Making Medical History - Woman births twins conceived 10 days apart

'What makes this case even more rare is that my husband and I only had intercourse one time...'

Kate Hill was heartbroken when she was told it would be unlikely for her to conceive children but the sad news couldn't stop her and husband Peter Hill, from trying.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Kate was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, a disorder that can make conceiving children difficult.

Kate was undergoing hormone treatment for the syndrome, which doctors believe somehow enabled her to ovulate even after conceiving the first child.

Following intercourse, sperm can stay alive and active for several days. In the Hill's case, it remained active for ten days.

In a rare phenomenon called superfetation, a woman who is already pregnant is able to conceive again from a different sperm and egg.

In the case of identical twins, one fertilized egg splits into two while fraternal twins are created when two eggs are fertilized by separate sperm.

Fraternal twins and superfetation may sound similar but fraternal twins share a gestational age, while superfetation twins do not.

Kate's twins had a difference in gestational age by ten days.

"I was shocked - shocked and happy of course," Peter said of his wife's pregnancy. "It was a hole in one!"

According to Today Tonight, Kate shared: "Superfetation is extremely rare-I had fallen pregnant and my body had spontaneously released another egg, giving the embryos different gestational ages.

"What makes this case even more rare is that my husband and I only had intercourse one time [in the possible time period of conceiving the girls]-his sperm stayed alive for 10 days to fertilize the second egg released."

The incident is so rare that there exist only 10 medically documented cases of superfetation in the world.

In fact, Kate's doctor was forced to Google the phenomenon after he failed to find any medical literature covering superfetation.

Doctor Sherry Ross, an ob/gyn and women's health expert at California's Providence St. John's Health Center told SELF superfetation is "poorly understood and somewhat mystical for the medical community," then added, "Some medical phenomena we can't explain by any reason or logic."

Superfetation is an extremely rare phenomenon but Dr. Ross has to admit, "nothing is so black and white that it's not possible."

Dr. Michael Cackovic, a maternal-fetal medicine physician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, agreed with Dr. Ross.

He stated: "One episode of intercourse with two pregnancies 10 days apart is highly suspect. That being said, as they say in "Jurassic Park," 'life finds a way.'"

Today, the non-identical twins, Charlotte and Olivia, are healthy 10-month-old girls with different blood types and extremely different personalities.

Kate explained: "Olivia is pretty loud, but Charlotte is the demanding one. They are definitely little miracles."

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