A UK mom who has two sets of reproductive systems has surprised doctors and the medical world by giving birth to a baby girl.

Lindsay Hasaj, who was diagnosed with a dual reproductive system or uterus didelphys in November, gave birth to Mirela Elizabeth by Caesarean section last week.

The miracle baby arrived weighing a healthy 6lb 3oz by Caesarian section.

Although eight in 10,000 women have some form of uterus didelphys only one in a million have Lindsay’s anatomy, which is a double womb, double cervix and double vagina.

The unusual condition was discovered during a scan that she had two wombs, an anatomical irregularity that halved her chances of fertilization and complicated her pregnancy.

She had to have scans every two weeks and even the tiniest problem left her with sleepless nights and trips to the hospital.

Henry Annan, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist and spokesman for the Royal Free Hospital, said:

'The important thing is not to think of this woman as abnormal.

'One in 1,000 women have a variation of some kind with their reproductive system, only hers is very rare.

'With a pregnancy like this everyday complications such as premature labour and the baby not being born in a normal way can take on another dimension.

'I would also reduce the chance of fertilization by 50 per cent. She's done very well to conceive and give birth the way she has.'

Earlier this year a Michigan mom with 2 wombs welcomed twins, 1 from each womb.

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Labels: double womb, Lindsay Hasaj, Mirela Elizabeth, uterus didelphys

Sad news today...The Spanish woman who became the world’s oldest mother when she welcomed her twins in 2006 at the age of 66 has lost her fight with cancer, leaving the babies orphaned.

Maria Carmen del Bousada was diagnosed with cancer a year after giving birth to Cristian and Pau. She died at a hospital near Cadiz on Saturday aged 69.

Her two-year-old twins will be left to the care of the family and are unlikely to retain many memories of their mother.

The Diario de Cadiz newspaper reported that Miss Bousada was diagnosed with a tumour before she gave birth at a clinic in Barcelona in December 2006.

During an interview after the babies arrival, Miss Bousada said the drugs used during her fertility treatment may have helped the disease spread. But she insisted she had no regrets.

In 2006, she travelled to the US to undergo in vitro fertilization treatment costing $50,000.

Later, she admitted that she lied to doctors about her age, saying she was only 55 to get round age limits at the Los Angeles clinic.

At the time the birth causes controversy in Spain, from fertility experts and even from her own family.

“My mother would turn in her grave if she knew what my sister has done," said her brother Manuel Bousada de Lara, 73. "She would ask: ‘How are you going to bring up two boys at your age?’’

Before the birth, which was premature and by Caesarean section, she only told most of the family she had gone to America, failing to mention it was for intensive in vitro fertilization.

The determined mom had never been married and lived in a two-bedroom flat above a supermarket.

Neighbours said she rarely ventured out and spent most of her time inside with her children.

As her twins approached their first birthday, Maria gave an interview to a Spanish television show and admitted she had been diagnosed with a 'very serious illness'.

She said at the time:

'The little ones are beautiful, very chubby, very big.

'At the moment I am still here. I have my family, the two children have their godfather.

'I have a girl who helps me look after the children. I am always there for them. I always have help.

'I'm not thinking about fear in my life at the moment but of course you never know.

'I am well at the moment but you never know how things will work out. I have always been healthy and never had problems.'

Asked if she had any regrets over her decision to have children, she replied: 'No, not at all, not at all. No.

'Yes, I think about myself, but the children I was lacking, they have a family.'

And asked who will look after the children if she dies, she replied: 'I have a nephew, I have their godfather who is very good with the children.

'They are not going to be alone. But come on, I'm not thinking at the moment that I'm going to...

'The love that these children receive, very few children get that amount of love. That's the truth.'

The concern now is for these babies. Their uncle Ricardo would only say that they were doing brilliantly and that he would not discuss who will be looking after them.

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• 67 Year Mom Of Twins Diagnosed With a Serious Illness
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Labels: In vitro fertilisation, IVF, Maria Carmen del Bousada, Multiple birth

Separated couple Katie Price and Peter Andre were seen together for the first time since their split yesterday when they did the switch off with their 3 kids, Junior, 4, Princess Tiaamii, 2 and Harvey, 7 (Katie's son from a previous marriage).

