Kelsey Hatcher, a 32-year-old mom of three was born with a rare uterine anomaly called uterus didelphys, or two uteruses. However, she was not diagnosed with the condition until last spring, when she discovered she was pregnant – in each uterus.

Hatcher said her husband almost didn’t believe her.

“He said: ‘You’re lying,’ I said: ‘No, I’m not,” Hatcher told NBC News.

Uterus didelphys affects about 0.3% of women. The abnormality forms in the female embryo very early in development, around eight weeks gestation, according to fertility researchers.

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[–] 87 points 2 years ago* (12 children)

Uh, isn't that going to be a major complication for all parties involved? For pregnancy and delivery I mean.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Depends on how well formed the uteruses are. If they're both healthy, it should be fine. You would be amazed at the ways a person's body changes to accommodate pregnancies. Idk why this would be any more risky than, say, twins or triplets.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    At the Science and Industry museum in Chicago they have/had step by step see-through models of a woman's guts before, during, and after pregnancy.

    I took a date there and we had a great time. Arrived at that exhibit and we just stood there for a minute, witnessing how jumbled up the post pregnancy innards were.

    I said, "I'll never do that to you."

    She said, "Thank you."

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Haha yeah, pregnancy can be amazing from an objective "wow, humans can really do that, huh?" perspective and also horrifying from a subjective "I'm sorry, you said my intestines are where??" perspective 🥲

    As someone who decided to be pregnant for the first time right now, I definitely have a healthy heaping of both—at the same time even! It's a wild and sometimes darkly hilarious experience.

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  • [–] 40 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    Those poor babies... Being born to Alabamaians in Alabama.

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    [–] 36 points 2 years ago (14 children)

    For med school students who waste time here. A question.

    These are not technically twins, right?

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  • [–] 50 points 2 years ago (12 children)

    Not a med school student but fraternal twins come from 2 separate zygotes - 2 different eggs and 2 different sperm cells. If you disregard the whole 'two uteri' aspect they'd be twins, fraternal twins, dizygotic. It's all two eggs being fertilized at the same time, right?

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    What happens if the pregnancies were, say, 5 months apart? What kind of complications would there be?

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  • [–] 27 points 2 years ago* (7 children)

    A natural birth consists of a bunch of hormonal changes that initiate the process (similar to a medically induced abortion); I’d be super surprised if the younger fetus doesn’t abort when the older one is birthed on time.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    I was going to ask if other animals were capable of multiple simultaneous pregnancies, but then I figured I should probably just google it.

    Interestingly I found that it has indeed happened to humans, but it confirms your idea, because in the latest documented example, the children were born at the same time.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfetation

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Pregnancy hormone HCG caused ovulation to stop its normal cycle. Essentially, their are either the same age or the first pregnancy already ended and needs to be removed, but due to complications the younger embryo probably won't make it either.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    Basically, they are only twins if they are born on the same day, because the concept of fraternal twins is basically being born from the same woman on the same day. Identical twins with the split egg after insemination are the only real "twins" biologically (except clones, generally illegal). There's also roman twins, but those are pretty rare, because it involves a woman releasing two eggs but having intercourse with two different men in a roughly 48 hour time period, resulting in half brother fraternal twins.

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  • [–] 31 points 2 years ago

    Wombo combo

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  • [–] 31 points 2 years ago (5 children)
  • [+] 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)
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    [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    My ex has a bifurcated uterus. Uteruses can be weird.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    This is wild.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)
  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago
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