Di- Di Twins?

Discussion in 'Pregnancy Help' started by mamaleah, Jan 23, 2008.

  1. mamaleah

    mamaleah Well-Known Member

    Hello
    I had my 12 week check up yesterday and everythings looks great!! So excited to be at that 12 week mark :) . My doc said they are officially DI-DI. I have been reading up on terms and trying to figure things out. I am a fairly intelligent woman, but for some reason I am having trouble understanding it all, I am calling it pregancy brain syndrome. Doc told me this is the "safest twin senerio" and it doesn't rule out identical twins. Can they be Di-Di and still share a placenta? Things I'm reading are confusing me on that and are they definately safe from TTTS. Any other info would be great also. I love this site!!!!!! Thanks.
     
  2. TFine

    TFine Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(mamaleah @ Jan 23 2008, 03:42 PM) [snapback]586177[/snapback]
    Hello
    I had my 12 week check up yesterday and everythings looks great!! So excited to be at that 12 week mark :) . My doc said they are officially DI-DI. I have been reading up on terms and trying to figure things out. I am a fairly intelligent woman, but for some reason I am having trouble understanding it all, I am calling it pregancy brain syndrome. Doc told me this is the "safest twin senerio" and it doesn't rule out identical twins. Can they be Di-Di and still share a placenta? Things I'm reading are confusing me on that and are they definately safe from TTTS. Any other info would be great also. I love this site!!!!!! Thanks.



    DI/ DI means 2 placentas and 2 sacs. As safe as a twin pregnancy can be. In 20-30% of cases DI/DI twins are identical. The rest of the time they are fraternal. :)

    Does that help?

    Identical Twins
    With identical twins, one egg (zygote) from the mother is fertilized by one sperm from the father, and then very early in development the embryo splits and two fetuses grow.

    If the zygote splits very early (in the first 2 days after fertilization) they may develop separate placentas (chorion) and separate sacs (amnion). These are called dichorionic, diamniotic (or 'di/di') twins. While all fraternal twins are 'di/di', this occurs 20 - 30% of the time in identical twins.

    Most of the time in identical twins the zygote will split after 2 days, resulting in a shared placenta, but two separate sacs. These are called monochorionic, diamniotic ('mono/di') twins.These twins are very similar genetically, and share a single afterbirth.

    Very occasionally, twins will also share the same sac (fluid cavity). In about 1% of identical twins the splitting occurs late enough to result in both a shared placenta and a shared sac. These are called monochorionic, monoamniotic ('mono/mono') twins.

    Finally, the zygote may split extremely late, resulting in conjoined twins.
     
  3. summerfun

    summerfun Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    Glad everything looks great!
     
  4. cheriek

    cheriek Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(Tammy Fine @ Jan 23 2008, 04:02 PM) [snapback]586217[/snapback]
    DI/ DI means 2 placentas and 2 sacs. As safe as a twin pregnancy can be. In 20-30% of cases DI/DI twins are identical. The rest of the time they are fraternal. :)

    Does that help?

    Identical Twins
    With identical twins, one egg (zygote) from the mother is fertilized by one sperm from the father, and then very early in development the embryo splits and two fetuses grow.

    If the zygote splits very early (in the first 2 days after fertilization) they may develop separate placentas (chorion) and separate sacs (amnion). These are called dichorionic, diamniotic (or 'di/di') twins. While all fraternal twins are 'di/di', this occurs 20 - 30% of the time in identical twins.

    Most of the time in identical twins the zygote will split after 2 days, resulting in a shared placenta, but two separate sacs. These are called monochorionic, diamniotic ('mono/di') twins.These twins are very similar genetically, and share a single afterbirth.

    Very occasionally, twins will also share the same sac (fluid cavity). In about 1% of identical twins the splitting occurs late enough to result in both a shared placenta and a shared sac. These are called monochorionic, monoamniotic ('mono/mono') twins.

    Finally, the zygote may split extremely late, resulting in conjoined twins.


    uh huh! congrats! mine are Di-Di too!
     
  5. debid

    debid Well-Known Member

    My boys were di/di monozygotic (identical) twins carried to 39 weeks. I'm impressed that your doctor told you correctly that it doesn't rule out identical because we see a lot of misinformed expectant mommies on this board.
     
