A mum who suffered the heartbreak of three miscarriages has revealed how she went on to have 'miracle' twins - by falling pregnant while she was ALREADY pregnant.
Cara Winhold, 30, and her husband Blake, 33, dreamed of expanding their family after the birth of their son Wyatt in 2018.
The couple, from Texas, US, fell pregnant in March 2021 following three miscarriages with one of them nearly proving fatal.
During Cara's second scan, she discovered she was actually expecting two babies that had been conceived a week apart.
The incredibly rare phenomenon is known as superfetation.
It happens when a second, new pregnancy occurs during an initial pregnancy and can occur days or weeks after the first one.
Cara, of North Richland Hills, Texas, said that there is currently a striking four pound weight difference between Colson and his little brother Cayden, meaning she buys two different sizes of clothing and nappies.
The maths interventionist tutor believes her pregnancy was nothing short of a 'miracle'.
She advises anyone who may relate to her story not to give up if they feel that having children is part of their story.
"I got pregnant while I was already pregnant. I said to the doctor, 'what happened? He wasn't there the first time. What's going on?'" Cara said.
"She said that most likely I ovulated twice, released two eggs and they got fertilised at different times, about a week apart.
"I 100% believe it was a miracle just because of everything that happened in my pregnancy journey.
"I like to believe that it was my way of getting back the two babies that I lost and kind of them helping out in a way.
"I can't think of any other explanation to having twins - it was 100% natural and they don't run in my family. It was a total surprise."
Shortly after Cara had Wyatt, who's now three, they started trying again for another child.
The former teacher miscarried a baby girl in 2019 and another child in 2020, and during her second miscarriage became severely unwell.
Cara said: "It was happening and I was lying in bed and I would get up and go to the bathroom and there was a lot of blood.
"I called the doctor and told them what was happening and it doesn't seem normal and she was like 'as long as you're not bleeding through whatever so often, then you're ok, it's normal'.
"My husband was like 'you need to go to the hospital' and by the time I went in my blood pressure was really low.
"I blacked out and they said that the tissue, which I guess is what they call the baby, had gotten stuck in my cervix and I was bleeding out and they said if I would have stayed home for maybe thirty more minutes I would have died.
"I had to have two blood transfusions and stay overnight in hospital. It was very traumatic.
"I went to therapy afterwards and I'm feeling much better about it. I was scared to get pregnant again."
Cara told how she knew she wanted more children and remained optimistic that it "was going to happen."
"I knew it was part of my journey and life to be a mum and so I knew I didn't want to give up," she added.
"But going to therapy made me learn how to heal and understand that it wasn't my fault. It took a lot of time."
The former swim coach was pregnant again in February 2021 for four days before she miscarried and discovered she was expecting again the following month.
Cara said: "My doctor had me come in for a scan at five weeks just to make sure everything was ok and on that scan there was just one baby.
"Because of my history she wanted to see me again in two more weeks just to check and make sure there was a heartbeat."
When she returned with her husband seven weeks into her pregnancy, they were told that there were two babies.
"I broke down in tears and cried. I was overwhelmed, confused, but very happy," Cara said.
"My husband was in shock. On the very first scan there was a sac with one baby and then when I went back there was a really tiny little sac in the corner that had another baby in it.
"You could see baby A [Colson] was more developed, whereas the other one was like a tiny dot."
Cara gave birth to Colson just after 4am on October 25, 2021, with Cayden following six minutes later.
The pair were delivered at 35 weeks with Colson weighing six pounds five oz and Cayden four pounds nine oz.
Cara said her seven-month-old boys have always been different sizes as towards the end of her pregnancy Colson was two weeks ahead of his little brother in terms of growth.
During their six-month check up, Colson weighed four pounds heavier than his little brother and the mum buys two sizes of everything.
"It's so different for everybody and we didn't give up and kept trying because we knew it was meant for us," Cara said.
"Even if for some reason I couldn't have another baby we knew that wanting more kids was in our story. We were looking at plans of potentially fostering and adopting.
"If it's in your story and your heart and calling then don't give up on it because we didn't and we got a huge surprise and a wonderful miracle in the process.
"I know it's different for everybody but, I never expected to be a twin mom or have all boys.
"But I'm blessed with a house of boys."
