Woman Gives Birth to Twins with Two Different Fathers

Last year, Texas woman, Mia Washington didn't plan on giving birth to twins but when she did she ended up getting even more than she bargained for - her fraternal sons have two different fathers.

As you know, every month a woman releases one egg from her ovaries that can be fertilized by sperm. As for Washington, she released a pair of eggs. According to Dr. Hilda Hutcherson of Columbia University who reported to TODAY News:

"sperm can remain alive and well and viable for up to five days in the reproductive tract. Thus, a woman can have sex with different men within those five days and the sperm just kind of hang out there waiting for the egg to be released."

Washington, who is 20 years old, had sex with another man a few days after she slept with her 44-year-old boyfriend, James Harrison - hence her double conception. James investigated the issue when he noticed the twins, Justin and Jordan, who were born seven minutes,apart looked very different, even for fraternal twins. He requested a paternity test and discovered Justin was not his child.

When Harrison found out the news he was devastated: "I was hurt, torn apart - didn't know what the next move was gonna be."

Although he was hurt, Harrison continued to raise Justin as his own. And despite the odds of a situation like this, this is not the first time twins have been born to different fathers. Studies have revealed 1 to 2 percent of fraternal twin births have different fathers, but this often goes unnoticed. The terminology used to identify this type of birth is called: "heteropaternal superfecundation".

It was reported on first by John Archer who was the first doctor to receive a medical degree in the United States in 1810. Archer dubbed the term when a white woman had sex with two men, black and white  and later gave birth to twin boys. One son was white whereas the other was of mixed race.

As for Mia Washington and James Harrison, they plan on marrying each other in the future. And in the mean time, they will prepare for their new family addition- a baby girl. She will add some sweet and spice to their clan of three boys. (Washington has a 4-year old from a previous relationship