  6. jenanne

    jenanne Well-Known Member

    Congratulations on reaching the 12 week milestone! Good descriptions from pp about di-di :)
     
  7. lisaessman@verizon.net

    [email protected] Well-Known Member

    Do any of you know if Di/Di twins always have the lambda sign? (Where the membrane between sacs attaches to the placenta.) I was told that my girls are most likely fraternal b/c the lambda sign was present. Just curious...
     
  8. Debbie F

    Debbie F Well-Known Member

    My girls were mono - mono - I fell into the 1% of all twin pregnancy! Lucky me - my girls turned out wonderful even being born at 32 weeks. Best of luck.
     
  9. mamaleah

    mamaleah Well-Known Member

    Thanks everyone for the info and feedback. I have 2 other children and had very normal healthy pregnancies and was very calm and relaxed during them. For some reason I'm totaly freaked out by this pregnancy and feel like I don't know anything. I'm the type of person that reads and tries to find out as much as I can to make myself more comfortable with a situation and the more I read about twins and twin pregnancy the more freaked out and nervous I get. It just seems like there is so much more to think about and understand, it can definately be overwhelming at times. But things seem to be going as well as I could hope for at this point so I am starting to relax a little... Thanks again for the feed back :)
     
  10. debid

    debid Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(5girlies @ Jan 24 2008, 12:23 PM) [snapback]587580[/snapback]
    Do any of you know if Di/Di twins always have the lambda sign? (Where the membrane between sacs attaches to the placenta.) I was told that my girls are most likely fraternal b/c the lambda sign was present. Just curious...


    You made me curious so I looked it up for you. The answer is that the lambda sign is a way to distinguish between mono/di and di/di. When the placenta appears as one mass, it might be a single placenta or it might be two that implanted closely and have begun to overlap or "fuse". The doctor or ultrasound tech looks at the shape formed by the membranes at the point of attachment. They also attempt to determine the number of membranes or "thickness". It's not nearly as exact as the postpartum physical examination of the membranes and placenta(s) but it gives them important information when watching for TTTS.

    In our case, the placentas implanted as far apart as possible so there was never a question that they were di/di.
     
  11. Ali M

    Ali M Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(5girlies @ Jan 24 2008, 06:23 PM) [snapback]587580[/snapback]
    Do any of you know if Di/Di twins always have the lambda sign? (Where the membrane between sacs attaches to the placenta.) I was told that my girls are most likely fraternal b/c the lambda sign was present. Just curious...


    They're most likely fraternal just because they are di-di. More Di-di twins are fraternal than identical. Like others have said, they can still be identical though. The lamba sign is what they look for to see if there are two chorions and doesn't have anything to do with fraternal vs identical.
     
  12. lisaessman@verizon.net

    [email protected] Well-Known Member

    Thanks to both of you for doing my research for me! I don't really care one way or the other whether or not they are identical, I am just curious. I am an identical twin, and my identical twin has fraternal twins. I know there is no rhyme or reason!
     
  13. Sofiesmom

    Sofiesmom Well-Known Member

    I had di-di, and my doctor didn't confirm fraternal until we found out the sexes (boy / girl). Otherwise she said we had to wait until birth. I made it until my scheduled induction at 38w2d. Very easy and smooth pregnancy and delivery. No complications. Large babies. Not complaining!

    Good luck!
     
  14. Jenn G

    Jenn G Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(5girlies @ Jan 24 2008, 09:16 PM) [snapback]588453[/snapback]
    Thanks to both of you for doing my research for me! I don't really care one way or the other whether or not they are identical, I am just curious. I am an identical twin, and my identical twin has fraternal twins. I know there is no rhyme or reason!


    I'm also an identical twin and my id twin has her own set of id twins... it certainly makes you wonder about the role our genes play in the whole twinning thing... congratulations on your twins and welcome to Twinstuff!
     
  15. lisaessman@verizon.net

    [email protected] Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(Jenn G @ Jan 25 2008, 12:28 PM) [snapback]589281[/snapback]
    I'm also an identical twin and my id twin has her own set of id twins... it certainly makes you wonder about the role our genes play in the whole twinning thing... congratulations on your twins and welcome to Twinstuff!



    Wow! And they say identical twins aren't in the genes! My father is an ID twin too, not sure if I mentioned that in my pp.
     
  16. angie7

    angie7 Well-Known Member

    I have ID di-di twins. I was led to believe that they were frats from the first ultrasound. It wasnt until after their birth that we questioned whether they could be ID. The looked exactly alike and had the same blood type. At 4 months of age we had them DNA tested and sure enough, they are ID.
     
