Woman conceives naturally days after IVF treatment

A woman conceived a second baby naturally after successfully completing a round of IVF

Kimberly Tripp, 35, knew from a young age that she would struggle to conceive naturally due to a polycystic ovarian syndrome diagnosis at the age of 15.

Yet she conceived sons Patrick and Leo within days of each other, one via IVF and the other naturally – though she will never know which.

She only discovered she was pregnant with two babies – technically twins – when she went for her six-week scan to check the progress of the embryo.

The Brisbane native said there was no way of knowing which baby was conceived first, but she believes Patrick may have been conceived first as he was the bigger of the two babies.

Kimberley told Mail Online: “The fertility specialist explained to me that due to all the medication I was taking for IVF, it must have kicked started my fertility. This meant I was able to ovulate and conceive at the same time.

“My husband, Adrian, and I didn’t think to use protection during the IVF process, because I don’t ovulate – which was the reason for the IVF in the first place. We were so overjoyed to be having twins. I feared I’d never have one baby, let alone two.”

The couple spent thousands of pounds on four rounds of IVF treatment before it was successful.

Kimberley said: “It was something we thought might never happen. Then at our first ultrasound at six weeks along, we discovered that there was not only one baby, but two. I was in total shock.”

The phenomenon of becoming pregnant twice in a short period of time is known as superfetation.

The baby boys were born in March 2020 weighing 2.72kg and 1.92kg, respectively.

Kimberley concluded: “Miracles do happen, and now I feel like my world is complete. We’re so happy.”