The 39 Year Old Mother With A Heart-Shaped Womb
Astonishing pictures have today emerged of a mother’s heart-shaped womb that left doctors in Russia stunned. The unidentified 39-year-old was born with a bicornuate uterus, an abnormality believed to strike one in 1,000 women. Doctors warned for years that she would struggle to ever have children – but she defied their expectations to become pregnant with twins.
Before she gave birth, only a dozen cases of twins born to mothers with the unusual condition had ever been recorded in medical literature. The woman, from Moscow, required a Caesarean section to give birth to her twins, who were both born healthy. She named her son Evgeny, who was born weighing 7lbs, and daughter Varvara, born weighing slightly under 6lbs.
Does the abnormality affect women’s chance of getting pregnant?
Local reports state the woman had been told for years that she had ‘no chance of children’ due to her womb abnormality. But experts say having the unusual-shaped womb does not cause extra problems with conception but there is a slightly higher risk of miscarriage.
However, women with with a bicornuate womb are often urged to have a C-section because it can affect the way their baby lies in pregnancy.
Moskovsky Komsomolets, a daily newspaper in Moscow read by nearly one million people each day, was the first to break the story.
They reported that ‘when doctors took the uterus out they could not believe their eyes, it had the perfect shape of a heart’. The newspaper also revealed ‘the uterus was not removed, it was only photographed and put back’ so the woman could have more children, if she wishes.
Doctors at Bauman Moscow Clinical Hospital number 29 said the woman revealed she did want to extend her family at some point. The medics published the incredible picture on their official Instagram account, with the mothers’ permission. More than 3,000 people have liked the post since it was uploaded yesterday.
The chief doctor on duty for the twins’ birth was Dr Olga Lukanovskaya. Other medics involved were Dr Konstantin Ryabtsev, Dr Elena Chebotaryova and anaesthetist Dr Alexei Kiselyov.
WHAT IS A BICORNUATE UTERUS?
Figures suggest three per cent of women are born with an irregular uterus, of which a heart-shaped womb is one of the most common defects.
A bicornuate uterus – the medical name for a heart-shaped womb – is an abnormality believed to strike one in 1,000 women.
Experts say having the unusual-shaped womb does not cause extra problems with conception but there is a slightly higher risk of miscarriage.
However, women with with a bicornuate womb are often urged to have a C-section because it can affect the way their baby lies in pregnancy.
Turkish doctors were astounded when they came across a woman with a bicornuate uterus who gave birth to twins in 2013.
The team at Kütahya Dumlupinar University published the tale in the journal Case Reports in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Writing in the publication at the time, they said: ‘To date, there are only 12 reported cases of twin pregnancy in bicornuate uterus.’
How rare is the abnormality?
Figures suggest three per cent of women are born with an irregular uterus, of which a heart-shaped womb is one of the most common defects. Turkish doctors were astounded when they came across a woman with a bicornuate uterus who gave birth to twins in 2013.
The team at Kütahya Dumlupinar University published the tale in the journal Case Reports in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Writing in the publication at the time, they said: ‘To date, there are only 12 reported cases of twin pregnancy in bicornuate uterus.’
Does Lena Dunham have the abnormality?
Dunham, creator and star of hit series ‘Girls’, had a hysterectomy to combat her endometriosis-related pain, she revealed earlier this year. The actress, 31, revealed she had the procedure in the March issue of Vogue, in which she described her uterus as being heart-shaped.
Doctors discovered she had other medical issues that were causing her pain during the procedure.
She said: ‘My ovary has settled in on the muscles around the sacral nerves in my back that allow us to walk. Let’s please not even talk about my uterine lining. The only beautiful detail is that the organ — which is meant to be shaped like a light bulb — was shaped like a heart.’
By Will Stewart | Mailonline
