Twin confusion. 13 weeks pregnent, and we were told at our 12 week scan that it was twins. Really pleased, but confused about some conflicting info!

[nothingbyhalves]

Help! after being told at 12 weeks we were having twins we were told that they were non identical, but were sharing a placenta. We've since been told by a midwife friend that at 12 weeks its too early to tell if they are non identical, and that if they are sharing a placenta they must be identical. I'm so confused, i'm even starting to question if we're having twins at all! Any advice out there?

thanks

oooo this is odd, no experience, just wanted to say Hello and congratulations xx

HI, congratualtions on your pregnancy. I was pregnant with twins but unfortunatley mc them at 10 weeks. I asked when i had the scan if they were identical or non identical. They said that they were sharing a placenta so they were identical. Maybe they meant to say identical as I have never heard of non identical twins sharing a placenta but I could be wrong. xxxx

Fraternal (non-identical) do not share the same placenta as they are two babies formed from two eggs and two sperm. If they implant close together they may appear to be one placenta, but they are not.

Identical twins formed from one egg and one sperm may split at any stage from the two cell right up to late in embryonic development which produces conjoined (Siamese) twins. The later in embryonic development the split occurs the more likely they are to share a placent.

I took this info from a website for you so hope it helps xx

What I've been told agrees with Lizzie (I have identical twins). The stage between sharing a placenta and being conjoined twins is sharing both the placenta and the amniotic sac (monoamniotic monochorionic twins). Was the scan able to see a membrane between the twins? Without one they'd be monochorionic which has extra risks. My daughters had their own sacs but shared a placenta. This meant lots of extra scans but they had no problems. Good luck with your pregnancy.

Hi and congratulations!

Now, there is no way twins can be non-ID and share a placenta! If medical staff told you that they need to go back to college. If twins share a placenta they are definitely ID. You shuld ask for clarification at the next scan - you'll probably have loads as you've got two in there.

But a lot of people, including medical staff, are still very confused by this placenta issue. If twins have separate placentas it is still incorrect to talk about 'non-ID' twins unless you know they are different sexes. If they are the same sex, you will only know if they are ID by doing a DNA test after they are born. Or by looking at them - if one's ginger and and the other dark haired then you will definitely know!

I have ID twins who had separate sacs and placentas - this is the case for about 1/3 of ID twins. We found out through a DNA test.

Sorry if this has confused you further - it's getting late! have a look here for a better explanation. Good luck with your pregnancy!

CORRECTION! Bugger - after all these years of twin swatting I still got it wrong... The webpage I posted above explains that without doing further test you can only be sure that they are ID if they share a placenta AND a sac. So now we know. Goodnight!

Mine are identical and we were told at the 12 week scan. Non ID twins can have separate placentas that fuse together, so it looks like one (got that from a twins midwife at an ante-natal class I was speaking at on Monday)

That's not much help for your question - means everyone was right. Sort of.

Congratulations, btw!

thanks all. I've got another scan in a couple of weeks so will ask for clarification. Its not really an issue, just me being daft. I keep on thinking if they made a mistake about them being identical, maybe they made a mistake about there being 2! I've got so used to the idea of carrying 2 I'd be gutted if there was only one now!