Eleanor Ann and Evelyn Louise were born in February 2022. These twins have both different biological mothers, a common biological father and a common mother, making them half-sisters.
Impossible and yet true! Sandra Stodola, a young American mother, used In Vitro Fertilization to conceive her twin girls after trying it naturally several times for almost 4 years. Eleanor Ann and Evelyn Louise were born from the same womb and yet they are not like the others… They are both twins and half-sisters!
And this is not the case of heteropaternal superfertilization (when two eggs are fertilized at the same time by two different men) which has already taken place, in Brazil in particular. In this case, the biological father is the same for the two girls but it is the biological mother who differs.
A difficult design
Sandra, 34, and her husband Jack, have come a long way and have been, since February 2022, happy and fulfilled parents with their twins. But their journey has not been the easiest. Unable to have children naturally, the American couple appealed to IVF. The first three attempts were supported by their mutual, but ended in successive failures. At that time, the doctors had explained to Sandra that her oocytes were from “really bad quality”, testifies the latter on Geo TV News. A new difficult to accept but the young couple had to resolve. They then attempt a 4th IVF, this time paying out of pocket (about 20,000 dollars), using Sandra’s oocytes and those of a donor. Again, the PMA was a failure.
The couple were devastated and Sandra admitted she was ready to give up: “I wanted to stop everything, psychologically it was very hard (…) I went through all the stages of mourning, I was angry and I asked myself: “Why me?”.” But finally, her desire to become a mother took over : “I always said I couldn’t go through the pain of a failed attempt again, but I knew never having a baby was worse, and each time I ended up wanting to start over.”.
twin stepsisters
The couple then tries a 5th and final attempt with an additional cost of 6,000 dollars using the last frozen embryo, made with an oocyte from Sandra and with another donor embryo to maximize their chances. “This 5th attempt was really the last attempt” says Sandra. “I didn’t want to completely lose hope but after so many failures and so many years of trying, I would never have thought that with my oocytes it would have worked.”
Eventually, the unimaginable for the couple happens and both embryos implant in the uterus. “We just hoped that at least one of the two oocytes would survive”, said the mother. Six weeks later, the couple discovers that Sandra is expecting twins, unique one can say. A common biological father but two different biological mothers.
Eleanor and Evelyn were born last February by emergency caesarean at 36 weeks pregnant. Two healthy babies: a great relief for their mother who was petrified at the thought of losing them even when she was pregnant. “I was convinced there was a problem, even seeing them grow taller on the ultrasound every week, I was paralyzed at the thought of never being able to hug them. I was too scared to be happy, finally being pregnant didn’t mean I would have a baby. I couldn’t believe this was finally happening to us“.
Today, the couple knows which of the two girls is the mother’s biological child, but they prefer to keep this information for themselves and their family. “However, we will be honest with the girls”, explains the young mother.