An Illinois woman who was told she could not have children has become a mother to rare “twiblings” after giving birth weeks before her surrogate.
Rachel Storch, 36, suffered severe scarring to her womb after the birth of her first child. After a subsequent miscarriage, doctors believed she had only a one in 100 chance of having another baby.
To spare themselves the trauma, Ms. Storch and her husband, Michael, decided to hire a surrogate in the summer of 2023.
But just a few weeks later, Mrs. Storch learned she was pregnant.
Babies Sydney and Remi were born just 18 days apart this spring, making them ‘twiblings’ – two children born to the same parents but carried by different people.
Rachel Storch, 36, gave birth to her daughter Sydney just 18 days before her surrogate gave birth to her second daughter, Remi.
Ms Storch suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, a rare and “unusually catastrophic” complication that occurs when amniotic fluid from a foetus enters the mother’s bloodstream, during Sydney’s birth.
“It’s only 18 days apart,” Ms. Storch said. TODAY.com“It’s funny that at this age we can see the difference a few weeks make.”
Like normal siblings, twin babies are conceived from two embryos and sperm from the same parents. Most twin babies are born via two different surrogate mothers within days or months of each other.
It’s unclear how rare this is, though surrogacy itself accounts for about one in 20 IVF cycles in the United States and is responsible for 750 to 1,000 births a year. Experts estimate that twin pregnancies account for a small percentage of that number, but there are no firm statistics.
Ms Storch sought the help of a surrogate mother after experiencing complications at the birth of her first child, Olivia. Although the birth in 2020 went smoothly, Ms Storch was rushed to hospital with “terrible cramps” that forced her to curl up on the floor and significant blood clots.
Doctors performed two dilations and curettages, a procedure to remove excess tissue. A year later, tests revealed that scar tissue covered about 70 percent of her uterus.
Although doctors managed to remove it, the couple became pregnant and suffered a miscarriage weeks later, leaving them unsure whether they could safely get pregnant again.
In August 2023, Ms. Storch transferred one of her viable embryos to a surrogate mother, but just a week before, she learned she was also pregnant. “We couldn’t believe it. We didn’t think it was real,” he said.
They waited 20 weeks to tell their surrogate, as doctors estimated Ms Storch’s pregnancy had only a one in 100 chance of lasting.
However, the pregnancy continued as normal, with Mrs. Storch’s due date being April 27 and the surrogate’s due date being May 16.
But when she was induced for labor on April 22, Ms. Storch suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, a rare and “unusually catastrophic” complication that occurs when amniotic fluid from the fetus enters the mother’s bloodstream.
AFE, which occurs in only one in every 40,000 births in the United States, can lead to heart and lung failure because it causes a lack of oxygen-rich blood in the mother’s bloodstream.
Dr. David Ouyang, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who worked in a room near Ms. Storch’s, told TODAY.com: “When amniotic fluid enters the patient’s circulation, it essentially triggers an overreaction of the immune system, similar to an allergic reaction.”
“The reaction causes two potentially life-threatening events. First, the heart and lungs fail, and second, the body’s clotting system goes haywire, causing severe and persistent bleeding.”
In Ms Storch’s case, her heart stopped beating for 30 seconds due to cardiac arrest. Doctors also found seven litres of blood in her abdomen due to a laceration to her liver.
Dr Ouyang said there is no clear cause for the condition and it is so rare that “you are literally more likely to be struck by lightning twice.”
Meanwhile, Sydney was born completely healthy, along with her “twibling” Remi. Sydney and Mrs. Storch returned home on May 16 and the family picked up Remi three days later.
“It’s pretty surreal to be all together at home,” Ms. Storch said. “I still have limitations. I’m exhausted, but I’ve bounced back pretty quickly. Sometimes it’s hard to remember where we were a few weeks ago.”
