Turkish woman makes history as 12th superfetation case

İZMİR

In a rare medical incident ever recorded in Turkey, a Turkish woman from the western province of İzmir experienced double pregnancy, becoming pregnant with two babies conceived about a month apart.

“This is the only case in Turkey and one of the 12 rare cases across the globe in the last 100 years,” daily Milliyet reported on March 22.

According to the report, the rare incident occurred in 2017 when Sevinç Çelik experienced a phenomenon called superfetation, which is the simultaneous occurrence of more than one stage of developing offspring in a body.

“I was pregnant with my boy, Poyraz, when I learned that I got pregnant again with another boy I named Ayaz. I gave birth to both on Oct. 6, 2017,” Çelik, who has officially been registered in global medical records as the 12th superfetation case, told the daily.

Technically, the superfetation babies are not twins. But due to successive pregnancies, the babies are “considered” twins.

“I was worried when Ayaz was born weighing only one-and-a-half kilos. He stayed in an incubator for 20 days,” she noted.

However, those days are gone. The boys are 5 years old and healthy. “The development of Ayaz is a little behind Poyraz’s. We make medical checks often,” she added.

When asked about reasons behind superfetation, molecular biologist Korkut Ulucan said, “It may be a hormonal incident.”

As Çelik is the only case in Turkey to have experienced superfetation to date, there is not enough data to know the reasons behind the phenomenon.

“Normally ovulation stops after pregnancy. In this case, we see that it did not,” Ulucan added.