Mother Welcomes Two Baby Girls Conceived Five Days Apart, Not Twins!
Odalis Martinez, hailing from San Pablo, California, experienced a rare phenomenon known as superfetation, conceiving her two daughters, Lilo and Imelda, five days apart. Despite not being twins, the girls were born on August 10, 2021, and bear a striking resemblance.
Being a full-time mother, Odalis expressed that it felt like a ‘miracle’ to have daughters Lilo and Imelda Martinez-Atoyac arrive. She admits that the pair looks so similar that both she and Antonio have mistaken them for each other. In fact, they resemble each other so much that Odalis often simplifies matters by telling people they are twins instead of explaining the complex truth.
Odalis shared, “I got pregnant while I was already pregnant. I just say that they’re twins, but after reading a lot of articles, I know that they’re technically not twins, but it’s just confusing for people, so I just tell them, ‘Yeah, they’re twins.’ They’re technically not even identical, but everyone thinks that they are. They definitely look a lot alike. Sometimes, my husband, well, more my husband, will get them mixed up with each other. Antonio will have a baby for an hour and be like, ‘Oh, Lilo,’ and I’m like, ‘You have Imelda,’ and he will say, ‘What?’ and I’m just there laughing because he thought he had Lilo for a whole hour. I usually don’t get them mixed up anymore, just because I’m with them 24/7, so I feel like I can tell them apart pretty easily, but a lot of people get them mixed up.”
Odalis and Antonio, who currently works as a counselor, married in early 2020 and dreamed of starting their own family. Unfortunately, she experienced a miscarriage during their 12-week check-up in July 2020. A few months later, the couple decided to try again, and she became pregnant that same month. Odalis said, “I was extremely happy that the pregnancy test was positive, and we were on our pregnancy journey again. I felt really lucky. I know a lot of people that have been trying to conceive and just haven’t been able to, so that was also a fear of mine, but thankfully that wasn’t our case, and I fell pregnant really quickly.”
During her first ultrasound, Antonio had to wait outside due to Covid regulations. Odalis shared, “I was just so scared that they were going to tell me, ‘Oh, there’s no heartbeat,’ so I was so anxious the whole time. I was texting Antonio, ‘I’m so scared.’ The doctor comes in, and I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for anything, and when she found the first baby and the heartbeat, I was crying with so much happiness.
The exact date of conception can be determined by looking at the size of the fetus and comparing it to the same pattern of growth in other pregnancies. Fetuses grow quickly, which is how ultrasound can determine their age, and how a specialist could have told Imelda and Lilo were not conceived at the same time. The mother-of-two said her due date was set in the middle – two days after one baby would have been 40 weeks and two days before the other one would have been 40 weeks.
The babies arrived on August 10, 2021, with Lilo, who was conceived first, being born first and weighing 6 pounds 12 ounces. Imelda followed, weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces. Odalis said, “I feel like it’s some sort of miracle that I experienced this double pregnancy. Because of our first experience, it made everything during this pregnancy feel so much more special and magical. Just how easy I was able to conceive, and knowing that I had two babies, I just felt like there was so much light after such a dark place. It was the best surprise ever. It was a really beautiful moment to finally be able to hold them in my arms.”
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