Double Uterus???

[Sibbie]

Not sure where i should have posted this, feel free to move etc.

I have just heard that one of my friends has a double uterus??? Has anyone ever heard of this or known anyone that has had it?

I'm intrigued!

[Papillon]

Hmm i was intrigued too so i googled it.

This is what i found..

A double uterus, technically called a "uterus didelphys", is when the uterus has two inner cavities. Each cavity may lead to its own cervix and vagina, so the woman has two cervixes and two vaginas. Again, this is very rare.

from here Abnormalities of the uterus

[Michelle71]

Is it a double uterus or a bicornuate uterus??

[JellyBean]

I was told i have a 'heart-shaped' uterus- that up the top of my uterus it has 2 pockets.
I was told the only potential implication is that as bub grows- there may be less room for it to move....
Have not heard of the double uterus with 2 vaginas & cervixs though- that sure is stange!! Would that double your chances of conception I wonder???

"mmm- which vagina shall we try tonight honey?" lol......

[Lisa]

I had a friend who had this... she actually had to working sets of ovaries too and could fall pregnant in either uterus. She carried children successfully and in a different uterus each time.

[Snacks]

Wow. I have only ever seen it on Grey's Anatomy The character was carrying two babies, conceived about 6 weeks apart.
Hey, if you do have two different systems, does that mean you get AF twice as often?!? (You'd hope that your cycles would synchronise, wouldn't you? Unless you were TTC, then I guess it really does give you a conception advantage...)

[echidna]

Your cycles should syncronise as you get LH and FSH from your pituitary gland, which sets the cycle for the oestrogen and progesterone in your menstrual cycle.

I am intrigued also. Could she have two uteruses but one vagina? How was this discovered?

[sunshine_sieben]

Wow. I have only ever seen it on Grey's Anatomy The character was carrying two babies, conceived about 6 weeks apart.
Hey, if you do have two different systems, does that mean you get AF twice as often?!? (You'd hope that your cycles would synchronise, wouldn't you? Unless you were TTC, then I guess it really does give you a conception advantage...)

Your cycles should syncronise as you get LH and FSH from your pituitary gland, which sets the cycle for the oestrogen and progesterone in your menstrual cycle.

How strange...
Well, if your cycles should synchronise, this character shouldn't have ovulated in the second set of ovaries after falling pregnant from the first set... So she shouldn't have been able to fall pregnant a second time...
ETA: Although it would theoretically be possible to conceive in both uteruses at the same time...
So what happens when she goes into labour? Will both uteruses contract? Will both cervixes soften and dilate? I suppose, they'd probably do a c/s... or should I say 2...
My mind boggles...

Saša

[ubba82]

Wow what interesting conversation! I have never heard of this before and I am also very intrigued. Think I will do a bit of googling myself! It does make the brain think hard though, doesn't it?

[Snacks]

Well, if your cycles should synchronise, this character shouldn't have ovulated in the second set of ovaries after falling pregnant from the first set... So she shouldn't have been able to fall pregnant a second time...

Tee hee - fancy a TV show getting a bit fuzzy with factual details...

Check this out from Wikipaedia:

Multiple pregnancy
A number of twin gestations have occurred where each uterus carried its pregnancy separately. It is possible that the deliveries occur at different times, thus the delivery interval could be days or even weeks.


Triplets
A UK woman with a double uterus gave birth to triplets in 2006. Hannah Kersey, of Northam in Devon, gave birth to a pair of identical twins from an egg that implanted into one womb and then divided, and to an infant from a single egg that implanted into the other womb. This was the first known birth of viable triplets in a woman with a double uterus.[5]. It is estimated that the possibility of such a birth is about 1 in 25 million.[6] A triplet pregnancy in a woman with uterus didelphys was reported from Israel in 1981; one baby died in utero, and of the remaining babies, one was delivered at 27 weeks gestation and the other 72 days later.[7]

[sunshine_sieben]

What? Are you saying I can't believe everything I see on TV? You're seriously rattling my view of the world here, Snacks. Who else should I believe? What else should I base my opinions on?

[LimeSlice]

DH is intrigued! lol
He wants to know if they are full size? And if they would be next to each other or on top of each other?
And then where would the vaginas be? Next to each other or one above the other?

lol

[Lulu]

There was that movie with Jeremy Irons, he was a set of twins that were gynos and were really facinated with some chick with a double uterus....it was weird but not cos of the double uterus!

[Snacks]

PMSL, Sasa... Sorry to rock your world so! You can always write them a letter and let them know how irresponsibly they have behaved by misrepresenting such a medical case...

From my googling, it sounds like carrying two babies in two uterus' to term doesn't really happen. The live babies have been delivered by c/s early... Unless anyone can find a record of someone delivering vaginally? (Eeek, if you had two vaginas does that mean they are half the size? Wow, that'd make sex a bit uncomfy, wouldn't it? Let alone childbirth )

ETA: Lime slice, I am with your DH - I have LOADS of questions, LOL. Possibly either. Don't know about the uteruses, but in the case of the double vagina, in my mind it's like 1 vagina, only with a separating bit of flesh running up the middle, so they could lie either side by side or one on top of the other?

[Sibbie]

Lol i started something big!!! haha. As far as i know she only has one va-jay-jay (to use an Oprah expression) but yes, weird! She always had heaps of pain and really bad periods, i mean hideously bad - vomiting & in bed for days etc and yeah, she is my age and has only just found out about it! i was heaps weirded out about it... i must do some more googleing!

[Hahamama]

I have uterus didelphys...my partner and I have just starting TTC. I was originally told I had a bicornuate uterus which is heart-shaped as previously mentioned in this thread. Uterus didelphys (or double uterus) is a more pronounced version. In my case, there are two uterine bodies, but they are still connected at the bottom. I have one cervix and one vagina. Lol, you can have two cervixes and two vaginas, if this is the case, there is one passage which leads out of the body, which then diverges into two vaginas...this is what my OB-GYN told me.

There isn't a lot of great info on the net. You never know what sources to trust. I believe that it is technically possible to fall pregnant twice, one foetus in each uterus, a la Grey's Anatomy, but it is extremely uncommon. My OB told me the main concerns are potentially an incompetant cervix, which he'll check for when I conceive, premature birth (due to the baby not having as much room to grow) and a very high incidence of breech birth (something like 50% versus the usual 3-4%). Which means a higher possibility of C-section.

Hope this helps clear things up for you all!

[dusty]

Good luck with your conception/pg journey Erin. Thanks for sharing your info and story.

[Floweryfields]

Yes I know a lady who did. She thought she was sterile - can't exactly remember the full story - think she'd had a hystorectomy - then got pregnant in her other uterus. Must check with mum about the full story there.....