Normally, a woman's menstrual cycle halts during pregnancy. However, in rare cases, one can still ovulate while pregnant, which leads to a second pregnancy while expecting a baby.
Do You Ovulate When Pregnant?
The menstrual cycle ends and is replaced by a new hormonal cycle during pregnancy. An important change in the body's hormonal balance is brought about during pregnancy.
A distinct 9-month phase takes precedence over the regular monthly hormonal cycle. This indicates that regular activities like menstruation and ovulation cease. As an alternative, the body becomes ready for pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Due to this, the body's hCG levels increase quickly after conception and reach their peak during the 12th week of pregnancy, after which they start to decline. Concurrently, levels of progesterone and estrogen rise steadily from the moment of conception and only start to fall after the baby is born.
Can You Ovulate While Pregnant
Ovulation normally stops during pregnancy because the body needs to make room for the growing embryo. Theoretically, it would be extremely unusual or impossible for a woman to ovulate after giving birth. However, in extremely rare situations, a woman might continue to ovulate while pregnant and have a second kid that develops in her body at a different rate. Superfetation is an uncommon event that has only been documented in 10 cases in the medical literature.
The likelihood of ovulation during pregnancy may rise as a result of fertility treatments. Superfetated babies can be born at the same time, although their ages and stages of development differ. Nevertheless, superfetal offspring typically survive.
"Superfetation in humans is possible, but it is extremely rare," Sasha Andrews, MD, board-certified maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Pediatrix Medical Group in Denver, Colorado, said. "I have never seen it in my practice nor heard of any local cases."
Katie Sagaser, MS, LCGC, a genetic counselor at Juno Diagnostics, shares the same sentiment, noting that superfetation is "incredibly rare in humans" but it's possible. In her career, she reportedly witnessed one instance, where one of their patients was suspected of a superfetation in her twin pregnancy.
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What Is Superfetation?
Superfetation is a rare phenomenon when a female becomes pregnant while she is already pregnant. This indicates that while the first fetus is still growing inside the female's uterus, she releases another egg and allows it to become fertilized. It is more frequently seen in some animal species, such as primates, rats, and rabbits. It has only been mentioned a few times in the medical literature and is extremely uncommon in people.
Typically, a woman's body quits releasing eggs after she becomes pregnant. Additionally, the entire pregnancy mechanism-including the physical and hormonal changes-work together to prevent a second pregnancy.
In contrast, superfetation occurs when a woman who is already pregnant continues to ovulate while allowing the male sperm to fertilize the egg and enable implantation. But it is an exceptional occurrence.
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