'One in a million phenomenon': Chinese woman with two uteruses gives birth to baby from each womb

In a rare medical marvel, a woman in northwest China with two uteruses gave birth to two healthy twins in September, each from a different uterus.

The woman, identified by her surname Li, was born with a rare condition of uterus didelphys, i.e. being born with two wombs. About 0.3 per cent of women worldwide experience this phenomenon, South China Morning Post reported, citing the China National Radio.

The presence of two wombs makes it extremely difficult for the affected women to successfully carry the pregnancies to term and give birth to healthy babies, due to an increased risk of repeated miscarriages, premature birth, underdevelopment of the fetus, and post-partum haemorrhages.

Cai Ying, a senior obstetrician at Xi’an Hospital, was quoted as saying: “Being pregnant in each of the two uteruses through natural conception is very rare. We have only heard of a couple of such cases from both China and abroad.”

“It’s even rarer that a woman with this condition would successfully give birth after 37 weeks,” she said, adding that it was a “one in a million phenomenon."

After an earlier miscarriage at 27 weeks, Li had become pregnant in January. The doctors at the Xi’an Hospital devised a meticulous plan to ensure her safety and the successful birth of healthy children.

In September, Li gave birth to a boy, weighing 3.3kg and a girl at 2.4kg. She and her newborns were discharged from the hospital four days after the babies’ birth.

The news of Li attracted widespread attention on mainland Chinese social media.

One netizen was quoted, “The babies lived a luxurious life inside their mother’s belly. Instead of sharing the same house like other twin fetuses, they lived in separate villas.”

However, another person reminded the public that the pregnancy would have been extremely challenging, according to South China Morning Post.

“My colleague has two uteruses. She lost her baby three times before having a son. It was not easy for her!” the individual said.