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‘Astounding’: Alabama woman with two uteruses is pregnant in both wombs

Mother of three was born with a rare uterine anomaly and is expecting baby girls with a Christmas Day due date

Kelsey Hatcher and husband Caleb Hatcher on May 23rd, 2023, after finding out she was carrying babies in both wombs. Photograph: Kelsey Hatcher/doubleuhatcher/AFP/Getty Images
Kelsey Hatcher and husband Caleb Hatcher on May 23rd, 2023, after finding out she was carrying babies in both wombs. Photograph: Kelsey Hatcher/doubleuhatcher/AFP/Getty Images
Jessica Glenza
Fri Nov 17 2023 - 07:05

An Alabama woman with two uteruses is expecting baby girls in both wombs, an “astounding” and rare pregnancy, according to doctors.

Kelsey Hatcher (32), a mother of three was born with a rare uterine anomaly called uterus didelphys, or two uteruses.

However, she was not diagnosed with the condition until last spring, when she discovered she was pregnant – in each uterus.

Ms Hatcher said her husband almost didn’t believe her. “He said: ‘You’re lying,’ I said: ‘No, I’m not,” Ms Hatcher told NBC News.

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Uterus didelphys affects about 0.3 per cent of women. The abnormality forms in the female embryo very early in development, around eight weeks gestation, according to fertility researchers.

“The fact both ovaries ovulated at the same time, or around the same time, is pretty astounding,” said Dr Hayley Miller, a fellow at Stanford Medicine’s OB-GYN department training in maternal-foetal medicine, and a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

While Ms Hatcher prepares for two babies, doctors are preparing to have extra staff available for her labour. Women with two uteruses and two cervixes can present special challenges to doctors.

“I have cared for many patients with two uteruses and two cervixes, and it is oftentimes challenging to even induce labour with two cervixes and two uteruses,” said Dr Miller.

The babies may even be born hours or days apart, as the uteruses could independently go into contractions. Ms Hatcher’s doctors also highlighted to NBC the risk of Caesarean section for a woman with two uteruses – namely, that there could be more blood loss because two incisions would be necessary (one in each uterus).

While seemingly all agree the pregnancy is remarkable, one matter up for debate is how to describe the children – as siblings or fraternal twins? Ms Hatcher’s due date is Christmas Day, according to the local news station WVTM.