Twins Conceived One Week Apart Born After Rare Pregnancy

A Texas woman was recently revealed to have quite the interesting pregnancy, conceiving twins one week apart in what she described as a "miracle" following multiple miscarriages.

The Daily Mail reported that Cara Winhold, 30, and her husband Blake, 33, from North Richland Hills, Texas, welcomed their sons Colson and Cayden on October 25, 2021.

The journey from conception to birth was quite the roller coaster ride. After she gave birth to their son, Wyatt, in 2018, the pair wanted to attempt to extend their family.

But elation from Wyatt's birth was followed by terrible news and even a near-fatal situation for Cara. Following a miscarriage of a baby girl in 2019, the former teacher miscarried again one year later and almost bled to death.

"It was happening and I was lying in bed and I would get up and go to the bathroom and there was a lot of blood," she said, adding that her doctor at that time called the bleeding "normal."

Blake convinced her to go to the hospital, where Cara reportedly "blacked out."

"They said that the tissue, which I guess is what they call the baby, had gotten stuck in my cervix and I was bleeding out, and they said if I would have stayed home for maybe 30 more minutes I would have died," she said.

Two blood transfusions were required in what she described as a "traumatic" situation, though she still wanted to try to have more children following successful therapy.

After yet another miscarriage in February 2021, which was discovered after four days, she became pregnant in March. That was when the shock came: During Cara's second scan, she found out that she was carrying not one but two babies—a revelation found out only one week after she initially conceived.

"I got pregnant while I was already pregnant," Cara recalled.

It is described as superfetation when a second, new pregnancy occurs during an initial or existing pregnancy. As Healthline reported, another egg becomes fertilized by sperm and implanted in the womb days or weeks later.

There are "only a few" documented cases of superfetation in medical journals, Healthline added, with many occurrences related to women undergoing fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization.

A 2008 French study, for example, suggested that superfetation was a "very rare phenomenon" as less than 10 cases were documented in medical literature at that time. Today, it remains unclear how many cases have occurred in the U.S. or worldwide.

"I broke down in tears and cried," Cara added. "I was overwhelmed, confused, but very happy. My husband was in shock. On the very first scan there was a sac with one baby and then when I went back there was a really tiny little sac in the corner that had another baby in it."

Babies born from superfetation are often considered twins since they are often born during the same birth on the same day, as was the case with Cara—who in October 2021 gave birth while 35 weeks pregnant.

Colson was born first, weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces. Six minutes later, his little brother, Cayden, was born and weighed 4 pounds, 9 ounces.

"If it's in your story and your heart and calling, then don't give up on it because we didn't and we got a huge surprise and a wonderful miracle in the process," said the elated mother. "I know it's different for everybody, but I never expected to be a twin mom or have all boys. But I'm blessed with a house of boys."

A somewhat identical situation occurred in California, although the mother's children were both born on the same day and at the same time were not technically twins.

Newsweek reached out to Cara for comment.