Medical history was made when a woman in the UK gave birth to triplets from two wombs for the first time. Doctors revealed to 32-year-old Melanie Bassett that in addition to carrying two identical twins in one womb, she was also carrying a third child in a second womb.
The mother first discovered she had two wombs when she was pregnant with her first child Phoebe, now three, in 2016. Along with her husband Ben, 33, Melanie, from Hampshire, then welcomed their first son Blake into the world in 2019. But in January this year, the couple were amazed to welcome triplets, Brooke, Isabelle and Beau. Having twins from two wombs, commonly known as ᴜᴛᴇʀᴜs Dɪᴅᴇʟᴘʜʏs, is estimated to be a one in a million occurrence. And Melanie is thought to be the first example of the rare case in the ⓊⓀ. Just two months after Blake’s birth, Bassett found out she was pregnant again. At her 12-week scan, she and her husband Ben were told they would be having triplets.
Due to Bassett’s two wombs, doctors considered her pregnancy to be rare and wanted to have scans every couple of weeks to watch the triplets. While pregnant with triplets, Bassett ᴜɴᴅᴇʀᴡᴇɴᴛ an internal scan that involved more testing to see how thick the septum was splitting her two wombs. After the speculum test was finished, Bassett found out her ᴄᴇʀᴠɪxᴇs were side by side, something that had never been picked up before. Her wombs actually make a heart shape and have ᴛᴡᴏ ᴄʜᴀᴍʙᴇʀs. While having two wombs does not affect fertility, the ʀɪsᴋ of ᴘʀᴇᴍᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ birth or ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇ can slightly increases. Bassett was concerned her babies would develop twin to twin ᴛʀᴀɴsғᴜsɪᴏɴ sʏɴᴅʀᴏᴍᴇ, where multiple ғᴇᴛᴜsᴇs share the same placenta during the rare pregnancy condition, but, Bassett’s pregnancy went well. She recalls them first being told they were having triplets. Tᴡᴏ of their babies were twins and the other was simply a third child.
Mum said :” When we were told it was quite crazy! Ben is one of four and I’m one of three but I don’t think having a big family was on the cards. But I wouldn’t change it for anything. I noticed a difference being pregnant with the triplets. I would often find myself having to deal with them kicking on both sides. One would kick and it would set all of them off!” The triplets were eventually born via c-section at 32 weeks on January 26 this year and ever since, Melanie has had her hands full raising five young children. She said she is looking forward to spending time this Christmas as a big family.
Melanie said: “We really are looking forward to Christmas. We can’t wait to see their little faces on Christmas morning. It’s all about the children. We are cooking Christmas Day for my sister and her boyfriend and then Ben’s brother and family are joining us for games on Boxing Day. Our family is now complete!
