Woman With 2 Wombs, Carries A Baby In Each
Shannon Webster, from Basingstoke in Hampshire, had always had unusually heavy periods since she got her first at the 14.
But she had little idea just how unusual her anatomy was.
The 28-year-old welcomed her first child in 2014. But it was only after she suffered a miscarriage two years later that a routine test uncovered that she had two uteruses.
This unusual condition, which is thought to affect about three in every 1,000 women worldwide, is medically known as uterus didelphys.
It also means the medical secretary has two vaginas and cervixes all of which are fully functional.
And in a further twist, scans during her next pregnancy with her youngest child revealed she was carrying him in her right womb, in contrast to her first child who was carried in her left.
Ms Webster said her diagnosis made her experiences of past period problems make more sense.
‘I couldn’t use tampons. I tried to use them but it caused me so much pain,’ she said.
‘Doctors just said I was really tiny. I’d have training pads for dogs on my bed. I had three pads in my pants.
‘I just woke up covered in the morning. I even tried adult pull ups.’
But after she miscarried in 2016, her condition was revealed during an ultrasound: ‘The sonographer said “oh, you are different one aren’t you”. I said “I’m sorry”.
‘She said “you have two wombs it’s very rare”. I was like I have no idea what you are talking about.
‘She was shocked I didn’t know.’
A further MRI scan that same year confirmed she had uterus didelphys.
But doctors were unable to investigate later that year when she discovered she was pregnant again.
After welcoming her son in August 2017 via c-section, ‘they [the doctors] had me out on show for everyone [the doctors] to look at’, she added.
‘It was like I was in a museum. It was so everyone could see my two wombs.’
While all women born with uterus didelphys have two wombs, only a fraction also have two separate cervixes and vaginas.
Each uterus has its own fallopian tube and ovary.
Many women with the anatomical anomaly don’t even know they have the condition because they don’t suffer any symptoms.
In most cases they are only diagnosed in pregnancy when their condition is revealed by routine scans and tests.
However, some signs of the condition include pain during sex, heavy bleeding, frequent miscarriages and preterm labour.
Women with uterus didelphys are born with the condition which is triggered during their development in the womb.
However, medics don’t yet know what exactly causes it to happen.
It can cause infertility among some sufferers, as it increases the risk of miscarriage because the uterus is smaller and may restrict the growth of a foetus.
Surgery to join a double uterus into one is possible but is rarely performed, unless patients experience severe symptoms.
The procedure removes the internal wall of tissue separating the two vaginas which can help the chances of sustaining a pregnancy.
