Current:Home > NewsAlabama woman with rare double uterus gives birth to twin girls — on 2 different days -AssetLink
Alabama woman with rare double uterus gives birth to twin girls — on 2 different days
View
Date:2025-04-13 22:02:02
A 32-year-old woman from Alabama who was born with two uteruses and became pregnant in both gave birth to twin girls on different days, she announced on social media Friday.
"Our miracle babies were born!" said Kelsey Hatcher, who wrote "doubleuhatchlings," in a post on her Instagram account.
She added that the girls "decided they were rare enough statistically that they should just go ahead and have their own birthdays too."
The first one, named Roxi Layla, was born on Dec. 19 at 7:49 p.m. local time. She was joined by Rebel Laken a few hours later on Dec. 20 at 6:09 a.m. local time. Each weighed over 7 pounds.
Doctors originally estimated a Christmas due date. But following 20 hours of combined labor after Hatcher was induced at 39 weeks, the sisters arrived just in time to be at home for the holidays with their siblings.
The mother and daughters have been discharged from the hospital, with Hatcher promising to share details about the delivery in future. She said for now, they are taking time to "time bond, recover, and enjoy the holidays!"
Now a family of seven, Hatcher, who is self-employed, is going to take some time off to get adjusted and care for the children, according to a Go Fund Me set up by a friend.
Hatcher knew from the age of 17 that she had "uterus didelphys," a rare congenital condition thought to affect about 0.3 percent of females. In such cases, each uterus has only one ovary and one fallopian tube.
It was during a routine eight-week ultrasound visit in May that Hatcher, a massage therapist and then-mother-of-three, learned not only that she was having twins this time, but that a fetus was present in each of her uteruses.
"As soon as she (the technician) moved the wand to the other uterus, I gasped," Kelsey recalled, according to a statement by University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.
"Sure enough, there was another baby. We just could not believe it."
Pregnancies in both uteruses are exceedingly rare, according to Shweta Patel, the obstetrician-gynecologist who cared for Hatcher at UAB's Women & Infants Center.
Patel was Hatcher's doctor during her third pregnancy. "But that was only one baby — two babies in two uteri were a true medical surprise," she said in a hospital statement, noting she received additional help from UAB experts in high-risk obstetrics.
Richard Davis, professor at the hospital's Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, said the congenital anomaly of Hatcher's dicavitary twin pregnancy meant her babies were not forced to share a single, cramped womb, a condition that would have made pre-term birth a high possibility.
"With Kelsey's babies, they each had their own womb, sac, placenta and umbilical cord, allowing them extra space to grow and develop," Davis said in the statement, which was accompanied by a hospital-produced video about Hatcher's pregnancy and delivery.
Hatcher said she was told the odds of a double pregnancy in double wombs were one in 50 million — with the last widely known case in Bangladesh in 2019, when Arifa Sultana, then 20, gave birth to healthy babies 26 days apart.
- In:
- Alabama
veryGood! (339)
Related
- South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
- Donate Your Body To Science?
- Anti-Eminent Domain but Pro-Pipelines: A Republican Conundrum
- Wildfire smoke impacts more than our health — it also costs workers over $100B a year. Here's why.
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- All Biomass Is Not Created Equal, At Least in Massachusetts
- Bindi Irwin Shares Health Update After Painful, Decade-Long Endometriosis Journey
- Breakthrough Solar Plant Stores Energy for Days
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
- You’ll Flip Over Simone Biles’ Second Wedding to Jonathan Owens in Mexico
Ranking
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- Annie Murphy Shares the Must-Haves She Can’t Live Without, Including an $8 Must-Have
- Climate Activists Disrupt Gulf Oil and Gas Auction in New Orleans
- IRS sends bills to taxpayers with the wrong due date for some
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- With Some Tar Sands Oil Selling at a Loss, Why Is Production Still Rising?
- Is it safe to work and commute outside? What experts advise as wildfire smoke stifles East Coast.
- PGA's deal with LIV Golf plan sparks backlash from 9/11 families and Human Rights Watch
Recommendation
Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
Second woman says Ga. Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker paid for abortion
Save $200 on This Dyson Cordless Vacuum and Make Cleaning So Much Easier
How to Clean Your Hairbrush: An Easy Guide to Remove Hair, Lint, Product Build-Up and Dead Skin
Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
Today’s Climate: July 22, 2010
InsideClimate News Launches National Environment Reporting Network
Second woman says Ga. Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker paid for abortion