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Mother Gives Birth to Twins with DIFFERENT Fathers
- May 19, 2009 at 2:18 AM
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Mother Gives Birth To Twins With Different Fathers, US
18 May 2009
11-month old Dallas-born twins Justin and Jordan have different
fathers, a phenomenon known as heteropaternal superfecundation that is
so rare there are only a handful of documented cases in the world.
Their parents Mia Washington and her fiancée James Harrison went public
with their news last week when they contacted FOX4 to tell their story.
Admitting she was having an affair with another man at the time the
twins were conceived, Washington said she was shocked that it had
happened to her:
"I have twins, but they're by different fathers," she told the TV news company.
Washington and Harrison noticed that the twins had different facial
features and decided to have a paternity test. They went to Dallas DNA
Lab Clear Diagnostics who said they had never seen a result like this
before and that there was a 99.999 per cent chance that Justin and
Jordan were fathered by different men.
The highly probable result is that Jordan is Harrison's biological son
and Justin's biological father is the man Washington had an affair with.
Lab Clear Diagnostics' president Genny Thibodeaux described the news as
"very crazy", and "most people don't believe it can happen".
Dr Chris Dreiling, from the Paediatric Association of Dallas, who has
not met the family, told Fox News that a woman can release more than
one egg during ovulation, and if she has intercourse with more than one
partner at around that time, then sperm from different partners can
fertilize each egg:
"Because sperm cells take a while to travel and eggs take a while to
travel there can be an overlap," said Dreiling, explaining that it was
a very rare event and likely to be "the only time that we will ever see
this occur in the city of Dallas".
Harrison said he will bring up the two boys as his own. He said he has forgiven his fiancée and promised to stay with her.
He said they are taking it day by day, "it's going to take time to build that trust like we had", he added.
Washington said she felt wary at first, thinking he would try but then give up and leave. But she said that has not happened.
"James is a good man; he's a great father and genuinely loves both of
the twins," said Washington, adding that as far as she was concerned he
was the father of both boys because "he's the one there every morning
when they get up and every night when they go to sleep".
Washington said she regrets her mistake and wants other people to know that this can happen.
"Don't put yourself in my shoes, because it can hurt and it does hurt,
but you still have to go on with life". She had this advice for other
women:
"Be careful about starting an affair - look what happened to me. Think hard about the consequences first, because the most
bizarre things can happen when you least expect it!"
Washington said she will tell her sons about their different DNA when
they are old enough to understand. She has no plans to tell the other
father, although she did say "if when he is older Justin wants to meet
his real dad then that's his decision".
Although rare in humans, heteropaternal superfecundation is more common
in other animals such as cats and dogs, a fact that is well known to
professional breeders. Some kennel clubs for instance allow the
registration of litters to more than one male dog or "sire", a
phenomenon called "multi-siring", and you can purchase DNA test kits
from them for that purpose.
Sources: myFox DALLAS/FORTWORTH, Daily Mail, American Kennel Club.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150463.php
Comments:
I've heard of it before, but it's still fascinating. Sucks to be her though, because now she has to come clean about the affair. What a mess!
Wow, that's amazing!
I knew this could happen, but it's still wild that it did! I was rather amazed to learn years ago that a litter of kittens or puppies may be fathered by several different males because, of course, the female may copulate many times during her heat.
Kind of along the same lines...
We had this friend at church that concieved her twins four days apart.
I knew it could happen, but it still amazes me as well.
Amazing what the human body can do.
If you think that is weird, check out superfetation twinning!
I wonder if they are able to accuratly predict the amount of times this could happen as not everyone who gives birth to twins has an affair.
I think its facinating, but no where near as amazing as the woman with two uterus's who had her children 4 months apart.
Dude, she's the slut!
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Interesting. I've heard of it before.
- jus1jess
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