‘Miracle’ twins born to mom with 2 wombs

LONDON: Finding out you’re having twins is always a surprise.

But for Jennifer Ashwood, the news came with a twist when doctors discovered she had two wombs – and had become simultaneously pregnant in both.

The odds of the phenomenon are 500 million to one, with fewer than a hundred examples ever recorded worldwide, and just a handful in Britain.

Most pregnant women with Ashwood’s condition, known as a bicornuate uterus, carry one baby on one side. Indeed, Ashwood, 31, had daughter Millie, now 8, without finding out. “I’ve had a baby before and it was really straightforward,” she said. “But my body surprised me this time.

“We found out at the 20-week scan and ever since people have been saying how rare it was.”

The care worker and her husband Andrew, a fireman, learnt they were expecting twins in December.

Then, after doctors discovered an abnormality, they revealed in February that she had two wombs, with one baby in each.

The condition, which developed when Ashwood herself was in the womb, does not cause extra problems with conception.

But there is a slightly higher risk of miscarriage or premature birth.

Ashwood, from Cornwall, went into labour at 34 weeks and gave birth to son Piran, and daughter Poppy, via C-section. The twins came home after two weeks, following treatment for jaundice. She said: “To have the two (wombs) is rare, but to have an egg in both fertilised, and then for both eggs to be in the right part… it’s a bit of a miracle.” – Daily Mail