A woman with two wombs has given birth to three children in what is believed to the first case of its kind, a hospital official said on Friday.
Hannah Kersey, 23, gave birth to three girls in September, said Richard Dottle, a spokesman for Southmead Hospital in Bristol where the triplets were born. The children spent nine weeks in the hospital but the reason was not disclosed.
The girls - two identical twins delivered from one womb and a single baby from the other - were born seven weeks early by Caesarean, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Kersey and her partner Mick Faulkner said they were "over the moon" at how healthy and happy the girls were.
"They are three lovely and incredible children, all with very different personalities," the BBC quoted Kersey as saying.
"There haven't been any similar accounts where three healthy babies are born of two wombs," said Yakoub Khalaf, a consulting gynecologist at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital. He said that multiple pregnancies tended to be risky, and that delivering triplets under such abnormal circumstances was even riskier.
Separate or partially joined wombs are uncommon, although not rare. About one woman in 1,000 has them, according to Khalaf.
Pregnancies are possible, although they tend to result in premature birth more than half the time. One pregnancy in each womb is almost unheard of - Khalaf said he had identified only 70 cases over the past 50 years worldwide - and triplets delivered from two wombs has never before been recorded.
{{/usCountry}}Pregnancies are possible, although they tend to result in premature birth more than half the time. One pregnancy in each womb is almost unheard of - Khalaf said he had identified only 70 cases over the past 50 years worldwide - and triplets delivered from two wombs has never before been recorded.
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