Fraternal Twins Share a Single Placenta
Saturday July 12, 2003
Until just recently it was thought that fraternal or dizygotic twins must have separate placentas, since they come from separate eggs. However, this week in the New England Journal of Medicine it was reported that a through investigation of fraternal twins born with what was believed to be a single placenta was indeed accurate. It is extremely rare for this to happen, and there is only one other report in medical literature. It is believed that the most recent case is due to the use of in vitro fertilization.
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I just wanted to get in touch with someone who cared to know that I had fraternal twins natually & they shared the same placenta. They were born Nov. 4, 1978 at Marrietta Hospital, in Marrietta, Ohio. Dr. Carmen was the attending physician. I have pictures of the birth & placenta, etc. I never understood why they shared the same placenta when they were definately fraternal boys. They are now 28 years old. I really hope a scientist will contact me because I never knew how unusual this was & never really understood why this happened.
Well, I hope whoever reads this will forward it to the right professional.
I live in Richmond, VA.
Thank you, Cynthia Cain
Im pregnant with fraternal (boy and girl)twins in a single placenta and two amniotic sacs. It was the strangest thing I heard when they told me so. I looked it up on the internet and also found out it was the most uncommon thing. Although Im really happy to have my children soon, I would like to know how this is so?
I gave birth to twin girls just this past March 2008- conceived naturally. They shared a placenta, but they are definitely not identical! Perhaps this is not as uncommon as everyone thought.
In 1978, I gave birth to fraternal twins, boy and girl. At birth, there was an unexpected complication. I was told the girl (smallest baby) had taken the boy’s blood. He had to have a blood tranfusion, was anemic and remained in the hospital for a week. The girl came home with me within 2 days. However, I was never given a medical name of the condition. After researching, I can only find informaion on Twin-to-twin Trasfusion Sydrome (TTTS). But I’m not sure if this is possible because they are fraternal twins, and the only information I’ve found is that TTTS occurs only with indentical twins.
Can someone verify that TTTS can occur with fraternal twins or perhaps their is another medical term I should be researching.
The twins are nearly 30 years old and the hosital cannot provide their birth files.
Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.
I had twin fraternal girls in 1978 who shared a placenta. Immediately upon their birth, I was told they were “identical” and questioned the doctor because they looked nothing alike. Both redheads, different colors, one with blue eyes, one with green, different blood types. He stated there was only one placenta, and his head nurse verified his findings. Can this be explained? Now they are 29-years-old, one is 5′4″, one is 5′8″, one with auburn hair green eyes, one with copper red hair blue eyes. Definitely not identical! I’m interested to find out how rare this really is.
Thanks.
I was unaware that this was uncommon. I am 20 wks pregnant with boy/girl twins that share the same placenta. My Dr. did not seem at all surprised that they share they same placenta. I found this website only because I was trying to find out why they would share a placenta. I conceived naturally with no IVF.
They most likely have a placenta that has grown together due to lack of space in the uterus, which is a separate issue. To my knowledge the case reported on here, is the only one known. If you think yours is another one - I’d have it tested after birth to see if it’s simply fused or separate placentas.
Good luck! My twins are 5 and a delight!
Robin
I gave birth in 1970 to a set of twins (girl and boy). I was told by my doctor that there was only one placenta. This man had delivered hundreds of babies prior to mine and didn’t seem surprised. Also interesting, no one had a clue I was having twins until after the first one was delivered and my stomach didn’t go down.
I am a twin born in 1976 in Pennsylvania. My fraternal twin sister (I’m female too) and I shared a single placenta. The doctors told my parents that it was very rare.
I too gave birth to fraternal twin girls on september 20, 1994. They shared a placenta and the doctor who had delivered thousands of babies said that we would have to send the placenta out for extensive testing to see if they were identical. All he had to do was look at them, one had a beautiful head of wavy dirty blonde hair and the other was very light blonde peach fuzz!!! A few hours after pushing those babies out, i shuffled to the nursery and a woman stood at the glass and said “i heard there were twins born today, but none of these babies look alike!” What a surprise, reports came back and said they were Fraternal. they are now 14 and the only thing they share is their eyes! one is a blonde who tans beautifully, the other is a red head with freckles and very irish skin! One is 5ft 8in. and the other 5ft 4in and there is about about a 20lb difference in their bodies, though both can wear a bikini, one is bones and the other has broad back and shoulders. OH, AND HERES THE KICKER, ONE OF THEM WAS DIAGNOSED WITH TYPE ONE DIABETES AT AGE 4 and is insulin dependant!
Anyway, the reason for the sudden interest is that my girls are taking Biology in high school and their teacher told them it is EXTREMELY rare to be fraternal twins who shared a placenta! after reading everyone’s posts, i am thinking that bio teacher might be wrong!
My fraternal twins shared a placenta. Didnt think this was rare.
I had twin girls in 2004, they had seperate sacs and one placenta. they dr told me he would have to send the placenta for testing to see if they were identical (financially I chose not to do that)they look identical to everyone, i can tell the difference though. I was told that they were probably not identical because one has a flat mole on her inner thigh & that both would have it if they were identical does anyone know if that’s true.
I am a fraternat twin (boy/girl) im the girl i have been looking for information about this for years now!!! I am 23 when my mother had us she was also told that is was rare..Today what the first time i found any kind of infomation on this… I feel the same way. How come back in 2003 they were the first and finding all the commonts going back from the 70’s it doesn’t make any sense. I would like to know more about this. If anyone has any infomation on it i would like to know thank you. For all your help.
Wow! I never realized this was supposed to be such a rare condition either. My twins (girl/girl) were premature, had TTTS, and I was also told they had the single placenta. In fact, because of some other birth anomalies, the doctor said he would need to check their chromosomes to verify that they were, in fact, not identical. This was because they had been presumed to be fraternal before; however, they were apparently mimicking identical twins with their illnesses. Needless to say, they are fine now. (They were born in ‘98.) I never would have thought the single placenta was supposed to be so rare, since no one seemed to pay it any attention at first. Go figure!
I’m almost 19 wks and started looking into this when I was told my twins had same placenta and two sacs. One is def a boy, the other seems most likely a girl. Their sonogram pictures look nothing alike to me. Besides the sonogram chick makin sure they were both developing normal they acted like it was no big deal. Must be more normal these days.
Hi - I’m a twin born in 1970. I (female) have a twin brother. My mom says we shared a placenta and the doctor had it sent out for tests and never heard anything. I (2nd twin born) was a surprise to the doctors because my Mom’s labor stopped after my brother was born. The palcenta was delivered…and there I was. I asked my OB about this when I was pregnant and she did not seem surprised either. I’d like to see more information on this topic and what the complications could be.
I think it’s also important to note that many people are told that there was one placenta, this is because there is only so much surface area in the uterus and two placentas frequently meet and grow together. This is not the same thing as only having one placenta. The example above can only be determined via testing. And the case in the blog post was the second time it had been noted, ever.