Kelsey Hatcher of Alabama has two uteri and is pregnant in each of them while she and her husband, Caleb, already have three children.
The story of how Hatcher found out this shocking news, as reported in multiple media outlets, truly is a must read.
Alabama woman with 2 uteri is pregnant in both
Hatcher reportedly has a Didelphys uterus, which means that she has two uteri, each of which has a separate cervix.
At 17 years old, Hatcher had reportedly learned about her condition and up until this point, her previous three pregnancies were each carried in one uterus to full term with no complications.
Today reported that Hatcher was in “complete shock” upon hearing the news that she was pregnant with two babies.
“We were done having children biologically,” Hatcher said. “And then when I found out I was pregnant, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’”
The Washington Post reported that Hatcher made an appointment with her obstetrician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s hospital for an ultrasound thinking she was only pregnant with one baby.
“She did the first ultrasound, saw the baby and said, ‘Oh, everything looks great,’” Hatcher said when she saw a baby girl on the screen. “And I said, ‘There’s only one baby in there, right?’ I ask every time but jokingly.”
Before leaving her appointment, reported The Washington Post, Hatcher decided that there should be another examination for her second uterus.
As the second ultrasound began, the nurse and Hatcher couldn’t believe their eyes. Another baby girl was growing in the second uterus.
Hatcher went home and reportedly told her husband the news saying, “Well, there’s two of them in there.”
Her husband’s response at first was, “You’re lying,” to which she responded, “No, I’m not.”
Hatcher’s due date is Christmas Day with “a team of doctors” on standby for when she goes into labor.
Can a woman with two uteruses get pregnant in both?
According to the maternal-fetal medicine specialist treating Hatcher, Dr. Richard Davis, “One in 1 million women become pregnant with two fetuses in separate uteruses,” he told The Washington Post,
Sky News reported that Hatcher’s obstetrician, Dr. Shweta Patel, said this case is “very, very rare,” and further elaborated saying, “some obstetrician-gynecologists go their whole careers without seeing anything like this.”
Due to the fact that this pregnancy is rare, her doctors reportedly have considered the pregnancy as high-risk.
“A double cervix or double uterus is way under 1%, maybe three per 1,000 women might have that,” specialist in high-risk pregnancies at the University of Alabama Dr. Richard Davis said. “And then the probability of you having a twin in each horn is really crazy.”
ABC News reported that Patel said there are various types of twin pregnancies that can happen.
“Most likely what happened is that she ovulated separately and had one egg come down each fallopian tube, meaning coming down on each side of the uterus, and then sperm traveled up on each separate uterus and fertilization occurred separately,” Patel said.
What are the complications of having two uteruses during pregnancy?
As Hatcher’s daughters are growing typically, the hard part of the pregnancy will be the delivery as it is unknown whether they will be born together or separately, according to Sky News.
The National Institutes of Health reported that most women with two uteruses and delivering babies in each uterus at the same time are, “associated with a higher risk of miscarriage, preterm labor, breech delivery, and decreased live births.”
Due to the high risk nature of these types of deliveries it has been reported that, “cesarean section should be considered, especially in case of the presence of vaginal septum.”
“When she 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,” Davis said.