Miracle birth: Mum with 2 wombs conceives in both at same time, delivers twins
In a rare case, doctors discovered that Jennifer Ashwood had two wombs – and had become simultaneously pregnant in both.
The odds of the phenomenon are 500million to one, with fewer than a hundred examples ever recorded worldwide, and just a handful in Britain.
Most pregnant women with the condition known as bicornuate uterus, carry one baby on one side. Ashwood, 31, had daughter Millie, now eight, without finding out.
The care worker and her husband Andrew, a fireman, learned they were expecting twins in December. Later, doctors discovered an abnormality, and they revealed in February that she had two wombs, with one baby in each.
The condition, which developed when Helen was herself in the womb, does not cause extra problems with conception but there is a slightly higher risk of miscarriage or premature birth.
Ashwood, from Camborne, Cornwall, went into labour at 34 weeks and gave birth to son Piran, 5lb 10oz, and daughter Poppy, 5lb 3oz, via caesarean.
The twins came home after two weeks, following treatment for jaundice.
Speaking about it, she said, “To have the two [wombs] is rare in itself, but to have an egg in both, then those to be fertilised, and then for both eggs to be in the right part ... it's a bit of a miracle. You think you know your body well, but it turns out you might not.”
