She has 2 uteruses. Then she had triplets. Her case is rare — and has puzzled doctors.

A woman born with two uteruses and two cervixes recently welcomed three healthy babies from two separate wombs. Sadie, a teacher who lives in the Midwest and asked to withhold her last name for privacy reasons, spoke to Yahoo Life on the phone about her unique pregnancy story, which she also documented on TikTok.

Sadie was told that she might have a “heart-shaped uterus” in high school (also known as a bicornuate uterus) but says that the potential for her having two uteruses wasn’t discovered until she became pregnant with her first child following fertility treatments.

At the time, she was told it was unclear if she had a single uterus with a long septum or two uteruses entirely. She found out for certain that she had dual uteruses when she got pregnant again after doing IUI, or intrauterine insemination, a fertility treatment where sperm are placed directly into the uterus to increase the chances of pregnancy.

"I had two eggs on my left side, so on my left fallopian tube, and they made us do a verbal consent, like, 'Are you OK with twins?' And we said, ‘Yes,’” Sadie explains. However, around the six-week mark, Sadie began bleeding, and her doctor called her in for an ultrasound. That’s when Sadie and her husband saw two fetuses developing in her uterus — confirming what they initially believed to be twins.

However, the babies were developing on her right side — which was unusual, Sadie explains, as she originally had two eggs developing in her left fallopian tube. When the doctor checked her left side, sure enough, there was another baby.

“They were all measuring right on track for where they needed to be,” Sadie says. “Right around that six-week mark, they all had heartbeats."

One issue with having two uteruses is the potential for preterm birth — something that is also a concern when you carry more than one fetus at a time. Sadie moved to a high-risk clinic right away to manage her pregnancy, but all went smoothly: Sadie says her babies ended up “hanging in there” until her scheduled C-section at 36 weeks. (A full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks; however, the average duration for triplets is 32 to 35 weeks.)

All of Sadie’s children — two girls and one boy — are fraternal, she says, which has puzzled her doctor, as it appears she had only two eggs that could be fertilized during her pregnancy. (Since she was on fertility medication at the time, she ovulated two eggs, when typically women ovulate just one per cycle.)

Normally, fraternal twins or multiples come from separate eggs fertilized by different sperm. However, identical siblings come from the same egg, which splits into two or more embryos. Typically, two eggs would result in two children.

“That is something where the doctors are still very puzzled at,” Sadie says. It’s possible, she notes, that the person doing her initial scan missed the extra egg, or that she may have ovulated a few days after the scan and had that egg fertilized quickly.

No matter how they came to be, Sadie is focused on raising her (now four) little ones. Despite the inevitable lack of sleep, she says being a mom to new triplets is going swimmingly. “I think having them be fraternal is very fun, because you got to see all the different genetic combinations,” she says. “It’s been busy, but I’ve always wanted a bigger family. After going through fertility treatments, I thought this would be my last pregnancy, and I ended up with as many babies as I initially wanted.”

As for the future of her reproductive health, Sadie says she’s not planning on having any more children and had a tubal ligation during her C-section. “I wanted to be a mom since I was born, and my kids are the biggest joy of my life,” she says. “They’re smiling, and they’re excited, and they’re giggling — we’re seeing the light at the end of the newborn tunnel.”

What to know about having 2 uteruses

Having triplets is rare. Having triplets across two uteruses? Even more so. However, Sadie has company: In 2006, a 23-year-old British woman had triplets across two uteruses — twins who grew in one uterus, and another girl who grew in the other. In May 2024, a Minnesota woman also shared that she was expecting three babies in two uteruses.

Dr. Joshua Copel, an ob-gyn and professor at Yale School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life that having two uteruses is very rare — about 0.3% of the population is born with the condition, though it’s possible not everyone who has two uteruses is aware of it, as typically, there are no symptoms.

If you do experience symptoms from having two uteruses, they may include heavier periods, uncomfortable cramping or pain during sex (which may specifically occur if you also have two vaginas, which not everyone with two uteruses does). These are all things that can be explained by other reproductive health issues.

The reason a dual uterus occurs is due to differences in embryonic development. “Instead of having one uterus that's shaped more or less like an upside-down triangle, you can have two uteruses, and it can be anything from one uterus with a wall that separates most of it into two halves, to actually having two separate uteruses with two separate cervixes attached to the vagina, to that plus a wall going down the length of the vagina, when there are actually two vaginas,” Copel explains.

One unique concern of having two uteruses is that it is often associated with kidney abnormalities, including having only one kidney. (Sadie was tested for such, but has both kidneys with normal function.)

Another issue, Copel says, is that people with two uteruses may have trouble “hanging on” to pregnancy — such as with preterm birth. While people may not struggle to initially get pregnant, it’s possible for these individuals to miscarry due to reduced uterine space.

Because this condition is rare, Copel says it’s not something most people need to concern themselves with. Those who are aware of their condition can bring it up to their doctors during pregnancy in order to monitor it and adjust their plans accordingly.

Regardless of who you are, prenatal care — which can assess whether you have a double uterus — is crucial. “There’s a lot more out there than this to worry about,” he says. “Wear your seat belt, get your flu and COVID shots, don’t drink alcohol, don’t smoke and take a prenatal vitamin.”