Di-Di twins with fused placenta?

Hello. Has anyone found out that their di-di twins have a fused or merged placenta? The u/s tech said it was pretty common but not much else was said. Did anyone experience any complications because of this? We found out at our 13 week u/s yesterday. We were really happy to see two and be done with worrying about vanishing twin syndrome. I suspect that we will just have a whole new set of worries now that we definitely know it's twins

 

We didn't know it was twins until 19 weeks and saw just one placenta. At birth we learned there were actually two fused. Since you know there were two, you shouldn't have any extra worries. The worries come when there is just one placenta.

 

Check with your OB, but I've been told that there can be increased complications with monochorionic (single placenta) twins and also sometimes with dichorionic twins whose placentas are attached to the uterine lining near one another. I'm not sure how common (always, rarely?) the latter is with fused placentas, but your OB or ultrasound technician should be able to identify your attachment points at your next ultrasound.

 

Mine were fused...didn't know until I gave birth DH said it was as big as the babies! Felt like it too!! LOL! I never had any complications from that.

 

I think di di identicals are more likely to have fused placentas.

What are you having?

 

My last u/s the tech mentioned that the placenta can often fuse. I never knew this. She seemed to think mine had... I have no idea?

 

Both of our sets have (had?) fused placentas. Our first set they told us were ID because at 11 weeks they only saw 1 placenta, but at birth not only was it obvious they were fraternal (1 redhead and 1 brunette) but they found the placenta was actually fused. This set we found earlier (at 7 weeks) and they could see 2 yolk sacs, which turned into 2 placentas and have since fused (at our 12 week appt the tech said she could see that the placentas looked like 1 now and had fused.) She also said it was pretty common. We had no complications at all from the fusion with our first set.

 

You shouldn't have any extra complications whether it's two placentas or two that fused, because the fusing is surface fusing only. Two fused placenta don't share blood vessels like a single placenta can - and it's the sharing blood vessels that causes complications like TTTS.

Congrats on finding out you're having twins!

 

Agreed- the problem arises when you aren't sure if they are mono/di or di/di with fused placenta. If you already knew they were di/di (and the doctor is confident in this), the fused placenta shouldn't impact the pregnancy.