One mom had to make womb for two.
After being diagnosed as a teen with the rare condition uterus didelphys, in which one woman is born with two sets of reproductive organs, 31-year-old Faye Wilkins was able to deliver two children from separate wombs.
“At the age of 14, I couldn’t believe it when doctors told me I was born with two vaginas, two cervixes and two wombs,” she said. “I was in complete shock as I’d never noticed the condition before as the difference were only internal.”
As Wilkins explains, it wasn’t until she started suffering from severe pain during her menstrual cycle that she and her mother decided to consult with medical professionals.
“All of my friends had started their periods but I was only suffering from stomach cramps but nothing else,” Wilkins recalls. “As the pain got worse, my mom Polly took me to the doctors thinking I had an ovarian cyst because a lump had formed, but no one would scan me.”
Eight months after the initial visit, Wilkins’ uterus ruptured when she went to the bathroom.
“I heard a huge pop and knew something inside me had exploded,” Wilkins explains. “I was in agony, there was so much blood and I rushed to the hospital where doctors examined me and finally diagnoses me with UD.
“The condition had caused a blockage and my menstrual blood to build up, which had reached 12 centimeters (4¾ inches) in size,” she adds.
Wilkins went under the knife two months later, making her two vaginas into one, in order to prevent another rupture. Following the surgery, Wilkins was cautioned by doctors that her chances of carrying a baby to term were minimal.
“I was warned after my diagnosis that it would be difficult to conceive due to reproductive organs being half the size they should be, making implantation harder,” Wilkins shares.
Following six miscarriages, Wilkins, now a health care assistant, gave birth to daughter Molly, 7, and son George, 2. The siblings grew in the two different wombs.
“Thankfully, though, I have my two little miracles now and I’m just so pleased that they were born healthy,” she said.
After passing the 12-week mark of her pregnancy in 2008, Wilkins learned that she was carrying a baby in her left womb. To prevent her daughter from being born prematurely, she opted to have a cervical stitch.
“With Molly, I had a cervical stitch to stop her being born too prematurely as my womb is split in half, it’s half the size, meaning it’s much weaker,” Wilkins explains. “Thankfully, she was a little fighter and she held on as long as she could before being delivered by C-section seven weeks and two days early.”
Five years after Molly’s birth, Wilkins and now-partner Lee Welch learned that they were expecting. Only this time, the baby was developing in her right womb. In spite of her happiness over the pregnancy, Wilkins learned early on not to get too excited too fast.
“Doctors had warned me it would be difficult to conceive and after the first miscarriage, I didn’t allow myself to get excited,” she said. “Unlike most moms, falling pregnant was actually a difficult time for me.”
Unlike her first pregnancy, during which Wilkins also called it quits with Molly’s father, she was given steroids to boost George’s development.
“I was given steroids to speed up George’s growth so he was born seven weeks and two days early,” Wilkins reveals. “He was stronger than Molly, meaning he was out of neonatal care sooner.”
As Wilkins has settled into her life as a mother of two, she hopes that sharing her story will help other women living with UD not to be ashamed of the condition.
“I’ve always been upfront and honest with men I’ve dated, I wanted them to know that I may never fall pregnant and uterus didelphys is just a part of who I am,” Wilkins notes. “Having UD doesn’t make you any less of a woman, your internal organs have just formed slightly differently.”
“I want to raise awareness as many medical professionals are unaware of the condition and every time I go for a smear, it always amazes me how little people know, and how many weird questions I get asked,” she continues.
While Wilkins doesn’t plan to expand her family, she also refuses to let UD interfere with her everyday life.
“I’ve gone on to lead a relatively normal life, I only have one kidney, too, which is related to the condition, but again, I haven’t let this hold me back.”