In what doctors described as a “one in a million” event, a Chinese woman with two uteruses successfully gave birth to twins after becoming pregnant in both uteruses.
Officials from a hospital in northwest China announced the amazing birth on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. The mother, identified only by her surname Li, gave birth to a boy and a girl at Xi’an People’s Hospital in Shaanxi province in September, they said.
The twins, who were born naturally, were born via caesarean section.
Lee herself was born with a rare congenital malformation called Didelphia uterusWhich means that her uterus is divided into two narrower cavities, each of which has its own fallopian tube and ovary. She also has two necks.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, this condition affects only 0.3 percent of the population.
Xi’an People’s Hospital said that it is indeed “extremely rare” for twins to be conceived in two uteruses, and even rarer for a pregnancy to continue to full term. The hospital shared an ultrasound image of the twins, where the two fetuses can be seen being carried in a separate uterus side by side.
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Lee reportedly gave birth when she was eight and a half months pregnant.
The boy was born weighing seven pounds, 19 ounces. His twin sister was born smaller, weighing five pounds, five ounces. The hospital wrote that Lee had previously miscarried another pregnancy.
Although incredibly rare, Lee is not the only woman with two uteruses to successfully give birth to twins.
In 2023, an American woman from Alabama, who was also diagnosed with uterine hyperplasia, gave birth to twin daughters from separate wombs. One of the babies was born vaginally, while the other was delivered via caesarean section.
Kelsey Hatcher, 32, gave birth to twins after becoming pregnant in her womb. She is pictured holding baby Roxy on the left and baby Rebel on the right.
Andrea Mabry via University of Alabama
Uterine ptosis is a condition caused by the failure of the fetus to connect two tubes together to form a single uterus during development. The condition can affect a woman’s pregnancy and increase the risk of miscarriage and premature birth.
&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
