When you picture a pregnant person, someone who has a big, perfectly round belly likely comes to mind (and maybe you also picture swollen ankles). While it's understandable for anyone to conjure this image of a pregnant person — because it's what pregnancy looks like most often — not everyone grows a round belly.
Take, for instance, Spanish model Gala Caldirol, whose baby bump looks more like a heart than a beach ball.
Caldirol posted a photo of her bump on Instagram earlier this month and pointed out its odd shape. "This is a beautiful curiosity!" she wrote (but in Spanish). "Probably not the only one in the world but it is the first time I see it and I would love to know if someone else had seen it!"
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While her bump shape is rare, it's certainly not the only one to ever grow that way. Caldirol has a bicornuate uterus — a uterus that has two horns and is partially split on the outside, which creates the heart shape, according to Lynn Simpson, MD, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Columbia University Medical Center.
Bicornuate uteruses can make pregnancy risky, Simpson says, and sometimes lead to preterm labor, malpresentation (meaning the baby does not get into the head down position), and cesarean delivery. Still, Simpson says, most patients with bicornuate uteruses have uncomplicated pregnancies.
Despite the potential risks, Caldirol seems to be doing well and is enamored with her heart-shaped baby bump. "My little light is undoubtedly the fruit of love!" she wrote.
Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.
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