Twin Pregnancy

Ahhh congratulations. You must be excited.

I have non ID boys. I saw the same midwife as someone carrying a singleton but had scans every month so I really did get to watch my boys grow.

The no of scans you have varies from borough to borough which I found out but your midwife will explain everything.

I saw a specialist consultant at my local hospital throughout the pregnancy who explained everything and there are lots of online forums and info online which I found useful.

All the best to the start of a fun journey x

Thank you Tamika! Yes we’re excited but still getting to grips with the news😂
That’s good to know! I imagined there would be more growth scans, thank you for sharing! X

@Katie I'm still getting to grips with it and my twins are 2.5 years old 🤣😂🤣

Just genuine curiosity, how do they know they’re non identical this early?

hey! Obviously I can only go on what I was told today at the scan, but my understanding is that because two eggs have released and they’re two separate beings they will be as if I’m carrying two separate pregnancies. Identical twins happens when one egg splits into two. But I could be wrong and I’m happy to be corrected! That’s just how I understand it xx

oh gosh, we’ll have to prepare ourselves then🙈😂 much love to you and your family! X

that’s all correct, but they wouldn’t have any way of knowing that the twins are identical or not until your 12 week scan. Maybe not even then. Identical twins can either share a placenta or have their own separate placentas. Non identical twins always have their own placentas. The only way to tell if they are non identical is to find out the gender or to see if they share a placenta. If you’re having a boy and a girl they’re definitely non identical and if they share a placenta they are definitely identical. If they are the same gender and have separate placentas you won’t know if they’re identical or not until they’re born.

oh right! I didn’t know! The sonographer just said they’re separate, my husband said does that mean non-identical and she said yes, but that could just have been the easy answer😂 I wasn’t in a position to question it, I just think it’s bizarre how much they can tell (like she told me both eggs came from my left ovary! How can they even tell?!) that it wouldn’t have surprised me that they could tell that sort of thing from that scan. Thanks for the information though! That’s really exciting to find out now whether they will be identical or not💕

Haha fair enough. They probably saw a corpus luteum cyst on your left ovary, the follicle that releases the egg then turns into a corpus luteum which sustains the pregnancy until it is no longer needed. They can’t tell whether you’ve released one egg or two though, there’s no way of knowing that, so they couldn’t know if your twins are non identical or identical. By saying they are ‘separate’ they mean there are two separate sacks, so will likely have two separate placentas. But that could be identical twins or non identical.

thank you! I’ve got a lot to learn😂

It is crazy isn’t it! I just didn’t want you to be misinformed. My sister had non identical twins, they are so adorable. Congratulations 🥳

Hey, I’m having identical twins and they knew at my early scan (I was 10 weeks 4 days) they were sharing a placenta but in two separate sacs. My understanding with non identical is that they can also do tests after you’ve delivered them which will determine whether they are actually identical or not 🥰 congrats and good luck!

thank you!! Thinking about it, she said the babies were conceived a day apart so maybe that’s why she was so certain they’re from two eggs! Whether they’re identical or not, they’re already so loved and we are so happy! X

yeah I’m sure there’s so many ways they can determine it even though to me I’m like 🤷🏼‍♀️ I don’t know what this means but I’m so glad you’re both happy!

Just going back to your post, with it being non-identical that’s considered the lowest risk when it comes to twins because there’s 2 placentas so you’ll likely have more scans but from what I’ve read you could go right up to around 38 weeks, have a look at twins trust as well because that has a lot of resources that I’ve found useful 😊

thank you! I’ll definitely have a look, it’s good that we get more scans as I’m an anxious girly so seeing them more will be amazing💕

Most hospitals you will have a specialist midwife that will be allocated to the multiples caseload and be seen in a specialist multiples clinic.

If they share a placenta you will generally have scans every 2 weeks. If they don’t share a placenta then it tends to be every 4 weeks unless there’s any concerns on the scan.

Just to add something in to the identical/non identical debate it’s actually not cut and dry determining what they are from scan.
-There are occasions that identical twins are identified as sharing a placenta but separate sacks and at delivery it turns out that the placenta is actually 2 separate placentas so close they are fused.
-even babies identified a having 2 clear placentas and totally separate sacks still have a 30% chance of being identical. If the egg splits really early then you will have identical that implant separately.

Even twins that measure slightly differently on dates can’t be confirmed either way as there will always be a slight size difference

My twins have separate placentas and sacks but we won’t know if they are identical or not until after delivery

Just joined this app and this group, and found this post! I think I'm about the exact same as you, as I had an early scan at 8 weeks because I had some bleeding and cramping and was worried. And we found out it's twins! Massive shock but definitely sinking in a bit now. They think from the early scan that it was 2 sacs and 2 placentas which I think is good, but it's been very interesting to read that this could still mean they are identical. I had no idea! I've got my 12 week scan on Friday and I'm so nervous but so excited too. X

that’s so exciting! Congratulations! Our 12w scan is on 2nd September, so excited to see them again🥰

Update for everyone, definitely non-identical as one is a boy and one is a girl!🥰 they also have been measuring two days differently in age since the start so we had hoped that meant we got one of each🥹x