WHERE BABIES GROW: The uterus is the round cavity in the center of the pelvis; some women are born with two of them
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You may have been shocked by reports of a 33-year-old California woman birthing octuplets in January—until, that is, there was news of a woman with two uteruses who popped two babies—one from each womb. The mother, dubbed "Womber Woman" by the New York Post, last week delivered two baby girls at Marquette General Hospital in Marquette, Mich., according to The Mining Journal. The twins were seven weeks premature and underweight—one weighed in at three pounds, 15 ounces (1.8 kilograms) and the other four pounds, 15 ounces (2.2 kilograms)—but doctors told the newspaper that both babies (and their 21-year-old mom) were doing just fine after their cesarean section delivery.
The woman, Sarah Reinfelder, reportedly was born with a condition called uterus didelphys, or double uterus, which affects a number of women who may not even be aware they have it. We asked Robert Zurawin, an obstetrician/gynecologist (ob–gyn) at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston to explain the condition and its implications for fertility.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
How common is it to have a double uterus?
One in about every 2,000 women worldwide have the condition.
How likely is it that a woman with this condition would get pregnant with twins—one baby growing in each uterus?
About one in 25,000 women with uterus didelphys gets pregnant with twins, one to each uterus. [That means the likelihood of any given woman growing two babies in two separate wombs is about one in 50 million.]
How would you know if you have two uteruses?
Most women aren't even aware they have the condition until they become pregnant and get an ultrasound exam, a test that uses sound waves to produce images of the inside of the body. If she gets an ultrasound about eight weeks into her pregnancy (as most ob–gyns recommend), chances are the ultrasound technician would spot the extra womb. But if the woman doesn't get an ultrasound until 20 weeks or more into her pregnancy, the uterus housing the fetus might have grown big enough to overshadow the extra uterus in which case the ultrasound technician might not see it (and the woman may never know).
How does a woman end up with two wombs?
In the embryonic stage of human development, a female has more than one "uterine horn," or tubes that ultimately fuse into one uterus. In people with this condition, somewhere in the developmental process the tubes didn't come together, most likely because there was an error in the signals cells received instructing them to migrate to certain places.
Where do the double uteruses sit in the body, and what do they look like?
They are in the same place that a single uterus would be—in the pelvis right behind the bladder and in front of the rectum. Assuming the woman is not pregnant, the twin uteruses take up about as much space as a single uterus, which is about the size of a pear. Together they resemble a valentine's heart, each having a round top and a tapered bottom. (So if you cut the heart down the middle, each side would look like a uterus.)
If you have two uteruses, do you also have two cervices (the narrow end of the uterus, where a baby's head emerges during birth) as well as two vaginas?
Some people with uterus didelphys also have two cervices and two vaginas, but some only have one vagina. Most women with two vaginas do not get surgery to fuse them, because one side is typically bigger than the other, so they have intercourse using just that one side.
Does having two wombs make it easier or harder to get pregnant?
Normally, women with two uteruses don't have problems getting pregnant, but in some cases it might be harder. Women with uterus didelphys sometimes do not have a fully developed uterine lining, the layer of tissue covering the inner wall of the uterus, which provides a place for implantation of a fertilized egg and attachment of the placenta that supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing fetus. In other cases, the uterus might have an irregular shape that prevents it from stretching to accommodate the growing fetus.
Why were the twins in Michigan born prematurely—before the normal 37 to 40 weeks of gestation?
About 60 percent of all twins are born prematurely. This probably has something to do with the fact that the uterus (or in this case, the double uteruses) can only expand so much. In some women with this condition, the two uteruses cannot expand as much as a normal, single uterus would.
When babies are born this way (coming from different wombs in the same mother), are they delivered at the same time?
Yes, both uteruses go into labor at the same time, so the babies would likely be born within minutes of one another.
