{"id":710741,"date":"2019-09-26T10:51:08","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T10:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2019\/09\/26\/woman-born-with-two-vaginas-and-wombs-is-now-a-mum-of-4\/"},"modified":"2019-09-26T10:51:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T10:51:08","slug":"woman-born-with-two-vaginas-and-wombs-is-now-a-mum-of-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/09\/26\/woman-born-with-two-vaginas-and-wombs-is-now-a-mum-of-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman born with two vaginas and wombs is now a mum of 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Double the vagina, double the fun?<\/p>\n

Not in the beginning, says 34-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.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s now the smiling mom of four kids ranging from 15 months to five years old \u2014 even though doctors warned her it might not ever happen.\u00a0According to researchers, about one in every 3,000 women is born with a double uterus.<\/p>\n

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 14. When an ultrasound revealed she had the rare condition, her doctor informed her that bearing children was unlikely.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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She met her future husband at 17, and knew she had to be honest with the would-be father after they were married in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom quite early on, Ben and I discussed having children and it was clear that he really wanted to be a dad,\u201d she told PA Real Life. \u201cI knew I had to be open and honest and tell him that might not be a possibility for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben said he\u2019d be supportive no matter the outcome. Nevertheless, just a year into their marriage, the couple went to work on getting pregnant \u2014 though they didn\u2019t have to try for long.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut actually, we have found it easy to fall pregnant,\u201d she said. \u201cI am not sure why, or if it has anything to do with my two vaginas.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was just one month before the couple realized in October 2013 that they were having a baby.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe knew it might be a bumpy road and tried not to get our hopes up too much,\u201d said Lauren, who added that she took a week\u2019s worth of pregnancy tests to be absolutely certain her wishes had come true. \u201cEach day the line got darker and darker until I was sure \u2014 we were pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June 2014, the Cotters delivered their eldest daughter, Amelie, via Caesarean section. The healthy baby girl weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces.<\/p>\n

A year and a half later, they decided they wanted another, and again had no fertility troubles, becoming pregnant with their son Harvey after just two months. Harvey grew in Lauren\u2019s left uterus, unlike her firstborn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI carried Amelie in my right, and just assumed the left one was a dud,\u201d said Lauren, referring to each side of her divided womb. Her first son was born prematurely via a Caesarean section at 33 weeks. Although he weighed only 4 pounds, 12 ounces at birth, and had difficulty swallowing early on, he was released from the hospital after just three weeks.<\/p>\n

Not long after Harvey was born, Lauren decided to opt for contraception \u2014 an implant, which doctors recommended based on her medical history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [birth control] pill was giving me migraines and I couldn\u2019t use [an IUD] coil, so in the end the implant was the only option left,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While the US Department of Health and Human Services\u00a0claims the contraceptive implant\u00a0is over 99 percent effective, Lauren was pregnant with twins within three weeks of going on birth control.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Shocked\u2019 doesn\u2019t begin to cover it,\u201d said Lauren. \u201cDuring 17 years together, Ben and I had only ever got pregnant when we\u2019d planned it. Now, here we were, having surprise twins.\u201d<\/p>\n

She may have successfully carried one child, but doctors feared two babies growing from one shrunken uterus would be especially dangerous for the mom and her unborn children.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy doctor was very honest and said he couldn\u2019t know how the pregnancy was going to play out,\u201d she said. They ordered strict bed rest beginning at 19 weeks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

But right on time at 37 weeks, twin girls Maya and Evie were born in June of last year, weighing five pounds, 13 ounces and five pounds, four ounces, respectively. Initially, Evie struggled to survive due to a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, meaning her diaphragm has failed to keep her intestines in their proper place. At just five days old, she had surgery, which doctors said would give her a 50 percent chance of survival.<\/p>\n

Now, at 15 months old, the Cotters\u2019 twins are leading healthy childhoods along with older siblings Amelie, now 5, and Harvey, 3.<\/p>\n

The mum of four \u2014 who requested that her fallopian tubes be removed during her last C-section to prevent any more surprises \u2014 added, \u201cBen and I are one super-fertile couple, and now we\u2019re happy with things just as they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: nypost.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Double the vagina, double the fun? Not in the beginning, says 34-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. She\u2019s now the smiling mom of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":710742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-710741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-odd-but-true"],"yoast_head":"\nWoman born with two vaginas and wombs is now a mum of 4 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/09\/26\/woman-born-with-two-vaginas-and-wombs-is-now-a-mum-of-4\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Woman born with two vaginas and wombs is now a mum of 4 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Double the vagina, double the fun? 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