"But wait!? I don't have twins in my family...how is this possible?"
While fraternal (two eggs, non-identical babies) twins do run in families, identical twins are just completely random and occur in 0.3% (or 3 in 1000) births all over the world.
What's all this "Di-Mo" stuff?
Fraternal twins are all Di-Di: each twin has his own placenta (chorionic sack) and also his own amniotic sack.
25% of identical twins are Di-Di but in the the majority of identicals, (75%) each twin has his own amniotic sack but are in the same chorionic sack (Diamnionic-Monochoinic or Di-Mo). This is what my twins are doing. From the ultrasounds, the OB could see the single chorionic sack (bright thick white part) and two amniotic sacks (small bubbles). Since all Di-Mos are identical, we know we're having identical twins.
(I should also mention that Mo-Mo's are also possible and happen in ~1% of identical twins. These babies have to share both a placenta and also one amniotic sack and this is super risky. Their cords get entangled and can compress....bad news!)
Are identical twins risky?
Identical Di-Mo twin pregnancy is more risky than Di-Di and also more risky than singleton pregnancy. (Singleton is the clinical term for having a single baby, which I just find adorable!).
There's the strain of physically carrying two babies as a start, but for Di-Mo's there's also the single placenta-sharing problem. In most cases, this isn't an issue and both babies just happily share. In some cases (estimated at 5-10%) TTTS can happen (twin-twin transfusion syndrome) which means that one twin gets extra greedy and sucks out more than his share. This can make the babies grow at different rates which isn't good for either. But even in bad TTTS cases, there are many treatments available (including one with lasers---pretty cool stuff!).
Because I'm carrying identical twins, I'll have very frequent appointments with my OB and lots of ultrasounds, which means lots of pictures! (Right now they both are the same size and have good, strong heartbeats which is excellent news)
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2 comments:
I'm so excited for you guys! This is super cool. My classmate and I were speculating on how you would be able to tell someone was carrying identical twins so early in a pregnancy. We were right: a single placenta! Hooray for science nerds! Are you planning on finding out their sex? I guess it might be hard not to with such frequent ultrasounds. Well, you will be getting two knitted baby blankets from me, same pattern, different colors. Let me know if you have any color preferences.
-Alexis
Yay! Thanks so much Alexis :) We definitely want to find out the sex and with identicals that can be easy...just need one to give us a good position. We might know as soon as late January and I'll post on the blog as soon as we know.
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