An Alabama mother with a rare double uterus who defied one in 50 million odds by becoming pregnant in each has given birth to twin girls within 12 hours of each other.
The 32-year-old Kelsey Hatcher gave birth to Rebel Laken at 6:09 a.m. on Wednesday and Roxi Layla at 7:49 p.m. on Tuesday. Both babies weighed more than seven pounds.
An excited Hatcher posted a snap of herself at the University of Alabama at Birmingham maternity unit, just before her babies arrived.
She said, ‘Our miracle babies were born! They decided they were rare enough statistically that they should just go ahead and have their own birthdays too.
She added, ‘I can’t wait to share the entire birth story with you guys! While we are all home now, we will take the time to bond, recover, and enjoy the holidays.’
Although the doctors had expected a Christmas delivery date, the girls came in time to celebrate the holidays with their siblings after 20 hours of joint labour after Hatcher was induced at 39 weeks.
Since she was 17, the mother of five has been aware that she had “uterus didelphys,” an unusual congenital disorder that is estimated to affect three out of every 1,000 women. In these cases, each uterus has a single fallopian tube and ovary.
In addition to discovering she was carrying twins this time, Hatcher, a massage therapist, also found that there was a foetus within each of her uteruses at a normal eight-week ultrasound check in May.
‘As soon as she (the technician) moved the wand to the other uterus, I gasped,’ Kelsey recalled, according to a statement by the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.
‘Sure enough, there was another baby. We just could not believe it.’
According to Shweta Patel, the obstetrician-gynaecologist who treated Hatcher at the Women & Infants Centre at UAB, pregnancies in both uteruses are incredibly unusual.
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 the statement, stating she received further help from UAB experts in high-risk obstetrics.
The congenital defect of Hatcher’s dicavitary twin pregnancy meant her infants were not forced to share a single, constricted womb, a scenario that would have increased the risk of preterm birth, according to Richard Davis, professor at the hospital’s Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
Fortunately, they now have sophisticated imaging that allows them to handle unique circumstances and deliver a wonderful outcome. The two miracles. However, they’re not legally twins if she has a second uterus, but best wishes to the parents I’m delighted that everyone is well, which is a relief.
If we could go back just fifty years, the tale would have been very different from the beauty and marvel of medical technology today.
This is incredible, and what a story they will have to tell their children as they grow up.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 