Ident. or Frat.

Ok, I need help. I have 6 week old g/g twins. All along my pg I was told that they were fraternal, because they could see a membrane separating the two on ultrasound. My mom has older twin sisters, and I am 35 and I thought both of those contributed to twins. Now that they are here, they don't look alike to us, so we assumed, still fraternal. No one ever said that they were ID or Frat in the hospital but now....

At my six week MD appt. I saw the terms monochorionic/diamniotic on the pathology report as the doctor showed me my tubal ligation report. After a little research, it looks like that type only occurs in identical twins. Am I right?

Kendall

 

They could very well be ID.

 

Very well could be. They really can never 100% tell you during pregnancy if they are ID if there are two placentas and all that (if they are the same sex of course). Now if there is only one placent/sac etc. then they can prove ID. I beieve you have to have a blood test done if you want to know for sure and then they can only "prove" fraternalness (is that a word??hehe) 100% of the time they can only tell you that they are 99% sure about Identicallness (again a word??). Am I even making any sense!!?? Okay I will stop now and let someone else explain it better. LOL

 

My girls are ID. We confirmed it with a DNA test. They had one placenta, and were in the same sack, separated by a thin membrain... There usually is a membrain dividing them. If there isn't then you become extremely high risk...

 

Monochorionic/diamniotic is a term they use to say there was two sacs, one placenta. A pathology report isn't 100% accurate, the only way to know for sure is a DNA test. If a set of twins truly have one placenta then they are ID, but placentas can fuse to appear as one.

My girls were mono/di twins and I had a DNA testing done and sure enough they are ID. My suggestion is get a DNA test done if your really concerned about it. HTH

 

My boys were di/di. They had separate placentas, separate sac, everything. Nothing was fused. We were told fraternal all along while pregnant. As you can see by my avatar, they definately are ID. (We did have a DNA test done)

 

Now Ive been pondering the same thing about my boys. We were told 2 sacs 2 placentas= fraternal twins. I could have sworn I heard on a National Geographic Show on twins that they can still be ID.

When they were in the NICU and were put together their weghts and measures were neck and neck and I kept getting asked if they were ID. They are still neck and neck and even though I can tell them apart they look so much alike. The

Ive been meaning to ask the pediatrician but the question always got pushed to the back of mind during visits for one reason or another. I will have to remember to ask her next time if a test was done or not. If not Im not going to worry about getting one at the moment.

 

Identicals can be in 2 sacs with 2 placentas, though a lot of people assume they're fraternal because of the 2 sacs and 2 placentas. My doc always told me, only when they have a different sexe we know for 100% sure ... all other cases you need a DNA test to confirm unless they really really don't look alike I guess ...

 

My girls were di/di twins. From the moment we found out it was twins we were told frats b/c they didnt share anything. One day (while still pg) I came across something that said that there was a 25% that ID could have seperate sacs and/or placentas so this got me questioning whether or not my girls were ID or not. After they were born we couldnt tell them apart and they had the same blood type (a clue to being ID) at 4 months old we had them DNA tested and they are ID.

You dont have to do any blood work, all you do is contact X DNA company and they send you some long Q tip like swabs and you take a little swipe of both cheeks on both babies. Send them in the mail and you will get a report in a few weeks. It is very simple and not that costly. If you question it, definately get the DNA test done.

 

QUOTE(Sofiesmom @ Jul 10 2007, 02:49 PM) [snapback]324786[/snapback]
Identicals can be in 2 sacs with 2 placentas, though a lot of people assume they're fraternal because of the 2 sacs and 2 placentas. My doc always told me, only when they have a different sexe we know for 100% sure ... all other cases you need a DNA test to confirm unless they really really don't look alike I guess ...


Exactly what I was going to say. We were Mono/Di as well but we think my placentas fused. Still debating on whether to get the DNA test or not... Money is tight these days!

 

I am a PA in pathology and dissect placentas every day. The only way to know for sure is if they are B/G or by DNA testing. In my case, my placenta was di/di, but my girls have the same hair color, eye color, and blood type. My OB always told us that even though there were two placentas that there was still ~25% chance they could be identical. We had DNA testing done when they were around 3 months old because we were tired of everyone asking if they were fraternal or identical and not being able to give a definite answer. Our test came back saying they were identical. I don't think they look exactly alike, but they don't have to, even if they are identical. The test was quick and easy and I think the money spent was worth it.

 

Ditto PP. No one can tell you for sure unless you do the DNA testing. If your babies look wildly distinct, then it's a safe bet they're frat (isn't it?). My girls have different eye color, hair color and head shape, so I'm not doing the DNA testing. Still people ask me how I can tell them apart. I have to laugh because the only thing alike is their outfit!