Homecoming celebrated after rare birth

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Carter Camp and his brother Griffin were born in October after only 25 weeks of gestation. The pregnancy was risky because their mother has a very rare abnormality.

Dr. Shailini Singh of Women and Children's Hospital explained, "She had known she had a rare condition - a double uterus - and she had two babies previously, one in each. One went to term, the other was at 33 weeks, and now, she has these little kids at 24 weeks when I first met her."

>> News 4 spoke to the mom, Alison Camp, shortly after the boys were born last year

The normal uterus is formed by two tubes which fuse in the midline to create a single chamber. Sometimes the fusion is not complete, leading to a spectrum of abnormal shapes and in the most extreme cases, there may be two separate uterine structures. That's what happened to Alison Camp. When she became pregnant again, she didn't expect what the ultrasound showed.

"She said, 'Well, here's the baby on the right uterus, and here's the heartbeat, and everything looks great. So I just scan around and here's the baby on the left uterus,'" recalled Camp.

That's only been reported to happen 75 times, ever, in the entire world. The parents were prepared to face problems, but so far things are ok. Carter went home last Friday.

Alison said, "When they told us he could go home, I did not believe them. I said, 'Really?!' I have to get ready, cause in my head I'm preparing for them to be here a really long time."

Dr. Jayasree Nair of Women and Children's Hospital said, "They had a stormy course, but they actually came through really well without any - what we would now consider not too many problems right now."

And Griffin may go home next week.

Tim Camp, the boys' father, said, "It just seems unbelievable to me that we've been this fortunate; that we're going to walk away with, for all intents and purposes, two healthy young boys."

"I call them my tiny little fighters, and I think that's what I want them to know," smiled Alison.

Those two little fighters had some very good medical know-how and technology in their corner. A complete double uterus is extremely rare, and it's also unusual for both ovaries to produce eggs during the same cycle. We're not likely to see another case for a very long time.

You can keep up-to-date on the boy's progress through Alison's blog. Friday is the boys' 100th day birthday.