The couple exchanged a few tense words in a in a handover that could at best be described as 'frosty'.

Peter and the kids were then seen out for a walk with friends afterwards.

A funny note: Katie's licence plate says BOSSY KT.

{SPLASH}

Labels: Celebrity Kids, Harvey Price, Junior Andre, Katie Price, Peter Andre, Princess Tiaamii

Adriana Lima showed off her growing belly last night in NYC at the Louis Vuitton celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Lunar Landing held at the American Museum of Natural History.

The mom-to-be turned it on for the cameras by embracing her bump, while pouting for photographers.

She spoke recently of her family plans:

'I never saw myself being married and having a child. Not because I did not want to. But it's tough to find somebody.

'(But after meeting Marko) everything changed. I knew he was the one and I could see myself married with him and with a big family.

'We are so excited. We wanted this. We were ready. My mom is doing everything and getting things ready.'

{WENN AND ZUMA PRESS}

Labels: 40th Anniversary of the Lunar Landing, Adriana Lima, American Museum of Natural History, Pregnant Celebrities

The Public Health Agency of Canada wants pregnant women to know that they are at greater risk than the general public of developing complications, which could lead to miscarriages if they catch the H1N1 influenza virus.(Swine Flu)

"While pregnant women are not more likely to get H1N1, they are at greater risk for complications from the flu," chief public health officer Dr. David Butler-Jones said during a conference call yesterday.

Butler-Jones said problems could include early delivery and miscarriage.

"It's recommended that pregnant women be even more vigilant with hand washing and using hand sanitizer," Butler-Jones said. "Pregnant women should think about avoiding crowds, but they can certainly continue normal activities like going to work, shopping at the mall or attending worship services."

Seven more people infected with the H1N1 virus have died in Ontario, bringing the total number of deaths in the province to 14, officials said yesterday.

Congratulations to Mira Sorvino and husband Christopher Backus on the safe arrival of their third child - a boy!

Holden Paul Terry Backus arrived on June 22 in L.A. Weighing in at 8 lbs., 12 oz., following a difficult pregnancy and a long labor and delivery.

"As soon as they placed him in my arms I knew it had all been worth it," Sorvino, 41, says. "He is my miracle baby. With everything that threatened this pregnancy and both of our lives, he came out of it completely unscathed: perfectly healthy, beautiful and wonderful!"

During her pregnancy, Mira ended up with placenta previa, which caused her to be hospitalized for weeks and then put on complete bed rest.

"I developed a blood clot (DVT) due to all the inactivity and had to be anti-coagulated for months to prevent a pulmonary embolism," she said. "I spent another two-and-a-half weeks at the hospital, during which time, missing the children and my husband and knowing what the separation was doing to the kids became almost unbearable. Prior to this nine-week hospital stay, I had only ever spent one night away from Johnny, 3 and Mattea, 4."

Labor and delivery also were long.

"The baby was very big and he came a couple of weeks early so it took longer than we thought," she said. "During the day we had some scary difficulties with the epidural as I achieved almost no progress with the labor and then at night the placenta created problems again. Although it was not blocking the baby's path as it had done for almost the entire pregnancy, it started causing me a substantial loss of blood. Just as we began begging for a C-section, the situation turned around and the end of the birth was very easy."

Mattea and Johnny, meanwhile, are now adjusting well to their baby brother.

"They make up songs to sing to him! My only challenge has been convincing them not to touch him and pet him while he's sleeping, because they wake him up!"

Labels: Celebrity Babies, Christopher Backus, Holden Paul Terry Backus, Mira Sorvino, Placenta Previa

Actress Ali Landry and husband celebrated daughter Estela's second birthday at the beach in Malibu this past weekend.

The hot mama spent the day building sand castles and cooling off in the water with her birthday girl.

Estela wears a RuffleButt diaper cover.

