An Alabama woman born with two uteruses is pregnant with twins in each of her uterine cavities.
Kelsey Hatcher, 32, who tells her story on her Instagram page ‘doubleuhatchlings’, has known since she was 17 that her uterus is didelphus, meaning it has two holes.
It is estimated that approximately 0.3% of women suffer from this deformity.
During a routine ultrasound in May, Hatcher, already a mother of three, discovered that not only was she pregnant with twins, but that each fetus had its own uterus.
“We were amazed! We laughed A LOT during that first ultrasound”Kelsey Hatcher emphasized on Instagram.
“Most likely you ovulated separately and one egg passed into each fallopian tube.”explained Shweta Patel, an obstetrician who treats Hatcher at the Mother and Child Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, speaking to ABC station.
It is likely “that the sperm ascended to each uterus and that fertilization occurred separately,” he added.
A double uterus is often associated with a high risk of complications, but her first three children were born healthy and full term.
Pregnancy in both uteruses is extremely rare.
Kelsey Hatcher said doctors told her there was a one in 50 million chance of such an event happening.
The most famous case occurred in Bangladesh in 2019, when Arifa Sultana, then 20, gave birth to two healthy babies 26 days apart.
The North American hopes to give birth naturally to ‘babies A and B’ on their due date, Christmas Day.
The pregnancy is going well so far, but the uterus may contract at different times, minutes, hours or even days.
Kelsey and her husband, Caleb, know that one or two C-sections may be necessary.
Source: DN
