Odalis, a full-time mother, describes the experience as nothing short of a miracle. She and her husband, Antonio, are overjoyed to have two beautiful daughters. However, their striking resemblance often leads people to believe they are twins, even though, technically, they are not. Odalis finds it simpler to refer to them as twins to avoid having to explain the intricacies of their birth.
She explains, “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.”
The similarities between Lilo and Imelda are so striking that even Odalis and Antonio occasionally mix them up. Odalis shares a humorous incident: “Sometimes my husband will have a baby for an hour and be like, ‘Oh, Lilo,’ this and that, and I’m like, ‘You have Imelda,’ and he will say, ‘What?’ and I’m just there laughing because he was like, ‘Oh my God, for a whole hour, I thought I had Lilo.’”
Odalis and Antonio, who works as a counselor, got married in early 2020 with dreams of starting their own family. Their journey, however, was not without challenges. Odalis experienced a miscarriage during their 12-week check-up in July 2020. Undeterred, they decided to try again a few months later, and she became pregnant in the same month.
Recalling the moment she discovered her second pregnancy, Odalis says, “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, Odalis had to go alone because of COVID-19 regulations, which meant Antonio had to wait outside. She remembers being filled with anxiety, fearing the worst. However, when she saw the first baby’s heartbeat, her tears were tears of joy.
The remarkable aspect of their story is the concept of superfetation, which refers to a second conception occurring during an ongoing pregnancy. While superfetation is exceedingly rare in humans, the timing of Odalis’s two pregnancies was determined through ultrasound examinations, and it was evident that the two babies were not conceived simultaneously.
Odalis’s due date was calculated to be in the middle, two days after one baby would have been 40 weeks and two days before the other. Lilo, conceived first, was born weighing 6 pounds 12 ounces, followed by Imelda, who weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces.
Reflecting on her extraordinary journey, Odalis remarks, “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.”
Odalis’s story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the incredible surprises that life can bring, even in the face of challenges.
