Woman struggling to get pregnant is stunned after docs discover a SECOND vagina and womb

WHEN Claire Wright struggled to become pregnant, she never imagined the reason why.

The 34-year-old was born with a rare condition called uterus didelphys - that means she has two wombs, two vaginas and two cervixes.

The mum of two lived with severe abdominal pain for 26 years.

But doctors put it down to another rare condition she was born with, called tracheo-oesohageal fistula and oesophagel atresia (TOF/OA).

The condition means Claire’s food pipe and windpipe did not form properly.

From the day she was born she faced years of surgery at Great Ormond Street to help her eat and breathe.

Until she was four she was tube fed, but surgery including two colonic interpositions and a gastric transposition, which moved her stomach up into her chest and enabled her to eat normally again.

However, she needed regular surgery to gradually widen her reconstructed food pipe, in order to swallow properly.

But, as a teenager, she suffered crippling stomach pain and heavy menstrual bleeding – and she didn’t know the cause.

Doctors blamed excessive scarring in her abdominal area, after years of surgery for TOF/OA to help her eat and breathe.

Claire, from Stourport, Worcestershire, said: “Sometimes I was tempted to take a knife to my stomach and just cut my own female system out because the pain was so bad.

She married her husband, Mark, 32, in 2006 and the couple began trying for a baby.

But after two years of trying without any success, Claire sought medical help.

On Christmas Eve 2008, Claire had an MRI scan at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

A month later, she was told she had two wombs, two cervixes and two vaginas.

She said: “From the age of 12 up until 26, I had gone through so much suffering and no one knew why.

“I was just so surprised that I didn’t know it was there before.”

According to the World Health Organisation, around one in 3,000 women across the world are affected by the condition, which occurs when the uterus fails to fuse properly during development in the womb.

Claire had been completely unaware that she had a second vagina, as the septum between her two cervixes was so thick, that the left side of the opening was almost completely covered and no one knew it was there.

Doctors said she would need to have the septum removed in order to find out if the left womb was working.

In March 2009 Claire underwent a four hour surgery at Kidderminster Hospital to remove the septum.

Then, eight weeks later, when she and Mark resumed trying for a baby, they had to learn to have sex using her left hand organs, to maximise her chances of falling pregnant.

Claire said: “After the operation, having sex was painful – like losing my virginity all over again.

"But we had to do it, because we just wanted a baby.”

After almost three years of trying and hundreds of pregnancy tests, Claire finally saw two positive lines appear on a test.

She recalled: “It was amazing. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen.

“I could hardly believe it. We were so excited.”

As uterus didelphys increases the risk of late miscarriage, can cause low birth weight babies and premature labour, Claire had to try to rest and relax.

For the first 18 weeks of pregnancy, Claire continued to have a regular 28-day cycle from her right uterus, but some sufferers bleed throughout their entire pregnancy.

Tragically, Claire went into labour at 23 weeks, in January 2010, and Minnie, the little girl she and Mark had longed for, was stillborn.

Their loss was not related to her UD condition, instead being caused by a problem with blood flow between Claire and the baby, which had gone undetected.

Claire said: “I felt so robbed and cheated.

“She would have been seven now and I still think about her.”

Grieving for their loss, but still wanting a family, the couple soon resumed trying and Claire fell pregnant again in May 2010.

Filled with excitement, Claire waited until around 24 weeks to share the news – worried that she would miscarry again.

During this period she took aspirin and daily Heparin injections to thin her blood and reduce the risk of losing another baby.

Baby Jaiden arrived naturally at Russels Hall Hospital, Dudley, West Midlands, at 39 weeks on January 12, 2011, weighing 6lb 5oz.

Two years later, Claire fell pregnant again, but at week 29 the baby stopped growing.

Still, Claire held on until week 34 and baby Jorja was born by emergency caesarean, weighing 3lb 15oz on September 23, 2013 – coming home after two weeks on the neo-natal ward.

Feeling that their family was now complete, Claire wanted a hysterectomy, to end the years of pain.

But doctors told her that the scarring left by surgery throughout her childhood made it too dangerous for her to have another operation.

After Jorja’s birth it had taken 12 months to fully recover and they worried further surgery would be too high risk.

Her only option was to take cerazette pills until she reached the menopause.

Claire added: “I just couldn’t believe that something else had been thrown at me, when I heard I had UD.

“It was very hard to get help, because there’s no one who knows enough about both these conditions.

“There aren’t many hospitals with the facilities nearby. I need a high level hospital, which means a lot of travelling for treatment.

“For now, I am just so grateful to have my wonderful family and I have to learn to live with my conditions.”

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368