Labels: Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, Ali Landry, celebrity k, Estela Monteverde

Dr Denis Walsh said the agony of labour should be considered a ‘rite of passage’ and a ‘purposeful, useful thing’.

The pain prepared women for the demands of motherhood, he argued.

Dr Walsh criticised the overuse of epidurals saying maternity units should abandon routine pain relief and embrace a ‘working with pain’ approach.

Moms requesting an epidural injection or spinal anaesthetic has doubled in 20 years to around 37 per cent.

‘A large number of women want to avoid pain, but more should be prepared to withstand it. Pain in labour is a purposeful, useful thing which has a number of benefits, such as preparing a mother for the responsibility of nurturing a newborn baby.' ‘It has never been safer to have a baby, yet it appears women have never been more frightened.’

Dr Walsh warned that epidurals increased medical risks such as prolonged first and second stages of labour and the chance of the baby’s head being in the wrong place.

They also led to lower rates of breast-feeding. He added:

‘Emerging evidence shows that normal labour and birth prime the bonding areas of the mother’s brain more than Cesarean or pain-free birth.’

The Doctor is now calling on the Health Service to abandon routine pain relief and encourage women to use yoga, hypnosis, massage, support from their partners, hydrotherapy and birthing pools as natural ways of alleviating pain.

He said labour pain was a timeless component of motherhood, but warned:

‘There has been a loss of rites-of-passage meaning to childbirth, so pain and stress are viewed negatively.’

His information is interesting, but he forgets to mention that allowing a hysterical mom who can't manage her labour pains to have an epidural could give her the boost she needs to have a successful delivery. Nothing can fully prepare you for childbirth. It is different with each child.

Quoting facts from a book doesn't hold up when your body is being pelted with a series of 'electric shocks' each 1 minute apart.

Had he of been in my delivery room, he would have gotten the 'Wrath Of Mommy'.

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• C-Section Not Best Option For Breech Birth
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SOURCE

Labels: Childbirth, Dr. Denis Walsh, Epidural, Labor and Delivery, Natural Childbirth

Former Vancouver police officer Clyde Ray Spencer spent nearly 20 years in prison after he was convicted of sexually molesting his son and daughter. Now, his kids say it never happened.

Matthew Spencer, 33 and Kathryn Tetz, 30 who live in Sacramento, Calif., each took the stand Friday in Clark County Superior Court to clear their father's name.

Matthew, who was 9 years old at the time or the alleged abuse, told a judge he made the claims after months of insistent questioning by now-retired Clark County sheriff's detective Sharon Krause just so she would leave him alone.

Kathryn said she doesn't remember what she told Krause back in 1985, but she remembers Krause buying her ice cream. She said that when she finally read the police reports she was "absolutely sure" the abuse never happened.

"I would have remembered something that graphic, that violent," Tetz said.

In 2004, Clyde Ray Spencer's sentence was reduced by then-Gov. Gary Locke after questions arose about his conviction. Among other problems, prosecutors withheld medical exams that showed no evidence of abuse, even though Krause claimed the abuse was repeated and violent.

Despite the commutation, Clyde remains a convicted sex offender. He is hoping to have the convictions overturned.

Sharon Krause declined an interview request from The Columbian in 2005 and could not be reached Friday.

Both children said that while growing up in California they were told by their mother, who divorced Spencer before he was charged, that they were blocking out the memory of the abuse.

They said they realized as adults the abuse never happened, and they came forward because it was the right thing to do.

After a Friday, which hearing paved the way for the state Court of Appeals to allow Spencer to withdraw the no-contest pleas he entered in 1985 and have his convictions vacated Spencer, 61, hugged his son and daughter while a dozen supporters cheered.

"For so many years, nothing went right," he said. "When things keep going right, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."

The hardest thing about his ordeal was missing his children, he said.

"They were my life, and they were taken away from me," he said. "I could serve in prison. ..."

His voice trailed off, and his son came up for one more hug.

SOURCE

Labels: Clyde Ray Spencer, Kathryn Tetz, Matthew Spencer, Sharon Krause