Double uterus (didelphys)

[SWnewstart]

My lovely DD has just told me she's pregnant (aged 33, an only child, 2 x heart surgery operations before 2 years old and very close to me as her dad died when she was just 10). The first scan revealed she has a double uterus - something I'd never heard of and, having Googled it, I'm feeling quite anxious. The consultant says it will be a C-section. I'd like to hear from anyone who has this condition and currently pregnant or already given birth. I'm also thrilled for DD and her husband

Hi
Not me, but a family member has this condition. She needed IVF to conceive, but the pregnancy then progressed well with lots of surveillance, and her little girl is two years old. She had a c-section.
She's managed on the second time of asking to get pregnant naturally - again there's lots of extra scans and talk of a cervical stitch in case the cervix is incompetent but so far going well.
If they're watching her closely and she's under a consultant for her care then the risk is managed, it seems. Best of luck, it can be done.

My mother has it. My siblings and I were quite early but fine. Encourage her to rest and perhaps you can work out where to get premie clothes quickly in case she needs them.

My sister had that and had two kids. The first was breech (maybe the second too) and was booked in for a c-section, I remember her saying she was told to go straight in if she had a contraction as it was important to get to hospital quickly.

i think both kids were planned c-sections at 39 weeks. The second did wear a helmet for a few months as his head was a bit squished where he hadn’t had much space, but the helmet worked to re-shape fine. Both kids and mum completely fine otherwise.

Years ago now my mother had a friend with a double uterus.She got pregnant with twins, one baby in each uterus.It got into the local newspapers as was not heard of before.She had a c section and the babies , both boys, were given the middle name of the consultant who had delivered them and supervised the pregnancy.
The babies were not identical and it was believed the mother had released an egg from each ovary at the same time.

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories / experiences.

I have this condition and have three children with no complications, just planned c-sections. Try not to worry, they will monitor her and it is very likely that everything will be completely fine.

Thanks for that response Hardliquor (great name) - could I ask a couple of possibly stupid questions? Like what happens to the second uterus during pregnancy, does it sort of shrink away to allow for the growth of baby? This one is developing in DDs left uterus, so will her left side be more noticeably a bump?
Did you go fullterm before C-section or is this usually an early procedure (obviously everyone is different!)

There are various degrees of this, from 2, complete uteri/cervix/vaginal canals to a bicornate uterus which is a slightly heart shaped one. I used to work in A&E many years ago and had a lady who thought she was miscarrying. The scan showed that she had didelphys and had a viable pregnancy in 1 and had sadly MC'd from the other uterus.

I also had a close friend with the milder version and a partial division down the centre of her uterus. She MC'd her 1st pregnancy and that is when she found out about the condition. She went on to have 2, healthy pregnancies who are teens now. She lived abroad but was given more regular scans than the regular ones. As the pregnancy grows in 1 side, it just expands and eventually compresses the other uteri. The other side doesn't shrink. DD will just look pregnant like any other woman. I very much doubt there would be a noticeable left sided bump, especially later on. I'm not sure if that helps, but a healthy pregnancy is certainly possible x.

Yes a friend has. She had two prem babies both fine now.

Has she gone beyond the 12 weeks mark? I have a large septate that stops just at the cervix - they said it is unusual in that if it went through the septate it would be classed as a double uterus (they wanted me to let a load of trainee doctors observe my gyno appointment which was a hard no). I got a lot more monitoring during the pregnancy and had to go in regularly to get the cervix measured - I seemed to be going in weekly for different things in the last few months. It was always okay! My daughter did run out of room to move in the last 2/3 months so she couldn’t turn herself and I was told it had to be a C-section. It ended up being an emergency c-section in the end. In a way having all that extra monitoring was quite reassuring.

At about two weeks old, I noticed my daughter had weakness gripping on one side of her body. The doctor didn’t quite see it initially so I got a private physio assessment and off that report the doctor referred her for physio. She had various scans (hips mainly), had to see different specialists and had a year of physio but then got signed off and is now stronger than most kids and super into climbing everything in sight! They said that kids when they are that young are so plastic, when you tackle issues like that early the majority are fine. So I guess check mobility isn’t affected if he/she runs out of room, and if no one listens go private!

That is similar to what happened to me. I had two miscarriages - one before I even had my first scan and one at around 12 weeks which is when the septate was discovered. It got harder to see the septate as the pregnancy progressed and it was just a normal bump!

I had a friend with this - not as positive as the other stories... she went into early labour, baby was born at 29 weeks.

HOWEVER, the baby was in the NICU until their birth date and now is a completely healthy toddler! No long term issues at all. So despite a rocky start, baby also turned out fine.

It's really interesting hearing about your various experiences. DD is 12 weeks today and has just been advised to take aspirin daily. I am veering between elation / happiness for DD and husband and what I know will be constant background worry for me - but I definitely won't let that show to them! I might be back here with more questions down the line though

Hi, I have a double uterus also therefore my pregnancies have been consultant led rather than midwife led. My son was in my right uterus, and I had more growth scans than normal and also my cervix is slightly shorter than normal due to the double uterus. I would encourage your daughter to ask about this at her next appointment as they monitored my cervix length very closely. I was also advised to take aspirin every day and prescribed progesterone due to having higher risk of pre term labour due to baby running out of space to grow. Baby was breech the entire pregnancy therefore highly recommended a caesarean, and I went into labour at 35 weeks.

Prior to this pregnancy I had 2 early miscarriages. My consultant said these were unrelated to my double uterus, which was very reassuring.

I am now pregnant again and this baby is also in my right uterus and also breech, so will probably end up having another caesarean! Still having regular scans to monitor baby's growth and my cervix length, but my new consultant isn't concerned and says it's probably just the way my cervix always has been. I hope your daughter is keeping well!

My SIL has this. 3 healthy kids and one miscarriage in between. She has c sections but otherwise all seemed normal that I know of.

Sunflower, that's really interesting to hear, thank you. Exactly the sort of info I was looking for. There seems to be quite a lot of breech positions with this condition. Anyway, I hope you stay well and have a healthy baby. Very best wishes to you

Quick update - DD had 20 week scan today and all is progressing well. The sonographer was really interested as she was her first patient with this condition. Reassured all looks normal. Baby is currently breech but obviously there's time to change round. Interestingly, there was talk of a possible vaginal birth if DD wanted to try that before C-Section. They are starting to get excited now and it all feels more real. We also know the babies sex :-)

I'm so glad your DD and baby are doing well. I am reassured to read this thread. I am 10 weeks and have a referral to EPU due to uterine abnormality (heart shaped), and everything I read online is just about all the increased risks.

Congratulations Howeverfar! I expect it might have been a bit of a shock to hear the word "abnormality" - it certainly was for us, but now we are further down the line things have calmed. You may even get a bit of special treatment from medics along the way, for being different :-)

Thankyou SW! Yes it's a shock to hear abnormality and I'm already 35, so worrying to be "high risk" in more ways than one.