An Alabama woman with the rare condition of two uteruses, and who earlier this year, gave birth to twins last week a day apart.
After a combined 20 hours of labor, Kelsey Hatcher gave birth to her third and fourth children, a set of rare twins, on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, according to a from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.
Hatcher was induced at 39 weeks and throughout labour had twice the monitoring and twice the charting and was assigned two labour and delivery nurses, the release says.
Baby A, named Roxi, was born vaginally at 7:45 p.m. on Dec. 19.
“There was a cheer from everyone in the room when the first baby was delivered, but there was another baby left,†Dr. Shweta Patel, Hatcher’s obstetrician, said in the news release. “Kelsey was essentially labouring in the left uterus while simultaneously undergoing the postpartum process in the right.â€
While having contractions with Baby B, Hatcher was already breastfeeding Baby A, Patel noted.
And nearly 10 hours later, Baby B, named Rebel, was delivered by Cesarean section at 6:10 a.m. on Dec. 20.
“After such a long and crazy journey, it meant the world to see both of my girls together for the first time,†Hatcher said.
According to doctors, the girls are technically twins despite having two different birthdays and being in two wombs during pregnancy.
“I think it is safe to call the girls fraternal twins,†said Richard O. Davis, professor in the UAB Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and a doctor who co-managed Hatcher’s pregnancy.
“At the end of the day, it was two babies in one belly at the same time. They just had different apartments,†Davis added.
Case estimate the chances of pregnancy like this – a woman with two uteruses carrying a baby in each one at the same time – at around one in two billion in the general population, though it’s impossible to know for sure with something this infrequent.
“Never in our wildest dreams could we have planned a pregnancy and birth like this, but bringing our two healthy baby girls into this world safely was always the goal, and UAB helped us accomplish that,†Hatcher said, “It seems appropriate that they had two birthdays, though. They both had their own ‘houses,’ and now both have their own unique birth stories.â€
Hatcher, who , was born with two uteruses, a condition called uterine didelphys.
At her first ultrasound appointment, about eight weeks into pregnancy, things took an unexpected turn. The ultrasound technician quickly found the baby and told Hatcher everything looked perfect. The baby was healthy.
Then Hatcher remembered to tell the tech that her anatomy was a little different.
“So if you’re scanning and maybe catch a glimpse of it or something, don’t think it’s just something random or there’s something wrong. There is a totally separate uterus there,†said Hatcher.
Hatcher said the ultrasound tech thanked her for letting her know and said she would just take a quick peek at the second uterus to make sure everything looked good.
“And as soon as she moved the ultrasound wand over to the other side of my belly, I said, ‘Oh, my gosh! There’s another one.’â€
Hatcher didn’t even need to be told there was another baby. She could see it herself.
“The nurse practitioner that I met with that day, she was just blown away. She said, ‘I’m not even sure what the statistics of this are,’ †Hatcher recalled.
Hatcher says she got lucky, in a way, because some women with uterine didelphys have only one working uterus; the other can’t support a pregnancy. But her medical records show that she has carried babies in both of hers, just never before at the same time.
The unusual anatomy also had a visual difference. In certain positions, she had not just one baby bump but two, she said.
When she lied in her recliner in the evening, “the girls will separate, almost, and you can see vividly the two separate wombs, because there’s a big gap in my stomach where they fall to one side or the other.â€
The odds are mind-boggling. About 3.6 million babies were born in the US last year, but only about 114,000 of those births were twins, according to the.
In other words, about three sets of twins are born for every 200 live births, according to the CDC, and are likely to be fraternal, which means they come from two separate fertilized eggs.
Hatcher’s condition is rare, too: About one in 2,000 women is born with uterine didelphys.
In order for her to become pregnant in both of her uteruses at the same time, two eggs had to be fertilized, one in each uterus.
Like most women, Hatcher has two ovaries, the glands that store and release eggs. Each of her ovaries feeds a single uterus. Typically, ovaries take turns releasing eggs, sending one into the uterus each cycle for a chance at being fertilized. Occasionally, however, an ovary may release more than one egg during each cycle, a phenomenon called hyperovulation.
Hyperovulation hasn’t been extensively researched, but one of 500 women found that about one in five of them was able to hyperovulate. But even for those women, it doesn’t happen each cycle. When it does, sometimes a single ovary may release two eggs. And even more infrequently, both ovaries will release a single egg at the same time, which is what happened in Hatcher’s case.
Hatcher was about seven times more likely to win a Powerball jackpot and about 131,000 times more likely to get hit by lightning at some point .
