A one-in-a-million medical oddity, an Alabama woman was born with two uteruses and is currently pregnant in both of them.
Kelsey Hatcher, 32, was born with uterine didelphys, a condition causing the development of two uteruses and two cervixes, a rare condition in only three out of 1,000 women.
This spring, the mother-of-three learned she was pregnant with twin girls. She told her husband, Caleb: 'I said, "Well, there's two of them in there." And he said, "You're lying."'
A mother-of-three revealed she was pregnant with twin girls, but her husband, Caleb, dismissed her as lying.
She told her husband, Caleb: 'I said, "Well, there's two of them in there." And he said, "You're lying."
Until the first ultrasound, she learned that she was carrying one baby in each uterus.
Doctors report that the twins, both girls, are developing normally due to their placement in two different uteruses, potentially resulting in births hours, days, or weeks apart.
Dr. Richard Davis, a high-risk pregnancy expert, stated that a double uterus is rare, and having twins in each is about a one-in-a-million chance.
"The probability of having a twin in each one is really crazy," he said.
Mrs. Hatcher is 34 weeks pregnant and due on Christmas Day for both babies.
During pregnancy, the uterus forms two ducts that join together. However, those with a double uterus have each duct create its own uterus, as seen in Mrs. Hatcher's case with two cervixes.
Most women are unaware of their condition until it's discovered during a routine pelvic exam or during investigations into recurring miscarriages or severe menstrual pain.
The Cleveland Clinic warns that individuals with a double uterus are at a higher risk of miscarriage, early labor, C-sections, low birth weight, growth restriction, and babies being born in the breech position, which can pose significant risks during delivery.
Dr. Davis said: "So when [Mrs. Hatcher] goes into labor, if she does, then we will have to monitor each uterus and see which one's contracting and if they're doing sort of almost the same or they're different."
Dr. Shweta Patel, another doctor caring for Mrs. Hatcher, told Good Morning America: "It's so unpredictable, and that's why we've had a lot of conversations with [Mrs. Hatcher], kind of talking about the different scenarios that could happen, where she could have a vaginal delivery with both babies, she could have a vaginal delivery with one and a C-section with the other, or maybe end up having a C-section for both of them as well."
"There's no true expert out there who knows how to manage a patient with two uteruses and two babies, with one in each uterus. So we really are relying on our baseline teaching, our baseline knowledge, and the normal physiology of pregnancy that we understand, and applying it in her scenario," he added.
