A double uterus is a rare condition that is present at birth in some women
A woman from Alabama, born with two uteri, is expecting a girl in each of them and is set to give birth on Christmas Day. Kelsey Hatcher and her husband, Caleb, are parents to three children aged 7, 4, and 2. In the spring, she surprised her obstetrician by discovering she was pregnant once more, the New York Post reported.
"I said, 'Well, there's two of them in there.' And [my husband] said, 'You're lying.' I said, 'No, I'm not,'" Kelsey told WVTM13.
Mrs Hatcher was already aware of her condition, having two uteri, each with its own cervix. Her pregnancies are categorized as high-risk.
"Very, very rare," Dr Shweta Patel, who specializes in obstetrics and gynaecology, told WVTM. "OB/GYNs go their whole careers without seeing anything like this."
According to the Mayo Clinic, a double uterus is a rare condition that is present at birth in some women. 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. A double uterus may have one opening into one vagina. This opening is called the cervix. In other cases, each uterus has its own cervix," the clinic says.
Women who have a double uterus often have successful pregnancies. However, the condition can make you more likely to have a miscarriage or premature birth.
Dr. Richard Davis, who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, also spoke with WVTM 13. He explained 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," Dr Davis added.
Dr Davis said that Kelsey will have to be closely monitored. "When she goes into labour, if she does, then we will have to monitor each uterus and see which one's contracting and if they're doing sort of almost the same, or they're different," he told WVTM 13.
Dr Patel explained that Kelsey's situation was so rare that the doctors did not have an official term to refer to the two babies.
"I think medically, this is such a rare thing, that I think we don't have a better way of describing it besides still calling them twins," she said.