can a girl get pregnant while she is already pregnant

[hauss]

my girlfriend was pregnant a about a week from her due date and we wanted it to come early so we were told that sex would speed it up and we did it on april 2 and then within thirty minutes she started having contractions. Well, it turns out that the baby was born the next day at 10:45 and was placed into the hands of the great adoptive parents arms two days later. My girlfriend went for a doctor visit on the 20th of april (17 days later) and the doctor took a sonogram and said that she has another fertilized egg in her uterus. We haven't touched sex at all between then and now. Given that she didin't have sex with anyone else how is this possible?

Ideas:
semen staying alive for long periods of time
menstrating during end of pregnancy
supernatural phenomenom

[Duckster]

Paging QtM!

[Hilarity N. Suze]

I have heard of women having double uteri.

My source was a coworker who had a friend who supposedly got pregnant (2nd womb) two months after getting pregnant (1st womb), and it was a problem. Now this is real third-hand information, but I know medical people and have confirmed that this is possible--but rare. (The friend of the coworker was on her third child, so it was apparently an easy thing not to discover.)

[GingerOfTheNorth]

I have heard of women having double uteri.

My source was a coworker who had a friend who supposedly got pregnant (2nd womb) two months after getting pregnant (1st womb), and it was a problem. Now this is real third-hand information, but I know medical people and have confirmed that this is possible--but rare. (The friend of the coworker was on her third child, so it was apparently an easy thing not to discover.)
My grandmother also had two uteri. My dad and his 'twin' were each gestated in different uteri.

[cher3]

Why did the doctor take a sonogram of a women who had just given birth? If he wanted to find out if she was pregnant, wouldn't he use a regular urine or blood test?

[fifty-six]

Ideas:
semen staying alive for long periods of time
menstrating during end of pregnancy
supernatural phenomenom



Ok I am still a little new at posting on these boards but is this an example of intresting poster/post.

The TV show House

[Antigen]

I don't think you can even see anything in a sonogram at the two-week point. This site (http://www.bidmc.harvard.edu/display.asp?node_id=4988#4) says the embryo (note: not the "fertilized egg", which would be much too small to see anyway) is visible on ultrasound at about week six.

I'm not a doctor or ultrasound tech, but the story doesn't make much sense to me.

[Mangetout]

There's something in small mammals (maybe others, but I only know it from having bred gerbils) called post-partumn heat, where the female is sexually receptive (often [i]very[i]) for a few hours after giving birth; the male often sits, waiting to leap on her the moment the birth is finished. If she isn't impregnated at that point, she will not usually be on heat again until the litter is almost weaned. YRMMV

[Mangetout]

But yes, the ultrasound thing sounds iffy.

[OpalCat]

Why did the doctor take a sonogram of a women who had just given birth? If he wanted to find out if she was pregnant, wouldn't he use a regular urine or blood test?

They could have been doing an ultrasound to see how she was healing, to check if there were remnants of the placenta left, or something like that, and just noticed something unusual...maybe?

[Green Cymbeline]

I agree, I have a hard time believing that you could see a 17-day-old fertilized egg with a sonogram...

I have a related story though. A guy I knew -his wife had twins (from one uterus) but they weren't concieved at the same time; they were concieved several weeks apart. I had never heard of that, but he said that his doctor could tell the fetuses were of different ages.

Now how would that happen? If one embryo had already implanted, wouldn't the resulting hormones prevent another egg from being released? So where did the second egg come from?

Ideas, anyone?

[OpalCat]

My mom represented one of the dads in a case once where a woman had twins with different fathers. Seriously.

[WhyNot]

I call bullshit.

Under the best conditions, sperm can only last for five days before fertilization. Even with two uterii, the hormone balance would be out of whack. The estrogen levels would be too low, progesterone too high, and oxytocin's going to cause implantation to be impossible. Besides, during labor, everything - baby, fluid, placenta and any lining is flushed out of the uterus, and the uterine lining continues to come out for at least a week afterwards - a zygote would not survive that process long enough for a lining to rebuild and make a bed to implant.

On top of all that, there's a plug of mucus that stoppers up the opening to the uterus, making it unlikely that sperm could even enter. If they did, there's a baby, an amniotic sac full of fluid and a placenta, all forming barriers to put a diaphragm to shame.

She could have gotten pregnant a couple of weeks after the birth, though. The ultrasound, at this point, should be able to pinpoint the very day of conception pretty accurately. If she won't tell you, she's probably hiding something.

