The 11-month-old twin boys born to a Texas mom have a lot in common, but one thing they don’t share is a father.
That’s because their mother, Mia Washington, cheated on her partner, James Harrison, according to the Daily Mail, and her fling resulted in a one-in-a-million double conception. The result is that one twin, Jordan, is James’s son but the other one, Justin, was fathered by a man whose identity has not been released.
The Dallas mother became suspicious about her sons’ paternity when she realized that their facial features were dissimilar, according to the Daily Mail. She visited Clear Diagnostics DNA Lab, had a paternity test, and learned that there was just a 0.001 chance that the twins could have the same father.
“I have twins who have different dads,” the mom told the newspaper. “Out of all the people in America and all the people in the world, this had to happen to me.”
Authorities say it is extremely rare for this to happen.
“It’s very crazy, most people don’t believe it can happen but it really can,” Genny Thibodeaux, from the Clear Diagnostics DNA Lab, told the Mail.
In order for it to happen, “The infidelity would have had to occur within a 24 to 48 hour period,” says Dr. Joseph Finkelstein, a Manhattan obstetrician and gynecologist. “Once the egg is released and gets fertilized, the system shuts down, so although it technically could happen, it would have to happen in two days or less.”
The likelihood of having twins without any medical intervention such as the use of fertility drugs is about 1 in 100, Finkelstein says.
In the case of the Texas twins, there was never any health threat to the babies during the pregnancy because they were fathered by different men.
“It’s not a baby issue since they had different placentas,” Finkelstein explains. “The two babies are totally separate entities. Babies can have different blood types even if they have the same father.”
James Washington has agreed to raise both twins as his own, according to the Daily Mail, and the couple intends to tell their kids the whole story when they are a little older. Meanwhile, their family will be expanding soon: Mia Washington is expecting baby number three.
“Five months ago we found out that I was pregnant again and our new baby is due to arrive in the autumn,” she told the Daily Mail. “Right now I’m fully committed to taking care of my family and making sure their needs are met. I can guarantee there’ll be no questions raised this time around.”
Finkelstein says it’s common for twins not to resemble each other - even when they do have the same dad. “In the movie 'Twins', you have Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito,” he says. “Think about how different those two look.”
Read more: "Texas woman gives birth to twins - from different fathers" - http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/05/18/2009-05-18_texas_woman.html#ixzz0G5qGlSVC&A
