stupid question!

i know this question may sound really stupid to you all but i am not having luck finding my answer anywhere! okay....when i went in for the first time my dr. said my twins are fraternal....but the placentas were very close together....well at my 11 weeks they told me they had fused a little. well i always thought that my pregnancy was considered di/di (fraternal) right? well today at my new dr (high risk) they have it noted that they are mono/di....which i always thought were identical. also...i am having two girls which doesnt say much but it doesnt say they are for sure fraternal. and baby b was 13 days smaller than baby a which scares the doc about twin-twin transfusion. im confused. what you all think? what would you think if you seen mono/di wrote on your chart? identical? fraternal? or can it go both ways???

 

Mono/di are definitely identical and di/di can either be identical or fraternal. The tricky thing is determining for sure they are mono/di. In earlier u/s it is easier to see if they have one placenta and their membranes are very thin. It sounds like you could be di/di if two separate placentas were found at one point and that they are fused together now. Since it was the first time your new doctor saw the twins, there is a chance he is seeing the two placentas as one fused together and therefore identified them as mono/di. I'd ask him if you have a thick or thin membrane. Also, if there is a chance your twins can be mono/di (which I am having) it is best to treat them as mono/di and have your fluid levels checked at least every other week. What were your fluid levels? That is the bigger determinant of TTTS than their size difference. A size difference can be TTTS or it can be that one twin has a bigger placental share than the other, which is what I'm going through right now. My boys have a 25% difference in size, but both have good fluid levels, so I'm being monitored twice a week to make sure the small one keeps growing, but TTTS has not developed as of now. Bottom line is that is sounds like you won't know for sure what type they are until after they are born and to be safe, they should be treated as mono/di now.

 

i did not have a U/S today. She is going off the papers from my old dr. and yes at 6weeks they had a thick separating membrance but now it is very thin. and baby b is 25% smaller as well. i will have an ultrasound next week to find out for sure. they are really concerned about it since baby b is so much smaller. but after next week (which is simply just an ultrasound...no seeing the dr.) i wont see her again til oct 2nd. i am 22 weeks along. i would think my appointments would have gotten closer.

 

QUOTE(JESS6626 @ Sep 4 2008, 01:51 PM) [snapback]963152[/snapback]
i did not have a U/S today. She is going off the papers from my old dr. and yes at 6weeks they had a thick separating membrance but now it is very thin. and baby b is 25% smaller as well. i will have an ultrasound next week to find out for sure. they are really concerned about it since baby b is so much smaller. but after next week (which is simply just an ultrasound...no seeing the dr.) i wont see her again til oct 2nd. i am 22 weeks along. i would think my appointments would have gotten closer.



I too thought that appointments would start getting closer. Especially for mommas expecting twins. I had my 20 wk prenatal checkup August 25th and I don't go back to see him until 24 wks Sept 22nd. I asked about how I thought Twin mommas come in for more appts. My dr said it is only if there are problems, if not the schedule is the same as a momma with a singleton baby.....I thought it was kinda strange but okay...he did say that if I was experiencing anything unusual such as pain and contractions that I needed to call him right away because he doesn't want to take any chances with twins.

 

You can't go from di/di to mono/di so the peri must be making an assumption based on what he is seeing now. After 11 weeks, it is often too difficult to determine if a placenta is one placenta or two that have fused. Since the peri thinks there is a chance they could be mono/di though, I'd go with that and make sure to get an u/s at least every 2 weeks to monitor for TTTS. Fluid levels are a much better indicator of TTTS than weight differences so I wouldn't get worried about TTTS yet. The babies may still be fraternal (based on the earlier u/s) or they may be sharing the placenta unequally.

BTW, di/di doesn't necessarily mean fraternal. There are some identicals that are di/di but it's more likely that they are fraternal.