By Hannah Sparks. September 24, pm Updated September 25, am. Not in the beginning, says year-old Lauren Cotter, who was born with uterus didelphys, a birth defect that results in two reproductive systems in one body: a womb, cervix and vagina split down the middle, each half the size of one healthy uterus. According to researchers , about one in every 3, women is born with a double uterus. The elementary school teacher from Melbourne, Australia, received her unusual diagnosis at age 16, after two years of agonizing periods that began when she was When an ultrasound revealed she had the rare condition, her doctor informed her that bearing children was unlikely. Still, she went forward with surgery to remove the dividing wall through her vagina, which allowed her to have a more normal sex life. But her uterus remained split, which left an increased likelihood of miscarriage and stillbirth. She met her future husband at 17, and knew she had to be honest with the would-be father after they were married in In June , the Cotters delivered their eldest daughter, Amelie, via Caesarean section.
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Hazel Jones, a year-old from High Wycombe, has a rare, but not unheard of condition called uterus didelphys, which is not easily diagnosed until a woman's sex organs develop as she enters puberty. Jones has a septum or dividing wall between her two vaginas, which occurred during her own development in the womb, say her doctors. The condition occurs in about one in 3, women, according to the World Health Organization. Women can have children, although they are more apt to require a C-section section, as babies are often born breech. For whatever reason - it's unknown - the two tubes don't fuse and you have double. There are more than 10 variations and sometimes you have two uteruses. Often it is diagnosed when women have reproductive or infertility problems, but some women may go on to have children and never know they had the condition, said Berghella. Surgery can also repair a vagina with a septum, though scarring or perforation can occur. Another, AMS of Cheshire , said that like Jones, she "lost my virginity 'twice" before being diagnosed at 21 due to the doctor not being able to perform my first smear and having the septum cut to make one vagina.
Mother with TWO vaginas and two wombs defies odds to end up with four children
A woman who was told she may never become a mother after being born with two reproductive systems has given birth to a total of four children. The condition — which affects around one in 3, women - meant she was born with two uteruses, two cervixes and, in her case, two vaginas. The primary school teacher was told that carrying and delivering children would be difficult because her wombs and cervixes were half the size of an average woman.
Elizabeth Amoaa has a rare condition that means she was born with two vaginas, two cervixes and two wombs. But she had no idea for most of her life, only finding out five years after her daughter was born. In , the year-old was diagnosed with uterus didelphys — a congenital abnormality that occurs when two smaller tubes in a female fetus fail to fuse into a single uterus, instead growing into two separate structures. She had previously been diagnosed with uterine fibroids and doctors told her she was infertile so when she gave birth to Rashley, now nine, she knew she was a miracle baby. Throughout her pregnancy, her double womb caused problems but neither Elizabeth or her doctors realised it was there. The problems led doctors to suggest Elizabeth should have a termination but she decided to wait and see. The surgery also revealed that Elizabeth had stage 5 endometriosis — a painful disorder where uterine tissue grows outside the uterus — on her bladder. I want to be the voice of the voiceless for every woman out there who is going through symptoms like what I went through. She also travels back to Ghana to work with women where talk of gynaecological issues can still be taboo.
