siblings.)
But, really folks - They are sisters (genetically, and socially) who have the same birthday (and even if they didn't they'd be within days or weeks of each other).
They will go through life together, step by step.
There's no legal defition of the term "twins," nor is there a need for one. It's not as if they would receive or be denied some sort of rights or privileges if they were or were not twins.
So, really, why are we concerned with whether they "actually" are or are not twins?
The point of this story is that a couple who wanted a child very badly took an unusual step in hopes that at least one of the embryos tranferred would survive, and they were lucky enough that two did. It just makes it more interesting (and, evidently, newsworthy) that the two that survived were carried by different women.
Can't we just be happy for this family without picking nits over the wording in the article or whether or not these babies "deserve" to be referred to as twins?
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rebecca Biernesser 6-10-2007 @ 2:27PM
I personally think it's cool that she was able to have two children after trying for sooo long. Even cooler was she got to experience pregnancy herself.
I also understand why they are being called twins. Makes it easier than explaining what actually happened...
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