I got the treatment on the nhs. there are a few specialist hospitals that deal with ttts. I live near peterborough and peterboroughs nhs trust send any people suffering with ttts to queen charlotte & chelsea hospital in london. My hospital was a little unsure how to deal with the whole situation as i was only the 2nd case in peterborough that my consultant has dealt with. it is rare, although i am hearling alot more about it. but i am definately hearing alot more success stories about it.

For them to be identical. they only have to share a placenta, they can have different sacs, sure thats what it is. But some twins can share the same sac but there is a small membrande between them that means there cords cant get tangled. It could have been that this was just not noticed. They actually thought my twins were joined together on the first scan i had. So you should defiantely know a little more by your next scan once theyve grown a bit x

Thank you so much for sharing that with me, I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens. you mentioned you had to go to London, is TTTS something that needs to be treated by a specialist and did you get this on the health service or do you just live in london?

So how come your boys were identical... was it just one of those things, the nurse made it sound like they had to share a sac to be identical, to be honest I was in shock so may have misunderstood what she was sayng!

Jxx

hi hun. i have a half and half success story for you.

I have not had the shared umbilical cord or sac, but my boys were identical. at 18 weeks i went for my standard scan (every 2 weeks from 16 weeks as standard for me with id twins) and i was showing signs of ttts. i had my suspitions anyway as i had suddenly increased in size in a week and that is a common sign. anyway we went to london to see a ttts specialist and at 19 weeks i had the laser treatment surgery to cut the link of blood supply to my boys. Thomas was sending his blood to william. Thomas was anemic and william was getting quite a bit bigger then thomas. We had the laser treatment and they withdrew 2 litres of amniotic fluid. they did this through keyhole, and i had an epidural. after the op all looked hopefull as both boys responded well and they could see a reverse in their conditions within a few hours.

Anyway went for a scan the next day and william had sadly died over night. Thomas was still responding very well but had a touch and go week of waiting to see if thomas would be ok. i went for a scan at 20 weeks and he was showing brilliant signs.

well that was January 2007 and Thomas is now 14 months old. he is perfect. he has no side effects from what happened to him in the womb. We named him thomas as Thomas means twin. and named william as it means guardian.

As i say it is a half and half story. although we lost william we feel that he died to save his brother. he is our little angel and will never be forgotten and thomas will always know about his brother but i look at thomas and feel so happy and blessed to have him.

My tip to you is any suspitions you have go and get it checked out. the quicker they catch ttts the better your chances. we had stage 3 of 5 stages, we may have saved them both if we caught it earlier. i know most of the stories online are of losses but i truely feel that ours is a success.

Hi Ladies,

We just found out today that I am expecting monoaniotic  twins, my babies are sharing the same sac and also the same umbilical cord, So is this the same?

We were told they would be identical, and that it would come with some risks, which obviously worried us, so since coming home from the scan we did a lot of research on the net and the main risk is TTTS, Obviously this is a concern but we are really trying to keep positive as we are so excited about having twins, although I have to admit it was a TOTAL shock as we already have  a 22month old!!

I would love to hear some success stories, and some real life happenings as all the stuff on the medical sights are very worrying!!

Thanks so much J xxx

Im glad to know its not only me that wasnt scared to death by the consultant, i cant understand why theyve told your friend this so long as shes monitored closely she should be fine. Hope shes not worrying too much x

Another positive story - thank you so much. Hope you continue to do well, and good luck!!

Hiya

Im 33 weeks with monoamniotic twin girls and although i have had scans fortnightly I have never been told all of that either. There is a higher risk of twin to twin tranfusion but fortunately mine are ok. I saw consultant yesterday and have 3 weeks to go before my c-sect if they dont decicde to make an appearance before hand! My consultant is totally happy with the girls progress as they are both bigger than average and doing great. Tell your friend to try not to worry too much and sounds like she is in good hands.

Take care x

Thank you so much, that has really made me feel better. I will pass this on to her, as she had never heard of the condition before, let alone know anyone who had been through this.

Thanks again xx

Hi just to put your mind at ease my girls were monoamniotic, although at my hospital they were never over worried by it and i certainly wasnt told id to be hospitalised. I didnt have to deliver the girls early either. I had my girls at 36 weeks due to one twin eating more although it wasnt twin to twin  transfusion so unsure what happened there. But i had no complications through my pregnancy apart from a small internal bleed around 16 weeks but id had a fall and it drained away itself. So there are positives to these storys, twin pregnancys are monitored so closely and i too had scans every 2 weeks and some midwife appointments. I had to stay in ttransitional care for 7 days until they could feed and keep there temperatures.

But tell your friend to think positive, from what the hospital have told her i think id be worried but i was never told any of that. x

Thanks x

try this webpage

http://www.pregnancy-info.net/monoamniotic.html

looks like it's quite a rare thing and very risky for the babies though hospitalisation greatly reduces the risks as the babies can be constantly monitored so that they can be delivered immediately if necessary, hence the hospitalisation from about 26-28 weeks onward.

Is anyone here expecting monoamniotic twins? I have just been told this is the type of twins my friends has. She is having fortnightly scans, is booked in for a c-section end of Nov (32weeks), and has to be hospitalised for constant monitoring at 26weeks.

Can anyone shed any more light on to this for me. How long are the twins likely to be in SCBU for once they are born?

Any info/experience would be appreciated.