Cord Insertion

Good morning ladies...well I had my u/s yesterday and they confirmed two identical girls! (That makes a house full of five ladies and one male..woo hoo!) Anyways, my babies share a placenta and yesterday I was told that one of them has cord insertion in the side of the placenta. Does this mean that the risk of TTTS has been reduced? Has anyone ever had this? My Peri told me it's not too rare, but THEY didn't see it often. Any thoughts????

 

I'm sorry, I've never heard of the cord insertion thing, but I think anytime they share a placenta the doctors will monitor continously for TTTS.

I also wanted to congratulate you on the girls!! Thats very exciting!!

Good Luck!
Shannon

 

someone else on here has that same issue... can't remember who though!! Hopefully she pops on here...

 

When the cord is attached to the side of the placenta - it is called "marginal insertion" or "battledore placenta" -- it should pose no risk to you or your LO -- although i don't think that it would have any effect on the possiblity of TTTS. Incase you go a-googleing - this is different from a velamentous cord insertion, which can have some risks assoicated with it.

 

We also have identical girls sharing a placenta. We have one with a velamentous cord insertion (which is when the cord is inserted into the membrane, rather than the placenta directly) and also a 2 vessel cord (instead of three). We also have some TTTS going on (we think).

So, a side insertion of the cord is better than velamentous cord insertion. However, when you share a placenta there can always be placental share issues (for example - one has 30% and the other 70% share), and also you can have TTTS. I don't think that the cord insertion has anything to do with the risks of TTTS - you are definitely still at risk, and should be monitored for it. In fact, I think side/velamentous cord insertion is relatively common with ID twins sharing a placenta and is seen a lot with TTTS.

When you have a risk of one of the babies not getting as much nutrition (due to placement of the cord, possibly) - the one with the side insertion could be smaller. Or not - maybe everything will go great for you and you will have no problems whatsoever! Anyway, I would recommend upping your protein intake with Boost shakes or something else, and getting some horizontal rest to improve blood flow to the uterus. It really has made a difference for me.

I hope, for your and your babies sake, that everything continues to look great and you have no complications at all. i don't mean to scare you at all - but with monitoring, everything should be great. Please PM me if you have any more questions or want to talk specifics if anything changes!

Hugs! Don't worry!

Jenny

 

My baby B has marginal cord insertion, the cord is on the side of the placenta. This is not the more serious cord issue where the cord isn't attached at all. My Peri is closely watching development of the cord because the marginal insertion puts me at risk for not having a normal cord. Also as I progress we are making sure Baby B is receiving an appropriate amount of nutrients, marginal nsertion can sometimes limit nutrients to the baby. So far everything looks great. The final item to note is I have been told my chance for a c section increased significantly because of the marginal insertion. Depending on the thickness at the insertion point closer to birth, we will make the call. My OB has told me to just prepare for the c/section. I am ok with this. I don't think this has an effect on TTTS, except a discordnant growth in baby b could be due to the marginal insertion not TTTS. Your peri and OB should be watching things along and making sure the cord flow is good. Feel free to PM me with any questions or advice.

 

Thanks Ladies! They will be watching me closely...and I'll definitely be a c/s...as with my other two pregnancies. I just pray things go smoothly...I'm so excited!

 

Both my girls had minor cord insertion (both were attached in the opposite spot from the other!) my baby B(Jessy) had a 2 vessel cord. Cord insertion can cause IUGR which happened with Jessy. I also don't think it will affect TTTS chances although the farther away the cords are from each other the better.