I'd ask for a DNA test, because if you didn't have sex with her after the 2nd, it's highly, highly unlikely that it's your baby. Unlikely enough that the doctor will be writing it up for publishing in some journal or another.

I have a related story though. A guy I knew -his wife had twins (from one uterus) but they weren't concieved at the same time; they were concieved several weeks apart. I had never heard of that, but he said that his doctor could tell the fetuses were of different ages.

Now how would that happen? If one embryo had already implanted, wouldn't the resulting hormones prevent another egg from being released? So where did the second egg come from?
Yes, it should prevent another egg from being released, and eggs are only "good" for 24-48 hours. There could be a difference of maybe 4 days, but that's it. "Several weeks" sounds like proud papa hyperbole.

[Good Egg]

, and the uterine lining continues to come out for at least a week afterwards
Only a week? Everyone I knowwho has given birth say they have bled for at least 3 weeks afterwards.

[Abbie Carmichael]

My mom represented one of the dads in a case once where a woman had twins with different fathers. Seriously.

The official word for that is superfecundation.

(I suppose the unofficial term is "hoing around.")

Only a week? Everyone I knowwho has given birth say they have bled for at least 3 weeks afterwards.

The first week is so bloody there is no way any normal man would get near his wife -- we're talking oceans here. Nor, I daresay, would any normal new mother even REMOTELY be thinking of having sex. She's probably still stitched up!

But yeah ... 3 weeks of bleeding sounds about right.

I'm not buying the OP.

[WhyNot]

Only a week? Everyone I knowwho has given birth say they have bled for at least 3 weeks afterwards.
Three weeks is probably more normal. I, the Most Fertile Woman on EarthTM, only bled for a week with my vaginally delivered son and about 9 days with my c-sectioned daughter. Go figure. She's 10 weeks old today and I'm on my second period since her birth as we speak. Arrrgh.

[Aestivalis]

Three weeks is probably more normal. I, the Most Fertile Woman on EarthTM, only bled for a week with my vaginally delivered son and about 9 days with my c-sectioned daughter. Go figure. She's 10 weeks old today and I'm on my second period since her birth as we speak. Arrrgh.


Are you nursing? My son is 10 months old and my wife hasn't had a period for 19 months...

[missbunny]

We haven't touched sex at all between then and now. Given that she didin't have sex with anyone else how is this possible?

Ideas:
semen staying alive for long periods of time
menstrating during end of pregnancy
supernatural phenomenom


How about girlfriend is a liar? It wouldn't be the first time on earth that it's happened.

[Mama Zappa]

...Yes, it should prevent another egg from being released, and eggs are only "good" for 24-48 hours. There could be a difference of maybe 4 days, but that's it. "Several weeks" sounds like proud papa hyperbole.

Actually, it's not. It *is* rare, but it can happen - called "superfetation (http://mypage.direct.ca/c/csamson/multiples/1formed.html). Rare, but it does occur - happened to a friend of mine, whose twins were evidently conceived 2 weeks apart. I don't recall all the details of how they determined that, but they were better than 50% sure it had to have happened that way.

[Mr. Slant]

my girlfriend was pregnant a about a week from her due date and we wanted it to come early so we were told that sex would speed it up and we did it on april 2 and then within thirty minutes she started having contractions. Well, it turns out that the baby was born the next day at 10:45 and was placed into the hands of the great adoptive parents arms two days later. My girlfriend went for a doctor visit on the 20th of april (17 days later) and the doctor took a sonogram and said that she has another fertilized egg in her uterus. We haven't touched sex at all between then and now. Given that she didin't have sex with anyone else how is this possible?

SNIP

hauss,
The simplest answer is that someone is lying to you.
Another poster has implied it might be your girlfriend. I'll leave that line of thought alone for now.
Let's think about her doctor. Were you present on the 20th when her doctor did that sonogram?
Could the doctor be misinterpreting what he/she saw?
Could your girlfriend be misunderstanding what she thought the doctor said to her?
Could you be misunderstanding what your girlfriend told you?

Back to your girlfriend. Is it possible she might have had sex since the childbirth and either not realize it or not wanted to tell you about it? Rape victims will sometimes (understandaly) not want to talk about it. She might be unaware she's had sex, which could happen in the case of persons wittingly or unwittingly under the influence of some drugs.

In any case, I hope things turn out as happily for you as possible. This has to be strange on your end.

