Congratulations are due to American mum Kelsey Hatcher who welcomed two babies in two days. Unlike most twins, Kelsey’s baby girls were born a day apart after growing in separate uteruses. That’s right – two uteruses, two babies, two birth dates! Incredible.
According to a news release from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, Kelsey was induced at 39 weeks gestation and went through 20 hours of labour to welcome her girls on different days.
Labouring and breastfeeding at the same time
Baby A, named Roxi, was born vaginally at 7:45 p.m. on December 19. Baby B, named Rebel, was born via c-section at 6:10 am on December 20, after 10 additional hours of labour after having Roxi.
Dr. Shweta Patel, Hatcher’s obstetrician, said in the news release:
Kelsey was essentially laboring in the left uterus while simultaneously undergoing the postpartum process in the right. While having contractions with Baby B, Hatcher was already breastfeeding Baby A.”
Double uterus, double baby joy!
We shared Kelsey’s incredibly rare pregnancy story earlier this year. Kelsey was born with two uteruses and two cervices, which is an incredibly rare condition known as uterine didelphys, or a double uterus.
But even rarer is the fact that she is pregnant with one baby in each uterus.
“After such a long and crazy journey, it meant the world to see both of my girls together for the first time,” Kelsey said.
Her beautiful baby girls weighed in at 3.49 kg and 3.33 kg.
“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.
It seems appropriate that they had two birthdays, though. They both had their own ‘houses,’ and now both have their own unique birth stories.”
Two uteruses – One in a billion pregnancy
Kelsey, who lives in Alabama and her husband Caleb already have two children and were shocked but overjoyed to discover they were expecting two babies. The twin pregnancy also shocked the medical world as this is considered a “one in a billion” pregnancy.
University of Alabama at Birmingham physician Dr. Richard Davis explained,
A double cervix or two uteruses, way under 1%, maybe three per 1,000 women might have that. And then the probability of you having a twin in each horn is really crazy.”
Case studies estimate the chances of pregnancy like this – a woman with two uteruses carrying a baby in each one at the same time – at around 1 in 2 billion in the general population, though it’s impossible to know for sure with something this infrequent.
According to CNN News, Kelsey’s pregnancy is so rare that she was “about seven times more likely to win a Powerball jackpot and about 131,000 times more likely to get hit by lightning at some point in her life.”
Twins with different birth dates
The girls are technically twins despite having two different birthdays and being in two wombs during pregnancy.
“I think it is safe to call the girls fraternal twins,” Dr Davis said. “At the end of the day, it was two babies in one belly at the same time. They just had different apartments.”
Of the very few women who have uterine didelphys – or two uteruses, most will have only one working uterus.
Kelsey’s situation is also unique as both of her uteruses can support a pregnancy. Kelsey’s medical records show that she has carried babies in both of hers. Just never before at the same time.
Incredibly, when Kelsey was pregnant with the girls, she was even able to see two baby bumps when she sat in certain positions.
“The girls will separate, almost, and you can see vividly the two separate wombs, because there’s a big gap in my stomach where they fall to one side or the other.”
What an incredible story and journey! Welcome Roxi and Rebel and congrats to Kelsey and Caleb on their Christmas miracle twins!
Do you have a rare pregnancy story to share?? We’d love to hear it!
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