  17. Jenn G

    Jenn G Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(angie7 @ Jan 25 2008, 04:33 PM) [snapback]589805[/snapback]
    I have ID di-di twins. I was led to believe that they were frats from the first ultrasound. It wasnt until after their birth that we questioned whether they could be ID. The looked exactly alike and had the same blood type. At 4 months of age we had them DNA tested and sure enough, they are ID.


    My sister's girls are the same- 2 placentas but the same blood type- the doctors said there was a 20-30% chance that they were identical. They look a lot alike so she had them tested when they were one and they're identical!
     
  18. evlor

    evlor New Member

    QUOTE(mamaleah @ Jan 23 2008, 03:42 PM) [snapback]586177[/snapback]
    Hello
    I had my 12 week check up yesterday and everythings looks great!! So excited to be at that 12 week mark :) . My doc said they are officially DI-DI. I have been reading up on terms and trying to figure things out. I am a fairly intelligent woman, but for some reason I am having trouble understanding it all, I am calling it pregancy brain syndrome. Doc told me this is the "safest twin senerio" and it doesn't rule out identical twins. Can they be Di-Di and still share a placenta? Things I'm reading are confusing me on that and are they definately safe from TTTS. Any other info would be great also. I love this site!!!!!! Thanks.



    For the record, the article says that "[w]hile all fraternal twins are 'di/di', this occurs 20 - 30% of the time in identical twins."

    This doesn't lead to the conclusion you made that "n 20-30% of cases DI/DI twins are identical. The rest of the time they are fraternal."

    In fact, only about 1/3 of twins are identical. Of those 1/3, another 1/3 show up as di/di. This means that about 1/9 of twin pregnancies are identical di/di. 1/3 X 1/3 = 1/9.

    So if you are di/di, you likely don't have identicals. But you could.
     
  19. Jenn79

    Jenn79 Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(mamaleah @ Jan 23 2008, 03:42 PM) [snapback]586177[/snapback]
    Hello
    I had my 12 week check up yesterday and everythings looks great!! So excited to be at that 12 week mark :) . My doc said they are officially DI-DI. I have been reading up on terms and trying to figure things out. I am a fairly intelligent woman, but for some reason I am having trouble understanding it all, I am calling it pregancy brain syndrome. Doc told me this is the "safest twin senerio" and it doesn't rule out identical twins. Can they be Di-Di and still share a placenta? Things I'm reading are confusing me on that and are they definately safe from TTTS. Any other info would be great also. I love this site!!!!!! Thanks.



    I don't know if anyone has officially answered your question on TTTS. You may have picked up on it but yes, your twins are completely safe from developing TTTS as they do not share a placenta.
    Congrats on your twin pregnancy and making the 12w mark!
     
  20. kymbahlee

    kymbahlee Well-Known Member

    Sorry to add my own question onto your thread but it made me think of something.
    Since 15 weeks I have been told one placenta, but yesterday at the ultrasound, a mfm dr said and 'there are the 2 placentas fused together'. What the??
    I have read they could have a guess really early on if it was 2 but is it possible to see at a 27 week u/s that it was 2 fused? He is a high up guy with years of experience.
     
  21. debid

    debid Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(kymbahlee @ Feb 12 2009, 04:24 PM) [snapback]1187861[/snapback]
    Sorry to add my own question onto your thread but it made me think of something.
    Since 15 weeks I have been told one placenta, but yesterday at the ultrasound, a mfm dr said and 'there are the 2 placentas fused together'. What the??
    I have read they could have a guess really early on if it was 2 but is it possible to see at a 27 week u/s that it was 2 fused? He is a high up guy with years of experience.


    Were you getting an ultrasound on a different machine than usual? My OB office ultrasound photos are lower resolution and it's hard to see the membranes at all much less count them. In images from my 20-week level II, I can see both sacs around one of the boys quite clearly in one of the shots. It was simply a matter of a better machine being used for the more extensive check.
     
  22. swak50

    swak50 Member

    Not to scare anyone but I was told that although very rare, TTTS can occur in di/di twins as their placentas can fuse due to close proximity.

    I just found out on Friday that my twins are di/di and I am SO relieved! The sonographer talked about the lambda sign. I was previously told that they were mono/di and this caused me A LOT of stress because I'm also carrying another baby (triplets)!

    I KNOW that my twins are identical because they only put in two eggs (you guys can do the math, smile).
     
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