An Alabama woman with a rare double uterus has given birth twice in two days after what has been described by doctors as a "one in a million" pregnancy.
32-year-old Kelsey Hatcher delivered one daughter on Tuesday and another on Wednesday at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.
The pair are fraternal twins with rare separate birthdays.
In a post to social media, Hatcher said the medics were "incredible" and that she and her "miracle babies" were back at home to enjoy the holidays. She had previously expected a Christmas Day due date.
Hatcher was 17 when she discovered she had a double uterus (uterus didelphys) - a rare congenital anomaly affecting 0.3% of women.
Becoming pregnant in both uteri, known as a dicavitary pregnancy, was even rarer, a "one in a million" case according to the University of Alabama.
Prior to her dicavitary pregnancy, Hatcher had three previous pregnancies. This time, she believed herself to be pregnant in just one uterus until an ultrasound revealed a baby in her second.
"I gasped... We just could not believe it," she said.
The University of Alabama described Hatcher's pregnancy as "routine".
Professor Richard Davis, who helped to manage the 20-hour delivery, said that each baby had enjoyed "extra space to grow and develop" - unlike in a typical twin pregnancy.
Hatcher's labour was induced at 39 weeks and required double the monitoring and charting at the hospital, as well as double the staffing.
The first baby, Roxi, was delivered vaginally at about 7.45pm on December 19 (local time), while the second, Rebel, came by C-section at about 6.10am the following morning (local time).
"At the end of the day, it was two babies in one belly at the same time," said Davis.
"They just had different apartments."
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