Israeli strikes killed at least 51 people in southern Gaza overnight, including women and children, as the military launched ground operations in the hard-hit city of Khan Younis, Palestinian medical officials said Wednesday.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio are facing off Tuesday night in New York City for their first – and only – U.S. vice-presidential debate. Here is a live fact check of everything being said between the two.
A father in Kelowna is furious after his 13-year-old daughter was brutally beaten on Gyro Beach. He is calling for criminal charges in the devastating attack, which was caught on video by multiple bystanders.
In a five-part series this week on CTVNews.ca and CTV National News at 11, W5's Avery Haines follows the harrowing journeys of migrants who risk their lives crossing the Darien Gap and ride atop Mexico's notorious 'Train of Death'. In this third installment, Haines travels across the Mexico-U.S. border.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's office says her recent comment about chemtrails doesn't mean she believes the United States government is spraying them in the province.
The president of e-commerce giant Shopify Inc. wants Canada to address a problem he calls "the 600-pound beaver in the room."
An Indigenous family has filed a human rights complaint against retail giant Canadian Tire over a pair of incidents that happened on the same day at the company’s Coquitlam, B.C., location.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government survived another Conservative-led non-confidence vote on Tuesday, the second in less than a week. This, the same day the Bloc Quebecois had an opportunity to table a non-confidence motion of its own, opting instead to push the Liberals to support one of its key demands.
A 13-year-old girl has been charged with allegedly murdering her s-year-old sister in Taylor over the weekend.
An Indigenous family has filed a human rights complaint against retail giant Canadian Tire over a pair of incidents that happened on the same day at the company’s Coquitlam, B.C., location.
The leader of the B.C. Conservative party is once again under fire for comments related to climate change – this time for suggesting there is an "anti-human agenda" behind the push to confront warming global temperatures.
The lawyer for "Freedom Convoy" organizer Chris Barber told a judge Monday that a court order banning honking in downtown Ottawa during the protest wasn't clear enough.
A British Columbia lawyer has resigned from the provincial law society after he sexually harassed staff at his law firm, including attempts to surreptitiously photograph one employee without her knowledge, according to the regulator.
A father in Kelowna is furious after his 13-year-old daughter was brutally beaten on Gyro Beach. He is calling for criminal charges in the devastating attack, which was caught on video by multiple bystanders.
Calgary five most expensive homes for sale as of Oct. 1, 2024.
Thai police arrested the driver of a bus carrying young students and teachers that caught fire and killed 23 in suburban Bangkok, as families arrived in the capital Wednesday to help identify their loved ones.
Police in the Danish capital said two predawn explosions took place Wednesday in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen, prompting the nearby Jewish school to close for the day.
Tim Walz and JD Vance on Tuesday went after each other's running mates in a vice-presidential debate that opened with a discussion of burgeoning domestic and international troubles.
An attorney said Tuesday he is representing 120 accusers who have come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Sean “Diddy†Combs, the hip-hop mogul who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on Tuesday he “misspoke†when he previously said he’d visited Hong Kong in the spring of 1989 during protests in China’s Tiananmen Square but insisted he “was in Hong Kong and China†during the pro-democracy protests.
An airplane carrying Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva back to Brasilia has landed safely at the Felipe Angeles airport, north of Mexico City, after circling for hours due to a technical problem, Brazil's press secretary said Tuesday.
For the third time in seven days the House of Commons will vote on a confidence measure today, but this one comes from the government itself.
A federal commission of inquiry into foreign interference expects to hear today from more than a dozen diaspora community members.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government survived another Conservative-led non-confidence vote on Tuesday, the second in less than a week. This, the same day the Bloc Quebecois had an opportunity to table a non-confidence motion of its own, opting instead to push the Liberals to support one of its key demands.
A woman with the rare condition of two uteruses delivered twins, one from each womb, last month at a hospital in northwestern China, according to health officials and state media.
This fall and winter, Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut will offer the newer monoclonal antibody nirsevimab — approved by Health Canada in the spring of 2023 — to all babies going through their first RSV season.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says it is not providing Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine this respiratory virus season, citing low demand.
The bracket for 2024's Fat Bear Week contest was revealed Tuesday night, but only after a deadly bear-on-bear attack at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve on Monday delayed the unveiling.
Archeologists in Denmark have unearthed more than 50 'exceptionally well preserved' skeletons in a large Viking-era burial ground in the east of the country.
The two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June welcomed their new ride home with Sunday's arrival of a SpaceX capsule.
Daniel Day-Lewis is coming out of retirement, seven years after his last movie, for a film directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis.
