Superfataetion of twins

[ElizabethHerts]

Found in the Parish Registers for Grendon, Northamptonshire:

http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/9198/100342738_00013/1192520?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk %2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dNorthamptonshireEarly%26gss%3 dsfs28_ms_r_db%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msbdy%3d1700 %26msbpn__ftp%3dGrendon%252C%2520Northamptonshire% 252C%2520England%26msbpn%3d86326%26msbpn_PInfo%3d8-%257C0%257C0%257C3257%257C3251%257C0%257C0%257C0%2 57C5277%257C86326%257C0%257C%26MSAV%3d1%26uidh%3dh o3&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults#?imageId=100342738_0 0013

Esau, Jacob and Hannah Prestwich, 2nd, 3rd and 4th entries for 1700.
Probably related to me in some way.
See the note:
"This is a very remarkeable Case being a Superfatation of Twins"

Esau was born on the 17th April, and Jacob and Hannah on the 19th.

I'm not convinced they were from a different pregnancy, though.


I love these parish registers. There are lots of extra details given.

[kiterunner]

It looks as though the usual spelling is superfetation or superfoetation.

But I agree with you, it seems more likely they were triplets and it just took a while for numbers 2 and 3 to be born after number 1.

[Kit]

I had to google but interesting either way. I could not imagine giving birth over 3 days, regardless of how all the babies were conceived.

I wonder how they could have known it was 2 pregnancies (if it was) given the lack of technology back then?

[Merry]

Did the babies survive?

[ElizabethHerts]

Did the babies survive?


http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/9198/100342738_00050?pid=1193149&backurl=http://search.ancestry.co.uk//cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DlES1459%26_phstart%3DsuccessSourc e%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26indiv%3D1%26db%3DNorthampton shireEarly%26gss%3Dangs-d%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26gsfn%3DEsau%26gsfn_x%3D0% 26gsln%3DP*ch%26gsln_x%3D0%26msdpn__ftp%3DGrendon, %2520Northamptonshire,%2520England%26msdpn%3D86326 %26msdpn_PInfo%3D8-%257C0%257C0%257C3257%257C3251%257C0%257C0%257C0%2 57C5277%257C86326%257C0%257C%26MSAV%3D1%26uidh%3Dh o3%26pcat%3D34%26fh%3D0%26h%3D1193149%26recoff%3D% 26ml_rpos%3D1&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=lES1459&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true

Jacob was buried 23rd April 1700.
Susannah the mother was buried 26th April 1700.
Esau and Hannah were buried 29th April 1700.
Mary, another daughter, was buried 3rd May 1700.

The poor family.

[Merry]

That's awful. I suppose the triplets were very likely to be too small to survive.

[Merry]

Perhaps one of the babies was much bigger than the other two (or one was much smaller) leading to the idea that they were not all conceived at the same time?

[Olde Crone]

I think the midwife or surgeon would have recognized that there were two separate amniotic sacs. So sad though.

OC

[Merry]

But all fraternal twins have separate amniotic sac and placenta.

[Olde Crone]

Yes, I'm not sure what I thought I meant! It made sense to me at the time.
OC

[Olde Crone]

Ah, what I meant was that two babies were in one sac, so they were identical twins. The other baby was in its own sac, making it a non identical triplet.

OC

[Merry]

If that was the case and if they were able to tell, then they would know the identical pair were born two days apart and the separate baby at the same time as the second identical twin as the first born was male and the other two were male and female. If they still thought the babies were conceived at different times then it would have to be the girl who was perhaps much bigger or much smaller than the other two that would have led to the idea. Of course babies of the same gestation time are often different sizes for a number of reasons and these days only an early scan would be sufficient proof of notably different conception dates.

[Merry]

Do we think the vicar of Grendon must have read a lot of medical books?!!

[Olde Crone]

No, I think the medical attendant reported what they thought they saw. My young neigh bour had fraternal twins,one weighed a kilo, the other was a normal weight. This was because one twin was thriving at the expense of the other nothing to do with different conception dates.

OC

[crawfie]

I knew someone who had identical twins who had TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome) This leads to one twin being much bigger than the other one.

[ElizabethHerts]

I knew someone who had identical twins who had TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome) This leads to one twin being much bigger than the other one.

I have a friend who had twins with this syndrome too.

My aunt had triplets, but they were born on the same day.