Here we have a set of twins with two outer sacs (chorion) and two inner sacs (amnion). They are called dichorionic-diamniotic or di-di twins. This is your best case twin scenario, and typically this is what fraternal twins look like. They result from two ovum being fertilized by two sperm. However, identical twins could look like this if the single egg fertilized by a single sperm split very early on. In this case, the only way you would know for certain if the twins were NOT identical is if they are boy/girl twins (because yes, identical twins are ALWAYS girl/girl or boy/boy). Also, if the same sex twins look markedly different, you would assume they were fraternal. Sometimes it is not so easy to tell.
Here we have your typical identical twins. They have the same outer sac (or chorion) and two inner sacs (amnion). They are called monochorionic-diamniotic or mo-di twins. This is also a good scenario for twins, and we're still holding out hope that they will find a membrane (meaning two amnions) in our twins. These twins are always identical too.
Here you see what our doctors think we have right now-- one outer sac (chorion) and one inner sac (amnion). These are monoamniotic twins. No need to reference the monochorion, since of course there has to be one chorion if there is only one amnion! These twins have skin to skin contact. The next level of twins would be conjoined twins. Thankfully our little eggy decided to split in time that the babies will not be conjoined (yes, this has been confirmed on our ultrasounds).
1 comment:
Alee from the momo site here. I've haven't been as 'present' there as I used to be, although I still moderate. LOVE that you posted diagrams and an explanation. I found one of the hardest and most frustrating things was trying to explain that momo twins are NOT just like every other set of twins that "were just fine and didn't require a hospitalization". :)
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