Monochrionic Monoamniotic (Momo) twin facts:
- Approximately 1% of twins are Momo and they occur in about 1 in 60 000 pregnancies
- They are always identical and always the same sex. 75% are girls (no one knows why though)
- They are not caused by fertility treatments and are not hereditary. They occur when the zygote takes longer than usual to split, implant and start to develop. The longer it takes to implant the more of the placental structure twins will share and momo twins share everything! A few days more and the twins develop conjoined. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamniotic for a great pictorial explanation.
- They share the same placenta, same chrionic and same amniotic sac - i.e. they can touch each other and make knots in their umbilical chords. Every other type of twinning has some degree of separation and twins cannot touch each other.
- They are at risk of twin to twin transfusion (blood going from one to the other), cord entanglement (knots in their cords), cord compression (one squashing the other's cord with their weight) and uterine growth restriction (not growing) while in the womb. If one baby dies in the womb then the chances are the other will too due to sharing the same amniotic fluid.
- 34 weeks is as far as a Dr will let you go because beyond this the cord entanglement and compression risks outweigh the risks of prematurity. Which brings me to the next dot point...
- They are also at risk of everything that comes with being born 6 or more weeks premature including neurological problems, respiratory problems, cardiovascular complications, gastrointestinal problems, haematologic complications and infections.
- Natural birth is not an option because you are likely to cause cord prolapse.
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