Woman Born With Two Wombs And Two Veejays Gives Birth To A ‘Miracle Baby’ After Four Miscarriages

Leona Doherty has uterus didelphys, which affects 3 per cent of women. She became pregnant, but suffered four heartbreaking miscarriages

A year later she nearly died from a stroke, kidney and liver disease. Finally she became pregnant for the fifth time and gave birth by Caesarean. ‘Miracle’ son Hugh was born on December 9 weighing just 5lbs 9oz.

A woman with two wombs and two vaginas has spoken of her joy at finally giving birth to a ‘miracle’ baby.

Leona Doherty, 35, was born with the incredibly rare medical condition uterus didelphys.

Mrs Doherty’s chances of conception were halved because each of her wombs had just one fallopian tube and one ovary-which makes having a baby even more difficult.

His birth came after 12 months of serious health problems, in which Mrs Doherty nearly died and her husband battled depression.

Baby Hugh

Mrs Doherty, of Derry, Northern Ireland, said: ‘Hugh’s birth was the most amazing, unbelievable feeling. We are just enjoying every minute with Hugh.’

Doctors made the shocking discovery she had two wombs when investigating why Mrs Doherty was having difficulty conceiving.

As in Mrs Doherty’s case, sometimes women with the condition will have pregnancy complications because each uterus can be smaller than normal.

Although Mrs Doherty has two vaginas, she has sex normally but becomes pregnant in one uterus.

Mr and Mrs Doherty had always wanted children since meeting at work in 2000.

Mrs Doherty, who at that stage weighed 19 stone, was told by her doctor to slim down-and she dropped more than 10 stone in two years.

Then, in 2006, Mrs Doherty endured a year of terrible ill-health.

Mrs Doherty said: ‘Talking now about that year, it seems a bad year, but we just got through it.

After the last miscarriage, Mrs Doherty was referred to a specialist to see whether it would be possible to connect her two wombs, in the hope that it would help her carry a baby to full term.

‘My mother had passed away just before we lost the baby and I fell into a depression,’ said Mr Doherty. It was hard.’

Determined to help her husband, Mrs Doherty made it her mission to put him first.

‘I kept saying that even if we had our own children I would like to foster,’ Mrs Doherty said.

Mrs Doherty spent a month in hospital recovering what doctors diagnosed as ischemic hepatitis-acute liver failure-caused by low blood pressure and dehydration-before she was flown back home to Northern Ireland.

And six months later Mrs Doherty became pregnant naturally.

But the pregnancy was not straightforward and a month later, Mrs Doherty was given steroid injections for the baby’s lungs in case it was born early.