Heteropaternal Superfecundation is a rare situation in which a mother gives birth to two (or sometimes more) kids, both of whom are from different fathers.

Mia Washington – a 20 year old woman in Dallas, Texas, USA – and her Significant-Other James Harrison had one of the happiest day in their lives. Mia had given birth to a pair of twins. Born just 7 minutes apart, they were named as Jordan and Justin.

This ostensibly completed a happy family. 44-year-old James Harrison, who had been living with his girlfriend Mia Washington and her son, was delighted with the addition of the two new members.
And they will continue to live their happy lives until a few more months.

Cut to May 2009, Jordan and Justin are 11 months old. There is some sort of tension between Mom and Dad. And they have decided to go for a paternity test.

…

The results of the tests are out and James, for a while, is devastated.

The tests tell him that he is the father; but to only one of the two twins. There is only 0.001% chance that the second child is his too.

WAIT! WHAT!?!?!

Twins from different fathers!?

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Yes. It was a rare case of what doctors call Heteropaternal Superfecundation. A phenomenon where a woman can become pregnant with the kids of different males at the same time.

Mia had given birth to twins with different fathers!

In other words, Jordan and Justin were twins, yet they were half brothers!

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James Harrison had already noted something peculiar about the twins. Whilst they were born just 7 minutes apart, some of their features, as per James, were distinctly different. So different that it had lead to a discussion with the mother, and eventually the paternity tests.

And now, Mia had a confession to make…

But how did this happen? What is Heteropaternal Superfecundation?

To understand Heteropaternal Superfecundation, you first need to understand the general process of reproduction in humans.

Ovaries in the female body produce eggs or ovum (singular: ova). The ovum travels through the Fallopian tube before reaching the uterus. If a sperm, during this period fertilizes the egg, it forms the zygote cell, which eventually becomes the fetus.

That is fundamentally how a woman becomes pregnant and ultimately gives birth to a baby.

How and why do we get twins?

Twins (i.e. two offspring in the same pregnancy) can exist due to a few known circumstances. But for the sake of simplicity, here I’d be discussing the very basic two conditions and the elephant in the room – Heteropaternal Superfecundation.

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Monozygotic twins

Monozygotic twins are what are known in common language as “identical twins”.
They look almost the same. And the reason for it is that they are from the same zygote.

Identical twins are conceived when the zygote splits into two, resulting in the development of two fetuses.

Meaning that first, the ova is released, then it is fertilized by the sperm, and then it splits into two.

Monozygotic, as the term suggests, coming “from one zygote.”

Dizygotic Twins

As the term itself suggests, “dizygotic” means “from two zygotes”. But how are two zygotes formed?

Two zygotes are formed when the woman’s body releases two ovum in the same month. In case, you did not know, a sperm can live upto 5 days in a woman’s body.

Therefore, the release of two ovum during the same cycle could lead to both being fertilized at the same time. Hence, two offspring are conceived during the same pregnancy.

The dizygotic twins, in essence, are no different than normal siblings, except they are born in the same pregnancy. Their features could resemble each other, just as is in the case of normal siblings.

But what happened in the case of Justin and Jordan?

Justin and Jordan were obviously, not identical twins. But the parents had suspected that they weren’t homopaternal twins either.

As mentioned before, some of their features were noticeably different. And the parentage tests had confirmed the doubts.

Justin and Jordan were Superfecundation twins.

Mia confirmed after the tests that she indeed had intercourse with another man too. What’s more is that both deeds of intimacy – one with James Harrison and the other one with the unnamed second man – happened during a 5-day window, resulting in this.

The process of Heteropaternal Superfecundation

Heteropaternal Superfecundation takes place when the female’s body produces two ovum in the same cycle and both of them are fertilized, but by sperms from different men.

OMG!

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So, it is possible that Mia had intercourse with James – which later resulted in the formation of one of the two zygotes – and then her body, after a few days released another ova that was fertilized by the other man when she mated with him.

“Because sperm cells take a while to travel and eggs take a while to travel there can be an overlap”

Dr. Chris Dreiling from Pediatric Association of Dallas

James’ take on it

“I was hurt, torn apart; didn’t know what the next move was gonna be” said James. “It’s going to take time to build up trust between us like we had. Mia immediately came clean about her mistake and says she takes full responsibility for her action.”

Out of the twins, it is revealed that Justin happens to be the kid from the other man.

James has, however, accepted both the sons.
“I raised him [Justin] from a baby all the way to now. He knows me as his father , and I know him as my son” he reportedly said.

How common is Heteropaternal Superfecundation?

This weird case of twins from different fathers was obviously not the first one ever.
According to The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), USA, out of 39,000 cases of paternity tests, 2.4% were the cases of HS.

The first case of it was reported in 1810 John Archer – who was also the first ever graduate of medicine in America. It was allegedly a case of a white woman having sexual encounters with a black man and a white man in a short window.

She later gave birth two twins: one white, the other of mixed race.

Similar or even more weird cases

In March 2019, a case of heteropaternal superfecundation was reported in China too. Once again, it was a case of an extra marital affair.

The case of Jessica Allen, from California, is an even weird one. She was a surrogate mother to another woman. She gave birth to twins who, were later found out to be from different parents. But interestingly, here from different mothers too.

Yes, she was not only having the surrogate child, but also had been unknowingly, impregnated by her own husband at the same time.

Could you imagine the odds of a coincidence like that happening?

At the end of it,

It all sounds kinda SILLY,
but, has A POINT!

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