[Spatial Rift 47]

The TV show House

The funny thing is, this thread does share several important traits with your typical episode of House: 1) puzzling condition that defies simple diagnosis, 2) hypotheses of people lying and screwing up, and 3) hypotheses of exceedingly rare conditions. The only thing we need now is a cane and a bottle of Vicodin, and we'll be all set to figure this one out.

[Mr. Slant]

hauss,
SNIP
and either not realize it or not wanted to tell you about it? Rape victims will sometimes (understandaly) not want to talk about it. She might be unaware she's

SNIP.

^^^^understandably

And please, for the love of God, either
A) Abortion
or
B) Adoption
since you guys don't seem interested in parenting.

Good luck, don't do anything you will regret, and don't do anything illegal.

[Zsofia]

How about c) reliable birth control from now on? No offence, honey, but if you're patently uninterested in parenting, reliable safe birth control methods are a lot easier than this childbirth thing.

[WhyNot]

Are you nursing? My son is 10 months old and my wife hasn't had a period for 19 months...
I'm pumping milk for a premie in the hospital. I didn't expect it to have the same ovulation/menstruation suppression that breastfeeding does, but I wasn't expecting a return to fertility quite so quickly!

I'm sure you and your wife know this, but let's remind our studio audience that breastfeeding, even exclusively, does NOT provide ovulation supression good enough to be considered birth control. Women today are far too well fed for this old wives' tale to hold true - she can ovulate at any time and become pregnant without ever getting a period!
Actually, it's not. It *is* rare, but it can happen - called "superfetation. Rare, but it does occur - happened to a friend of mine, whose twins were evidently conceived 2 weeks apart. I don't recall all the details of how they determined that, but they were better than 50% sure it had to have happened that way.
DAYUM! I've been a laystudent of human fertility for years and I've never heard of this. Huh. How rare is it, do you know? I can only find a handful of human cases reported in papers on PubMed, and most of those seem to be fertility treatment related. Yay, I have something new to study! :D

[Mighty_Girl]

How about c) reliable birth control from now on? No offence, honey, but if you're patently uninterested in parenting, reliable safe birth control methods are a lot easier than this childbirth thing.Well, if she is indeed pregnat, it is already too late for birth control (this time around).

[Zsofia]

Well, if she is indeed pregnat, it is already too late for birth control (this time around).
Yeah, but evidently it's an ongoing problem. One does hope for future improvement.

[CC]

"menstrating during end of pregnancy" : OP

Aside from the spelling, you seem to have a tenuous grasp of physiology. Maybe you are speculating that your girlfriend was ovulating during the end of pregnancy. Menstruation is something totally different. This is not the forum for us to be judgmental - although many of us are apparently trying very hard not to be - but in order to be a responsible sex partner, I'd recommend a crash course on the female reproductive cycle.

[picunurse]

I agree, I have a hard time believing that you could see a 17-day-old fertilized egg with a sonogram...

I have a related story though. A guy I knew -his wife had twins (from one uterus) but they weren't concieved at the same time; they were concieved several weeks apart. I had never heard of that, but he said that his doctor could tell the fetuses were of different ages.

Now how would that happen? If one embryo had already implanted, wouldn't the resulting hormones prevent another egg from being released? So where did the second egg come from?

Ideas, anyone?
Gestational age doesn't mean different dates of insemination, some embros mature more slowly due to a number of possible problems. Even idential twins can have different gestional ages.
The parents misunderstood what the doctor explained poorly.

The question of the 17 week embryo being seen on ultrasound, doesn't ring true. Here (http://www.med.unc.edu/embryo_images/unit-bdyfm/bdyfm_htms/bdyfm006.htm)is a photomicrograph of a 17 day embryo. Even it it were big enough to see, it wouldn'y be recognizable as anything but a blob of tissue.
I'm afraid the you and/or your GF misunderstood the doctor.

[Jinx]

My mom represented one of the dads in a case once where a woman had twins with different fathers. Seriously.

Ancient Greeks and their myths had the Gemini twins described as being from different fathers.

[Jinx]

Gestational age doesn't mean different dates of insemination, some embros mature more slowly due to a number of possible problems. Even idential twins can have different gestional ages.
The parents misunderstood what the doctor explained poorly.

The question of the 17 week embryo being seen on ultrasound, doesn't ring true. Here (http://www.med.unc.edu/embryo_images/unit-bdyfm/bdyfm_htms/bdyfm006.htm)is a photomicrograph of a 17 day embryo. Even it it were big enough to see, it wouldn'y be recognizable as anything but a blob of tissue.
I'm afraid the you and/or your GF misunderstood the doctor.

