An Alabama woman recently gave birth to twins in what is considered a one in a million case.
Kelsey Hatcher has a rare double uterus and was pregnant with a baby in each one.
The backstory: Hatcher was diagnosed with uterus didelphys – a double uterus – at the age of 17.
- That condition only occurs in 0.3 percent of women and occurs when the Müllerian ducts fail to fuse together and form two uterine cavities. Each uterus has one fallopian tube and one ovary. Hatcher also has two cervices.
The big picture: Hatcher had labor induced at 39 weeks at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital on Dec. 19.
- Her right uterus, which had already had two pregnancies, began progressing further than the left, so the medical team moved ahead with breaking her water on that side.
- The first baby, a girl named Roxi, was delivered at 7:45 p.m. and weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces.
- The medical team continued with an induction on the left uterus, but the second baby was not descending as anticipated, so doctors delivered another girl, Rebel, by c-section on Dec. 20 at 6:10 a.m., weighing 7 pounds 3.5 ounces.
What they’re saying: “Never in our wildest dreams could we have planned a pregnancy and birth like this; but bringing our two healthy baby girls into this world safely was always the goal, and UAB helped us accomplish that,” Hatcher said in a press release. “It seems appropriate that they had two birthdays, though. They both had their own ‘houses,’ and now both have their own unique birth stories.”
