Mother reveals how she gave birth to two babies in one year

A mother has revealed her surprise after giving birth to two babies in one year – after they each grew in her two different uteruses.

Caroline Wortman, 30, from Woodstock, Georgia, was told that she may be infertile after being diagnosed with uterine didelphys – meaning she was born with two reproductive systems.

However she gave birth to daughter Josie in January 2021, and six months after her birth, discovered she was already expecting another baby.

After learning she was pregnant again, she said she and her husband Nate were baffled, adding: ‘We were giggly with excitement but also still terrified.’

While her pregnancy was normal, she went into labour at 33 weeks and five days and the couple welcomed their son, Brooks, on Boxing Day 2021.

Caroline was 18 when she had her first appointment with the gynaecologist who, after completing the exam, told her that she had two cervixes.

Uterine Didelphys is caused because when a female foetus is growing, the uterus starts out as two small tubes called Müllerian ducts.

These will eventually fuse together to form the reproductive system in a process called embryogenesis.

Women with uterine didelphys do not undergo full embryogenesis, and can be born with two full reproductive systems.

She said: ‘I honestly shrugged it off because I didn’t really realize what the implications could be.

‘I did ask the doctor what having two cervixes meant and remember her telling me that I may be infertile and if I did become pregnant, it would likely be complicated and high risk.’

She added: ‘I think this took years and meeting my husband to really sink in, but it was always in the back of my mind.’

A couple of months later she went for an internal ultrasound where it was confirmed that she had two complete uteruses, and was diagnosed with uterine didelphys.

She was also told that it may be difficult for her to get pregnant in the future.

Caroline, who works for a law firm, said: ‘Having children was always something I knew I wanted, but I just tried to stay positive and not dwell too much on it.

‘Infertile was the story that I told myself for ten years.’

She added: ‘I always knew I wanted to be a mother, I just wasn’t sure that I would be able to without adoption, surrogacy or some other intervention.’

As she grew up, her diagnosis did not affect her life, but things changed when she met her now-husband Nate Daniel Wortman, 35, when she was 23.

They were introduced by a mutual friend while Nate was serving in the Army and was stationed near Caroline in Savannah, Georgia.

Eventually she opened up to him about her uterine didelphys.

The visual communications graduate said: ‘I was nervous. I knew when we started dating that he wanted children and I didn’t know if it was something I could give him.

‘But he was very reassuring and didn’t really seem to be bothered by the fact that we may need to seek other options for having children.

‘He always just said it would work out how it was supposed to work out.’