How far apart in weight is okay?

I had my u/s today, baby A is 3.5 lbs and baby b is 4.25 lbs. They seem to be getting further apart each time. They are fraternal (2 placentas) which I believe is safer. Do they still have the possibility of IUGR or TTTS?

 

im not sure..mine have been within oz of each other for the most part..I think since they each have their own placentas though the risk of TTTS is nonexistant..

It could be IUGR or it could just be 1 had a growth spurt right before the u/s..

Also you have to remember u/s are just estimates and can be off a 1lb either way..

HUGS and GL

 

I had this issue with my frat twins, the doctor said she doesn't like to see a growth discordance more than 20%. They started out about 15% different at 24 weeks, by 27 they were 22% different. At that point she told me to start taking it more easy and ordered weekly biophysical profiles to check on their wellbeing. The babies have always done great on those, at 29 weeks there was a 25% discordance, so she added weekly umbilical aretery scans to make sure both babies were getting equal bloodflow. By 31 weeks, they were down to 11%, and at 35, they are down to 7%.

Did the doctor say anything about their difference? If not, I would ask, just for your peace of mind. Also my doc said it's more normal in b/g twins for the boy to be bigger than the girl (this was true in my case).

There are cases of ttts with fraternals, but it is very very rare and usually can only occur if the placentas are fused together, if the placentas are attached in 2 different places of your uterus, ttts is virtually impossible. As far as IUGR, it's possible, but as long as they are growing each time and staying in normal percentiles, it's just something to monitor, when is your next u/s?

Good luck!

 

I see my doc next Fri and my next u/s for size is in 4 weeks.

 

QUOTE(prairiemom3 @ Sep 13 2007, 10:35 AM) [snapback]406111[/snapback]
I see my doc next Fri and my next u/s for size is in 4 weeks.


Just remember, these are two very distinct individual babies. they are bound to have some differences because they are fraternal and not ID. (they ruled that out with the seperate placentas, are they close together? usually if they are fused, that makes it hard to tell and most doctors wouldn't be so quick to say fraternal or ID if they can't tell, unless it happened further on during their care... the only way to tell afterwards is by genetic testing).

To be sure of anything, research top medical facilities that handle multiple gestation pregnancies near you and schedule to have an U/S with a perinatologist. For me this was another 1 1/2 hr. ultrasound with the first hour with a sonographer and the last 1/2 hr with a perinatologist who used the color concordance in their high-tech high-res. machine to watch the blood flow of the placenta and babies.

 

I JUST HAD MY 30 WK. U/S AND ALSO FOUND OUT THAT MY G/G TWINS ARE VERY DIFFERENT WEIGHTS. ONE IS ONLY 2 LBS 3 OZ. AND THE OTHER IS 3 LBS. THEY HAVE THERE OWN PLACENTS, AT LEAST THEY DID I THINK, BUT BABY B HAS BEEN FALLING BEHIND CONSISTANTLY FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS. THIS SCARES ME A GREAT DEAL, DH SAYS NOT TO WORRY AND I TRY NOT TOO, BUT???? I SEE A PERI ON MONDAY FOR THE FIRST TIME, I WONDER WHAT HE WILL DO, DOES ANYONE KNOW?

 

I don't have weights, but my fraternal boys are 2 weeks apart in growth. The smaller baby is on target for dates (not behind) and the bigger baby is just... big.

They have been discordant since 11 weeks, and it has only gotten greater. I was sent to a peri this week to further investigate. After ultrasounds, genetic counseling and a peri meeting, they have decided they are not concerned and that it appears we just have a big boy and a normal boy. I do need to continue to be monitored, but they are not currently concerned.

TTTS can happen with fraternals if the placentas fuse. They can have IUGR, however, or one placenta can be in a better location and allow one baby to get more blood flood/nutrition than the other. Or one might have a 2-vessel cord.

There are many reasons it can happen, from pure genetics to more serious problems, and if they do become more than 20% discordant, I would think they should be looked into further for possible causes and monitored closely.

 

I believe they are fraternal as I had 2 embryos put back. the placentas are close from what I see on the u/s screen. How do I figure out the % discordance? and how do I know which percentile they are in?

 

The doctor should be able to get you the percentile and discordance rate. Each facility uses a different system for percentiles I think. You could call the nurse and ask, it should be on the u/s report somewhere.

Again, if the doc wasn't worried, I wouldn't be overly concerned either, but call them and ask if it will give you some peace of mind for the next 4 weeks.

 

Yes, the doctors should tell you this info, you shouldn't need to figure it out yourself. My boys were always apart, but it wasn't brought up until almost 20 weeks when they were 18% apart in growth -- getting close to the >20% that they use as their guideline for concern. Once we passed the 20% discordance, that was when we were sent to a specialist.

If your doctors have not expressed concern and you are confident in their experience with twin pregnancies, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I agree that I would call your doctor for % info and discordance rate for peace of mind.

We dealt with IUGR during my pregnancy with our fraternal twin boys. Thankfully everything turned out just fine. Baby A was always "bigger" (and still is a larger build than his brother...just his frame/genetics). Concern wasn't brought up for us until week 26 or so. Once we passed the 20% discordance, we also saw a perinatal specialist, had weekly BPP's, etc They had a large weight discrepancy at birth (5lbs 10oz vs 2lb 13oz) but were extremely healthy and developmentally sound. You would never know that they were that different at birth at this point.

 

My two were always about 1/2 lb differance. They were born at 35wks weighing 5.14 and 5.8 At one point our boy measured a pound more then our girl.