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16 Comments
Add CommentAre you sure that "One in about every 2,000 women worldwide have the condition." Sounds like you left out some zeroes?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo crazy! I always wondered if I had double organs because my torso feels like it's too full, and feels like everything is always getting squished in there. Imagine if the gene responsible for the duplication could be identified? Others in need of an organ transplant wouldn't have to wait until someone else dies to receive one! There could be some sort of a test to see if you carry the gene. Then for those who do, there could be further evaluations of sorts to see if any organs have doubled. If a person has double organs and would like to help others in need they can register as a donor and get a special sticker to put on their drivers license next to the organ donor sticker, indicating a double organ. Wow! That's a whole new organization just waiting to get started! Maybe it could be partnered with "Red Cross"? You know how it's like 'Give blood give life', well it can be like 'Donate blood, Donate an organ, ...just Donate'. The end kinda sound like Niki's "Just do it" but that's ok because we'll get Niki to sponsor the organization when it first opens and maybe hook up with "Relay for Life" so that when the Niki promos get passed around, word on the organization's will too. Hmmm, now all it needs is a catchy name... how about "organIzation" in all lower caps except the letter 'i' in the middle and then the slogan can say something witty about being courageous enough to say "yes I will donate my organ" emphasizing on the 'I' and 'organ'. I should look into that...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI question the usage of the word "popped" as a euphemism for birth. That's at best a colloquial term and at worst kind of vulgar.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo the guy griping about the word "popped"... people will complain about anything. You must be the most boring, uptight person on the planet. Good luck talking to anyone, anywhere, ever.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFertilized eggs NEVER implant in the uterus. Only embryos are capable of implantation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy do otherwise intelligent people keep making such a simple, obvious mistake? Why don't editors ever catch it?
where can i go to learn more about the two uteruses? i have two uteruses but they are not attached to each other, they are both only the size of half a normal uterus. One has two philopean tubes and two overies while the other has one philopean and one overy. My child was in the uterus with one tube and overy. i would really like to learn more!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI was born with two and in 1990 became pregnant in both of them. When I began to miscarry in one of them I went to the doctor and they want me to have a d and c in both of them even after they discovered the other fetus. Needless to say i changed doctors and that baby will be graduating from high school this year.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi had two uterus and one cervix but during my first C-section I was told I had an inverted septum and that there was a growth down the middle of my uterus. I carried 3 sons in one uterus and had my 4th son from the other.
At 28 I had to have a hysterectomy because I developed endrometriosis in both of them and went through hell.
I have two uteruses, and I'm pregnant. I found out the worst way possible, though.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismy ex and i were having sex in a hotel, and he split my cervix open. i lost half of my blood and almost died. the story gets worse. my parents did not know this guy, and he drove me to my house. i didn't know what to do, so i called my mom. she walked out and saw me bleeding all over his chair. i told her that i was at a friends house, so i lied. i walked in the house as i was being screamed at, passed out as my dad was yelling at me. then, an ambulance took me to a hospital. the man had no idea what was going on that was checking me. he told me that he thought i had some strange tissue disease that old people have, and i was like wtf? and then he told me that he was going to stick this thing in me that hurt a lot. i told him i didn't care cuz if he didn't i was going to die, and he still didn't know what it was. and that thing fricken HURT! so, they put me to sleep, and i was told i have two uteruses, or, as my mom put it, two vaginas when i woke up. i know. i should be on Oprah or have something for having one of the worst sexual experiences ever, but i haven't.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisoh, and then the hotel guy thought my bf at the time murdered me, so as he was driving me home, they told him if he didn't come back to the hotel, they were going to call the police. he was trying to explain to them, but from what i've heard myself, they don't really speak well english, so yeah. he ended up paying for all the blood cleaning and stuff i guess. the hotel people were extremely rude even after he told them what happened.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisso there you go world. one story of my life. btw, this was over a year ago.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's actually a zygote, not an embryo.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisif a woman has double uterus and came to know that only one baby in the womb does she face any problems in the delivery.can we go for a nornmal delivery or a sizern, pls let us know waiting for your early response.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs it possible to get pregnant in one uterus today and then get pregnant in the other uterus sometime after?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismy mother, has 2 wombs. 3 months before she had my older brother, Daniel, she had a miscarriage. no one knew she was pregnant with Daniel, until she went into labor. Her doctor gave her a Tylenol 3, it killed my older brother or sister. DO NOT TAKE IT IF YOUR PREGNANT!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismy doctor told me that i, most likely, have 2 wombs too.
its even funnier that they said that my little brother would be a girl, and i was a boy. but both was wrong.
I have two cousins with this condition. One of them is pregnant with one baby right now. But last year she had been pregnant with two. Unfortunately she miscarried.
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