Anecdote: Twins in different wombs

Kelsey Hatcher (32) tells of a rare and strange medical phenomenon in which a woman from Alabama, USA, was born with two uteruses and became pregnant with twins, with each twin growing in her uterus. She tells her story through her Instagram account “W. Hatchlings” (“doubleuhatchlings”) that she has had a “double” uterus since she was 17 years old, a congenital malformation that affects the organ. It is estimated that about 0.3% of women have this condition. During a routine ultrasound last May, Hatcher, a mother of three, learned that she was pregnant with twins, with each fetus growing in one of her uteruses. “We were surprised! We had a lot of smiles during the first ultrasound,” she wrote on Instagram.

“Most likely, she had split ovulation and had one egg in each fallopian tube,” said Shweta Patel, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Center. Women with a double uterus generally face a high risk of complications during pregnancy, but all three of Hatcher’s children were born healthy.

It’s rare for two uteruses to be pregnant at the same time. Hatcher said doctors told her the odds of a similar pregnancy are one in five million. The most famous case can be traced back to a Bangladeshi woman named Arifa Sultana (20), who gave birth to two children in 2019, 26 days apart. Both babies are in good health. Hatcher hopes she will be able to give birth to both children naturally on Christmas Day, as scheduled. So far, the fetuses appear to be in good health.