Amazon announced Tuesday the removal of a memoir from its site that purports to tell the story of an abusive relationship between the late actor and model Kim Porter and her longtime partner, hip-hop mogul Sean â€Diddy" Combs.
An attorney said Tuesday he is representing 120 accusers who have come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Sean “Diddy†Combs, the hip-hop mogul who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The president of e-commerce giant Shopify Inc. wants Canada to address a problem he calls "the 600-pound beaver in the room."
Restaurant company SIR Corp. is investigating a cybersecurity incident that has impacted part of its information technology infrastructure.
The 45,000 dockworkers who went on strike Tuesday for the first time in decades at 36 U.S. ports from Maine to Texas may wield the upper hand in their standoff with port operators over wages and the use of automation.
Baby hippo, Moo Deng, has become a viral sensation, with her adorable photos and videos flooding social media and even earning a skit on Saturday Night Live.
A code of conduct will be enforced on the online dating industry to better protect Australian users after research found that three-in-four people suffer some form of sexual violence through the platforms, Australia’s government said on Tuesday.
If you find it odd that Kate McKinnon chose her first book to be for middle-grade kids, the former “Saturday Night Live†star says, think again.
It was an exciting weekend for hockey fans in Sudbury, as the city hosted an NHL preseason game.
Ryan Hunter's athleticism has been on full display since his arrival in the CFL, but the Canadian's versatility is now shining through.
Toronto Raptors team president Masai Ujiri tried to lay to rest rumours that he has friction with Edward Rogers, the executive chair of Rogers Communications, Inc.
General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle division will pay a US$1.5 million penalty after the unit failed to fully report a crash involving a pedestrian, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday.
A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.
A U.S. driver somehow squeezed her vehicle through a parkade hallway at a Metro Vancouver casino Thursday, before getting stuck at an elevator bank.
The last living member of the legendary Vancouver Asahi baseball team, Kaye Kaminishi, died on Saturday, Sept. 28, surrounded by family. He was 102 years old.
On Saturday night at her parents’ home in Delaware, Ont. the Olympic bronze medallist in pole vault welcomed everyone who played a role in getting her to the podium in Paris.
A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.
When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.
A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.
Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.
Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.
A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.
An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The Vancouver Police Department is expecting to be over budget by the end of the year, according to a report.
An Indigenous family has filed a human rights complaint against retail giant Canadian Tire over a pair of incidents that happened on the same day at the company’s Coquitlam, B.C., location.
The goat found wandering around East Vancouver Friday night is headed home, police say.
A Pickering, Ont., student going to college to be a mechanic is shocked the engine in his two-year-old car will not be repaired under warranty after the dealership claimed he had been 'over-revving' the engine.
Ontario is staring down a teacher shortage as retirements and student enrolment are both on the rise, and the Ministry of Education expects the situation will start to get even worse in 2027.
A 33-year-old man has been arrested after two females were found dead inside a home in Courtice, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
Calgary police say they're investigating the attack of a prominent local radio host over the weekend.
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) says safeguards have been put in place at a gas well fire north of Cochrane.
A man has been charged with sexual assault following an incident involving a seven-year-old girl in Calgary's Fish Creek Park in August.
A planned expansion of OC Transpo's zero-emission bus fleet is expected to be delayed and the city won’t be getting any 60-foot electric buses, according to a new report.
Last summer, Garfield Park celebrated its opening as a fully fenced-in off-leash dog park, but a year later it turns out it was all a big mistake.
Three design concepts have been unveiled to replace the aging Alexandra Bridge connecting Ottawa and Gatineau over the Ottawa River.
Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz went head to head Tuesday night for the first and only planned vice-presidential debate of this U.S. election cycle.
Montreal police (SPVM) say they have arrested a man in connection with an alleged bank robbery in the borough of Saint-Leonard that occurred on Sept. 28.
Quebec's language will have unexpected consequences on music retailers as they brace for major changes in the new year.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's office says her recent comment about chemtrails doesn't mean she believes the United States government is spraying them in the province.
"The Fair Compensation Project will include advocacy on several ways that the City of Edmonton is not being fairly compensated for the services we provide," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.
Alberta's premier shared new details Tuesday about her government's proposed gender legislation.
The Nova Scotia RCMP is continuing its search for a missing woman after finding her vehicle in Pictou County last week.
A Progressive Conservative candidate in New Brunswick’s upcoming election is under fire Tuesday morning for a Facebook post she made on Truth and Reconciliation Day.
A familiar face for Maritimers and those who watch the Canadian series "Trailer Park Boys" is combining his love of art and cats.
