What it means to have monoamniotic twins

When you tell people you are having monoamniotic twins there is a confused look that always follows. No one knows for sure what this means. To put it simply in the case of our two miracles they are sharing every aspect of their "living" arrangement. Usually at this point people ask well aren't all twin pregnancies this way? I probably would have asked that same question only 6 monthes ago.

For the more complicated answer monoamniotic twins come from the same fertilized egg which did not divide until 8-13 days after. As for the "living" arrangements they share the same placenta and the same amniotic sac. Problems that will occur from this arrangement are TTTS (twin to twin transfer syndrome) and cord entanglement. As one of my many doctors put it while trying to explain TTTS imagine you have a shake with two straws. TTTS is where one twin is sucking on the straw harder than the other, that twin will get more. This can cause dangerous growth issues.

This is a very rare pregnancy and only happens in 1% of all twin pregnancies. On April 25, 2011 we found out that were not only having twins but they were monoamniotic.