I'd agree, but...how then how are those who generated this picture so sure they're looking at an embryo themselves???
- Jinx :confused:

[Zabali_Clawbane]

Jinx, I'd say the answer to your question most likely is, that it was proven as the pregnancy progressed.

[biddee]

I don't know about anyone else, but there was no way on earth that I would have had sex 2 weeks after giving birth vaginally. OUCH!!! Besides, as the other posters said, it would be virtually impossible to see anything on an ultrasound at 2 weeks gestation. What is possible is that there is a piece of retained placenta in her uterus and that is what the doctor saw on the ultrasound and your girlfriend misheard him. I think you need to go see this doctor for yourself and find out exactly what is going on. Please post back when you uncover this mystery! I'm intrigued.

[WhyNot]

I don't know about anyone else, but there was no way on earth that I would have had sex 2 weeks after giving birth vaginally.
Eh, maybe. If she's young (as sounds likely), not taking care of a newborn and had an uncomplicated birth with no episiotomy, she could heal that quickly. Never underestimate the power of teenage hormones.

[TellMeI'mNotCrazy]

The question of the 17 week embryo being seen on ultrasound, doesn't ring true. Here (http://www.med.unc.edu/embryo_images/unit-bdyfm/bdyfm_htms/bdyfm006.htm)is a photomicrograph of a 17 day embryo. Even it it were big enough to see, it wouldn'y be recognizable as anything but a blob of tissue.
I'm afraid the you and/or your GF misunderstood the doctor.


Not that I disagree, but that image says that it's of a mouse embryo.

[WhyNot]

Not that I disagree, but that image says that it's of a mouse embryo.
It's a mouse embryo at 7 days, which is the same level of development as a human zygote at 17 days. The two are virtually indistinguishable - here's an 18-day human (http://connection.lww.com/Products/sadler/images/figurelarge11-1.jpg).

[TellMeI'mNotCrazy]

Ahh, got it. I'll just invoke the Caffeine Defense ;)

[inkleberry]

Can we get an update? Retained placenta? Some sort of communication problem between your gf and the doc? Double uterii? Alien involvement? Secretly trolling? By now you should know what's up in there...

[AngelicGemma]

Can we get an update? Retained placenta? Some sort of communication problem between your gf and the doc? Double uterii? Alien involvement? Secretly trolling? By now you should know what's up in there...

The OP has been banned. I guess we'll never know.

[WhyNot]

The OP has been banned. I guess we'll never know.
Actually, he's been suspended. Orange Juice hauss is claiming Creepy Abortion hauss is his brother posting under his username.

Posts 105-109 here. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=319311&page=3&pp=50)

[dangermom]

So which one was it who wanted to feign insanity to get out of child support?

(Boy, this is better than soap operas any day...)

[WhyNot]

So which one was it who wanted to feign insanity to get out of child support?

(Boy, this is better than soap operas any day...)
Creepy Abortion hauss - this one, I presume. He also wanted to know if he got his girlfriend so intoxicated that she got alcohol poisoning, would she miscarry.

Charming fellow.

(links in that other thread I linked to.)

[Dr_Paprika]

This seems suspicious to me. Doing a postpartum ultrasound is not that unusual if there is reason to suspect retained placenta, etc, but you would not see a fertilized egg not evidence of pregnancy for six weeks or so -- nor would a B-hcG be relaiable under such circumstances. Getting pregnant durning pregnancy is probably possible, but definitely very unusual.

Dr_Pap, MD

[Shirley Ujest]

This is all from memory, but I remember reading about a woman who gave birth to twins who had different fathers.

How did she know or how it came about that everyone figured out that she slept with two different guys was that she had sex one day with a white guy and then later on ( presumably that day or thereabouts) with a black guy. One of each came out.

Unless it is an urban legend of my ute.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

This is all from memory, but I remember reading about a woman who gave birth to twins who had different fathers.

How did she know or how it came about that everyone figured out that she slept with two different guys was that she had sex one day with a white guy and then later on ( presumably that day or thereabouts) with a black guy. One of each came out.

Unless it is an urban legend of my ute.
You're talking about Superfecundation, Shirley. It's well-documented, and not all that rare. Also not what this thread is about.

Here's Cecil's take on the topic of Superfecundation: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_213.html