The Winnipeg Police Service is looking for a new helicopter to replace the current aircraft, which has been in service for 15 years.
A 44-year-old woman has died after a two-vehicle crash on a Manitoba highway Tuesday morning.
Manitoba Hydro reported a $157 million consolidated net loss according to the company's 2023-24 fiscal update.
Over the weekend, the Saskatchewan Roughriders wore their Indigenous-themed logo for the first time at Mosaic Stadium.
Saskatchewan residents will vote for their next provincial government on Oct. 28.
Sentencing in relation to a fatal incident in 2020 that left two experienced SaskPower workers dead has been adjourned until Oct. 18, according to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
A Guelph man charged with the hit-and-run death of a well-known community advocate and has now been charged in a separate collision.
Â鶹´«Ã½ Kitchener took home two Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Canada awards on Tuesday night.
The second Ontario Civilian Police Commission hearing for Guelph Police Services Constable Corey McArthur continued in Guelph on Tuesday.
An Ahtahkakoop man who came to prominence in Saskatchewan’s Indigenous business community and helped thousands of First Nations people complete their education died on Friday.
Saskatchewan residents will vote for their next provincial government on Oct. 28.
Exclusive polling data collected by Â鶹´«Ã½ in partnership with Insightrix outlines what preferences voters have, if they’re familiar with the party leaders and what issues matter most as Saskatchewan enters into the 2024 provincial election campaign.
Two 17-year-olds have been charged in Elliot Lake with breaking into Centennial Arena and causing $50,000 in damage.
A West Nipissing family whose son died minutes after he was born is raising money to buy comfort care equipment for families grieving the loss of a newborn child.
As the investigation continues into the fatal northern Ontario house fire that killed four people on the evening of Sept. 19, police have released some details about the victims.
Huron County OPP is advising of a phone scam that cost a Goderich couple $33,000.
A note for commuters Wednesday, Highbury road will be closed for much of the day.
Erin Fredin needs a liver transplant and is now appealing to the public. By sharing her story, she hopes to find a living donor.
Tributes have started pouring in for a Midland, Ont. man who died after reportedly being struck by an unmarked provincial police vehicle over the weekend.
Provincial police handed a 22-year-old driver accused of being impaired a lengthy licence suspension after conducting a traffic stop along Highway 400 over the weekend.
Moffatt's Mazda in Barrie has been implementing a new video service that allows customers to see what their mechanics see, to be as transparent as possible.
A 21-year-old Windsor man is on trial in Superior Court for trying to join a terrorist organization.
New cases of human smuggling along the shores of Canada's southernmost region occur almost daily, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz went head to head Tuesday night for the first and only planned vice-presidential debate of this U.S. election cycle.
A young man has been charged with first-degree murder after police were called to investigate a suspicious death on Vancouver Island over the weekend.
A British Columbia lawyer has resigned from the provincial law society after he sexually harassed staff at his law firm, including attempts to surreptitiously photograph one employee without her knowledge, according to the regulator.
David Eby promised to expand financial supports and job protections for sick British Columbians if he wins this month's provincial election, throwing barbs at his main opponent in the process.
A father in Kelowna is furious after his 13-year-old daughter was brutally beaten on Gyro Beach. He is calling for criminal charges in the devastating attack, which was caught on video by multiple bystanders.
The officer who shot and killed a forcible confinement suspect in Kamloops two years ago was justified in doing so, according to the Independent Investigations Office of B.C.
Fire crews in Vernon, B.C., responded to a large house fire early Saturday morning.
From offering two meals a week to three a day, the Lethbridge Soup Kitchen has grown immensely over the past 40 years.
The sentencing for three men convicted of helping lead and coordinate the COVID-19 protest blockade at Coutts, Alta., in 2022 has been delayed.
A 10-year-old boy from Lethbridge is being praised as a hero after a routine summer outing at the pool nearly turned tragic for his friend.
A 40-year-old in Sault Ste. Marie who was on probation has been charged with assault with a weapon following an incident in August.
Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard took the stand in his sexual assault trial on Tuesday, denying that he raped his accuser and painting a dramatically different picture of their encounter eight years ago.
Overnight on Thursday as the community of Elliot Lake was resting to prepare for the upcoming Kraft Hockeyville celebrations, when vandals struck a building that has been top of mind for the northern Ontario city for more than a year.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are 'inhumane' and retailers are putting profits ahead of people’s basic human right to food.
A soccer game in England on Tuesday night drove a spike in online traffic across the Atlantic to a website launched by the Newfoundland and Labrador government.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at Â鶹´«Ã½. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.
