Woman born with two vaginas who doctors told she was infertile is now pregnant

A woman who was born with two sets of reproductive organs and had been told by doctors that she was infertile is now expecting a child.

Krista Schwab, 32, was diagnosed with uterus didelphys, meaning she has two vaginas, one right next to the other.
She was diagnosed at age 12 and has two vaginas, two cervixes and two wombs.  Because of complications resulting from her rare condition, doctors told Krista that she would never get pregnant. In spite of that, she tried to have a baby with her husband Courtney, 33, resulting in a
couple of miscarriages.

The couple eventually gave up hope of having a baby via a natural birth. She considered trying IVF but soon discovered she was expecting a child.  Krista is now five months pregnant and expecting a baby boy which is growing in her left womb.

Krista from Washington, US, said:

 "After being diagnosed with uterine didelphys at 12 years old, I knew I had two uteruses and two cervixes. But when I was 30 I found out that I also have two vaginas that are side by side. I always felt the separate sections during intercourse and smear tests but I just thought that feeling was a normal thing every woman had.”

Speaking on how she found out she was pregnant, Krista said she had lost all hope and when she eventually did a test and it turned out positive she fell to the floor crying

"For so many years my husband and I cried, prayed and dreamed of having a child. We both had so many breakdowns because we wanted one so much. After probably 1,000 negative pregnancy tests – it got to the point where I gave up wishing anymore. Last December I put on weight so I bought my billionth pregnancy test which my husband and I thought was just now a waste of money. I normally pray and hope whilst I wait, but this time I lost all hope and didn't bother. Then I saw it – it was positive. I hit the floor crying."

AT just 13 years, doctors had warned Krista that she could never have children. Then at the age of 30, she learned she also had two vaginas as part of the condition.

She added:

 "It was a massive shock, especially for my husband! Doctors and I couldn't see it because it was too far inside. Sex is extremely sensitive and can hurt – it affects my sex life and my self-confidence. However, my husband and I joke around about it all the time. There's so many prude comments I get about my vaginas, but what is the upsetting is the link to my infertility.

"The year I was diagnosed, every single doctor told me that it would be impossible for me to have kids. All the way up to 30 I was told I couldn't have them. The only ovary that was functioning was on that right side with that very shallow opening there was no connection for the left to get an egg through it. I actually got pregnant when I was 15 and 20, but I had miscarriages for both. When I met my husband at 20 years old, I told him I couldn't have kids. So the whole time I've been together with my husband we didn't use protection."

Most women with uterine didelphys have to have C-section but Krista is hopeful she might not need one.

"Because of my two vaginas, the baby will have to come down the left side vagina," she added. "Doctors think I'll have to have a C-section but I'm dreaming of a natural water birth. It's incredible because doctors still don't understand it. The fact that I'm pregnant on the left side and it's impossible for the egg to get there. I am scared that he will get stuck, one vagina is much smaller, if they were both one vagina it'd be a normal size. Ten years of trying to have a baby it just happened. I want women with uterine didelphys to never let anyone tell them miracles can't happen because they do."

Dr Nick Raine-Fenning, spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said:

"The uterus forms in utero by the fusion of two tubes, which are called the Mullerian ducts. The wall between the tubes breaks down before birth in its lower aspect leaving one womb and one cervix whilst the upper parts stay separate and form the two fallopian tubes. The process can go wrong at any time leaving two completely separate tubes and therefore two uteri and two cervixes, as well as two vaginas, known as uterine didelphys or double uterus, at one extreme or one uterus separated by a muscular wall which is a septate uterus.

"Uterine anomalies, as they are called, have been associated with infertility, miscarriage, and preterm delivery."