12/23/2023 1:10 p.m., updated 12/23/2023 1:15 p.m
32yearold American Kelsey Hatcher became a mother two days in a row. Suffering from the rare condition of double uterus, she became pregnant with both at the same time, giving birth to twins in a pregnancy that only occurs in one in a million cases. One of the babies was born last Tuesday (December 19th) and the other was born on Wednesday (December 20th).
The contractions lasted a total of 20 hours. Kelsey already had three children but was planning on having a fourth baby. At the 8th week ultrasound, she found out she was expecting twins. All of her pregnancies happened the same way and since she was 17 she knew she had uterus didelphys, as the condition is also called.
“I think it’s appropriate that they have two different birthdays. “Each had their own 'home' and now both have their own birth story,” the mother said in an interview on the website of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), a facility whose health team monitored her pregnancy.
What is a double uterus?
The condition known in medicine as uterus didelphys occurs when the patient has two different uterine cavities separated by a wall. The disease occurs during fetal development and usually does not affect the patient's fertility because each uterus has a fallopian tube and an ovary.
In Kelsey's case, she also has two cervixes. The birth of a child in both uteruses at the same time also known as divisive pregnancy is a very rare phenomenon.
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“In a typical twin pregnancy, the twins share a uterus, which can limit the amount of space they have, making premature or premature birth very likely,” said obstetrician Richard O. Davis, a professor at UAB. “Because Kelsey’s babies each had their own uterus, placenta and umbilical cord, they had additional room to grow and develop.”
1/5Rebel was born on December 20th via cesarean section. Roxi was born vaginally on the 19th. ▲ The two babies only met in the crib. ▲ Kelsey discovered that she was pregnant with both uteruses during an ultrasound scan at 8 weeks pregnant. ▲ The babies were born 10 hours apart. ▲ 12345
How was the birth?
The ideal scenario would have been for Kelsey to go into labor on her own, but it was necessary to induce labor at 39 weeks. When Kelsey arrived at UAB early on the morning of December 19, her right cervix was dilated to 4 cm and her left cervix was dilated to 3 cm.
Because she had two uteruses, she required dual monitoring and recording, and she was assigned two labor and delivery nurses to monitor each uterus and baby. “I felt each side contract in different areas,” the mother remembers.
Her right uterus which had already had two pregnancies began to develop more strongly than the left. The team decided to focus on the baby on the right side and canceled the water on that side. So Roxi was born on December 19th at 7:45 p.m. weighing 3.4 kg.
The baby on the left side wouldn't come down and a cesarean section was necessary. Rebel was born on December 20th at 6:10 am and weighed 3.2kg. They were only together in the crèche.
“After such a long and crazy journey, seeing my two daughters together for the first time has great meaning for me,” Kelsey said.
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