A woman in Alabama is expecting two babies, which initially came as a shock to her and her husband. Especially since those two babies are being carried in her two separate uteruses in an “extremely rare” pregnancy.
Alabama mom of three Kelsey Hatcher went to her eight-week ultrasound when she found out that she had a condition known as “uterine didelphys,” or double uterus. While she had already been pregnant three times, this time around she was actually carrying two babies in two separate uteruses. Of course, she had to tell husband Caleb right away. “I said, 'Well, there's two of them in there.’ And [my husband] said, ‘You're lying.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not,’” Hatcher told local news outlet WVTM 13. Hatcher also has two cervixes.
The fact that Hatcher has two uteruses is an extremely rare condition that is sometimes present in women at birth. “In a female fetus, the uterus starts out as two small tubes. As the fetus grows, the tubes typically join to create one larger, hollow organ. This organ is the uterus. Sometimes the tubes don’t join completely. Instead, each one develops into a separate organ,” The Mayo Clinic explains. Women with uterine didelphys often have successful pregnancies, but there is a risk of premature birth.
As of now, Kelsey’s babies, both daughters, are due on Christmas Day, if you can believe it.
Hatcher’s condition is so rare, in fact, that University of Alabama at Birmingham's Women & Infants Center’s Dr. Richard Davis, who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, told the news outlet that there are no specialists in the field, explaining that “maybe three per 1,000 women might” have a double cervix or double uteruses. “And then the probability of you having a twin in each horn is really crazy,” he added.
So what does this mean for Hatcher, who is mom to a 7-year-old, 4-year-old, and 2-year-old already, when she gives birth? Dr. Davis, who is one of her docters at UAB, said she will be closely monitored ahead of the birth by medical professionals.
Medical professionals aren’t the only ones without much experience dealing with a double uterus pregnancy. Hatcher has been struggling to find other women with the same experience. “When I first found out, I was like, ‘I wonder if there’s anybody I can reach out to just to, you know, see what their experiences were,’” Hatcher told Good Morning America. “But I think I’ve only read of two other cases [in which] they’ve had [pregnancies] in completely separate uteruses, and no one that I’ve been able to reach out to.”
Hatcher and her babies are something special. And if they are, indeed, born on Christmas Day... well that’s next level special.
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