Current:Home > reviewsRekubit Exchange:'One in a million': Alabama woman pregnant with 2 babies in 2 uteruses due on Christmas -MoneyFlow Academy
Rekubit Exchange:'One in a million': Alabama woman pregnant with 2 babies in 2 uteruses due on Christmas
Ethermac Exchange View
Date:2025-04-11 10:51:14
An Alabama woman born with two uteruses recently got the shock of her life: She's due to deliver a baby from each of her wombs on Rekubit ExchangeChristmas day.
Kelsey Hatcher, 32, learned of her condition, known as uterus didelphys, when she was 17 but it hasn't impacted her life until now.
She and her husband Caleb, who live just outside of Birmingham in Dora, already had three kids and thought they were done having children when she learned she was pregnant in May, Hatcher first shared with TODAY.
"There’s only one baby in there, right?" she joked with her doctor at her eight-week ultrasound.
"As soon as she moved the ultrasound wand across my belly, I said, 'Oh my gosh, there’s another one. Oh my gosh.' She said, 'Yes! There is,'" the expectant mom told TODAY. "I was just in complete shock and think for the first, I don’t know, two to three weeks, my husband and I just laughed."
Hatcher spoke with USA TODAY on Wednesday and shared her progress, how she's feeling and how she plans on life with two newborns and three other children.
See also:Louisiana couple gives birth to rare 'spontaneous' identical triplets
How rare is Kelsey Hatcher's pregnancy?
The pregnancy is "one in a million," Dr. Richard Davis told WVTM-TV in Alabama.
Davis is a maternal and fetal medicine specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Women & Infants Center, where Hatcher is due to deliver on Christmas day.
Hatcher's pregnancy is so uncommon, "some OB/GYNs go their whole careers without seeing anything like this," Dr. Shweta Patel, an OB/GYN who is part of a team of doctors preparing for Hatcher's delivery, told WVTM-TV.
It's "very, very rare," Patel said.
Hatcher's pregnancy is a first for the team at the hospital. They're relying on "baseline teaching and baseline knowledge," Patel told Good Morning America.
While twin pregnancies aren't rare, Hatcher's type is because she ovulated separately, with each egg traveling down each side of the uterus and the sperm traveling up each uterus, and fertilization occurring in both.
"Because my cycles have always worked together as one, I assumed as I ovulated on one side ... and there would be no chance of having a baby in the opposite uterus," Hatcher told USA TODAY. "I never would have thought I would ovulate from both at the same time."
How is Kelsey Hatcher feeling?
Hatcher's doctors have shared the risks of miscarriage or preterm labor with her, but so far, so good.
"Overall, I am feeling great," she told USA TODAY. "I’m definitely slowing down and feeling the toughness of pregnancy. However, I’ve continued to work my job as a massage therapist and kept myself active in the gym at least four days a week. I believe those are huge contributors to my feeling so well for so long."
At 35 weeks, both babies are developing normally. The tricky part will be delivery, as it's unclear whether or not the babies will arrive around the same time.
Pregnant while already pregnant?It's rare, but it can happen.
What can Kelsey Hatcher expect for delivery
When Hatcher goes into labor, Davis said that her medical team will have to monitor each uterus to see which is contracting, "and if they’re doing sort of almost the same or they’re different."
One baby could be born vaginally and the other via C-section.
"It's so unpredictable, and that's why we've had a lot of conversations with Kelsey kind of talking about the different scenarios that could happen," Patel said.
It's possible only one uterus will contract. The other may not follow until weeks after.
Are the babies considered twins then? Since Hatcher's situation is such a medical anomaly, doctors don't have any other way of describing it "besides still calling them twins," Patel said.
Hatcher's concern isn't so much about delivery, but the family dynamic after the babies arrive and how she'll manage everything with the couple's other three children, who are 2, 4 and 7.
"The thought of managing five children, two being newborns, is an overwhelming feeling for me," she told USA TODAY. "I’m preparing to just take it one day at a time and do the best I can."
veryGood! (89955)
Related
- Federal Spending Freeze Could Have Widespread Impact on Environment, Emergency Management
- Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin Lag on Environmental Justice Issues
- 8 mistakes to avoid if you're going out in the heat
- The ‘Both Siderism’ That Once Dominated Climate Coverage Has Now Become a Staple of Stories About Eating Less Meat
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- More renters facing eviction have a right to a lawyer. Finding one can be hard
- The EV Battery Boom Is Here, With Manufacturers Investing Billions in Midwest Factories
- Soaring West Virginia Electricity Prices Trigger Standoff Over the State’s Devotion to Coal Power
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- Inside Clean Energy: A Dirty Scandal for a Clean Energy Leader
Ranking
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- Women are returning to the job market in droves, just when the U.S. needs them most
- 8 mistakes to avoid if you're going out in the heat
- Sidestepping a New Climate Commitment, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Greenlights a Mammoth LNG Project in Louisiana
- John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
- More renters facing eviction have a right to a lawyer. Finding one can be hard
- 'Oppenheimer' looks at the building of the bomb, and the lingering fallout
- Amazon Prime Day 2023: Fashion Deals Under $50 From Levi's, New Balance, The Drop & More
Recommendation
Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
The Choice for Rural Officials: Oppose Solar Power or Face Revolt
Trumpet was too loud, clarinet was too soft — here's 'The Story of the Saxophone'
Amazon Prime Day 2023: Fashion Deals Under $50 From Levi's, New Balance, The Drop & More
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
10 million sign up for Meta's Twitter rival app, Threads
Melanie Griffith Covers Up Antonio Banderas Tattoo With Tribute to Dakota Johnson and Family
Fracking Company to Pay for Public Water System in Rural Pennsylvania Town