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Midwest mother, 36, told she was infertile has ultra rare 'twiblings' after pregnancy fluke
An Illinois woman who was told she couldn't have children has become a mother to rare 'twiblings' - after giving birth weeks before her surrogate.
Rachel Storch, 36, suffered severe scarring on her uterus from the birth of her first child. After a subsequent miscarriage, doctors believed she would have just a one in 100 chance of having another baby.
To spare themselves the trauma, Mrs Storch and her husband, Michael, decided to hire a surrogate in the summer of 2023.
But within a few weeks, Mrs Storch learned she was pregnant.
Babies Sydney and Remi were born this spring just 18 days apart, becoming 'twiblings,' two children born to the same parents but carried by different people.
Rachel Storch, 36, gave birth her daughter Sydney just 18 days before her surrogate delivered a second daughter, Remi
Mrs Storch duffered an amniotic fluid embolism, a rare and 'unusually catastrophic' complication that occurs when a fetus' amniotic fluid enters the mother's bloodstream, during Sydney's birth
'They’re just 18 days apart,' Mrs Storch told TODAY.com. 'It’s funny at this age we’re able to see the difference a few weeks makes.'
Like normal siblings, twiblings are conceived using two embryos and sperm from the same two parents. Most twiblings are born through two different surrogates anywhere from days to months apart.
It's unclear how rare this circumstance is, though surrogacy itself makes up about one in 20 US IVF cycles and accounts for 750 to 1,000 births per year. Experts estimate twiblings make up a small percentage of that number, but there are no firm statistics.
Mrs Storch sought help from a surrogate after complications from the birth of her first daughter, Olivia. Though the delivery in 2020 went smoothly, Mrs Storch was rushed to the hospital with 'terrible cramps' that lead her to curling up on the floor and heavy blood clots.
Doctors performed two dilation and curettages (D&Cs), a procedure to remove excess tissue. A year later, tests revealed that scar tissue covered about 70 percent of her uterus.
Though doctors were able to remove it, the couple got pregnant and miscarried weks later, leaving them unsure if they could safely get pregnant again.
In August 2023, Mrs Storch had one of her viable embryos transferred to a surrogate, but just a week before, she learned she was also pregnant. 'We just couldn't believe it. We didn't think it was real,' she said.
They waited 20 weeks to tell their surrogate, as doctors estimated Mrs Storch's pregnancy had just a one in 100 chance of lasting.
However, the pregnancy continued normally, leaving Mrs Storch due on April 27 and the surrogate due on May 16.
But when she was induced on April 22, Mrs Storch suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, a rare and 'unusually catastrophic' complication that occurs when a fetus' amniotic fluid enters the mother's bloodstream.
Occurring in just one in 40,000 US births, AFE can lead to heart and lung failure, as it results in 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 Mrs 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 life-threatening events. First the heart and lungs fail, and second, the body’s clotting system goes into disarray, causing severe and persistent bleeding.'
In Mrs Storch's case, her heart stopped beating for 30 seconds due to cardiac arrest. Doctors also found seven liters of blood in her abdomen from a laceration in her liver.
Dr Ouyang said there is no clear cause for the condition, and it's so rare that 'you're literally more likely to be struck by lightning twice.'
Sydney, meanwhile, was born completely healthy, along with her 'twibling' Remi. Sydney and Mrs Storch returned home on May 16, and the family picked Remi up three days later.
'It's pretty surreal to be all home together,' Mrs Storch said. 'I still have limitations. I'm exhausted, but I've recovered pretty quickly. Sometimes it's hard to remember where we were a few weeks ago.'