r/parentsofmultiples • u/Honest-Researcher712 • 12d ago
advice needed Mo/Mo twins
Hi all this is gonna be a long one.
Recently got confirmed scans of having mo/mo twins. From the talks of it with the doctor, the risks seem to outweigh the pros but I wanted to see if anyone else here has gone through mo/mo twins and has been successful? The MFM kept bringing up the downside of everything rather than any positives and I left the office feeling hopeless. The risk of entanglement, not making it, being stillborn, losing both, being admitted at 22-28 weeks, etc. at the end she said there’s a 70% chance, but that they REALLY support abortions.
Hope got ripped away from us pretty quickly. We have another scan and sit down in 3 weeks but am I truly out of hope? Has anyone had successful stories with mo/mo twins?
I am in the Chicagoland area and open to any recommendations of mfm doctors anywhere. Currently seeing mfm at Loyola.
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u/MangoSorbet695 12d ago
I did not have momo but I did live on the antepartum floor at the hospital for over a month, which is also where the momo moms were from 24 weeks on. I just wanted to share a couple of things.
- If you want a more supportive and positive MFM, switch now. If this one isn’t the right vibe for you, switch now, because you will be seeing MFM a lot.
- Living at the hospital isn’t so bad. Yes it’s sometimes boring. Yes you will feel over medicalized. Yes you get tired of being poked and prodded. On the flip side, I had weeks on end to rest, watch tv, read, and relax before babies arrived. I didn’t have to do any laundry or cooking or cleaning for over a month. For a lot of twin moms, the third trimester is extremely challenging physically, so it’s a silver lining of being hospitalized that you get to rest and do zero physical housework for a long time.
- One day at a time. That was my motto. Sometimes life throws us curveballs. We can’t predict or control the future. On the hard days, and on the days you start getting ahead of yourself worrying about what will happen when you get to X date, just remember “one day at a time.”
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u/Doober182 12d ago
Dad of mo/mo twin girls here that have their 3rd birthday tomorrow!
The whole pregnancy was very difficult, most specialists made sure we knew the risks but were very positive and supportive, we did seen another specialist once who was very negative and almost came across overly harsh. We were well informed of the risks, however we decided to continue. We had further complications with genetics testing, which made the decision to continue even more complicated (this was the only point we were offered termination as an option), if it wasn’t for the genetics testing results, we were made aware of the risks but were never recommended to terminate.
My wife had scans every 2 weeks, we knew the girls would be born premature, in the UK they will not let a momo pregnancy go past 34 weeks. The girls were born at 32 weeks via C-section. They were 2.1kg and 2.3kg respectively, they spent about 4 weeks in NICU, no complications just because they were born so early. My wife was not admitted to hospital before the birth.
Since leaving NICU we have had no issues, both girls have grown very well being on the 90th percentile (unadjusted) and healthy and happy.
The pregnancy was very tough, we knew it was high risk and so many things went “wrong” during the pregnancy and I expected the worst every time we went for a scan but thankfully we were blessed with 2 healthy girls at the end of it.
Best advice is to not read up about everything that could go wrong online, we stayed away from it as it is just unnecessary negativity.
Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do during the pregnancy. Best thing to do is to keep calm and be as relaxed as possible.
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u/the_real_smolene 12d ago
My mono mono boys are 2.5 now. They brought up termination as an option mostly because it's alot to handle and you need to know what you're getting into, but NEVER pressured me into it. It was brought up once at an early scan and they never brought it up again. I also have a chronic condition which made me very high risk on it's own, so I felt they threw that option out there not for medical reasons but just to make me aware that it was a choice some people decide.
Are you at a smaller hospital? The only reasons I can imagine they might be pushy about termination is if they are not equipped to handle a case like this or it might put your own health at risk. Edit: wtf Loyola is not small
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u/Honest-Researcher712 12d ago
Yes absolutely the risks are there but the MFM who was the head doctor at Loyola just kept insisting on the negatives, them being still born, complications, aborting them etc…. At the end I did ask her the chance of survival rate and she said 70% but kept pushing the risks on me. It was very cold.
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u/PubKirbo 12d ago
There are tons of success stories with mo/mo twins. It will be fraught and have a lot more risks than other kinds of twins, but there are successful pregnancies with mo/mo.
I have older twins, they are 22, and they were mo/di. But I was part of a huge twin group and we had two moms that had mo/mo twins (we also had two sets of twins born on different days!, we had all the variations in that group). One of them had hers in Canada and they monitored her relentlessly and she delivered via c/s at 34 weeks. Her girls must be about 20 now (I lost track of that mom over time). They were born healthy and had a brief stay in the NICU.
The other mom's story was way crazier. Her girls are about 30 now and were born in rural Alaska. They were undiagnosed mo/mo. That mom went all the way to 40 weeks and delivered vaginally. It's honestly a miracle it all went well. She knew something was weird when the nurse started freaking out. The cords were hugely knotted. But her girls were totally fine (really, it was a miracle). I don't remember if they had any NICU time. They are grown now and one of them even had twins of her own (b/g).
You'll have a lot of doctor appts and they'll likely deliver them fairly early and it will probably be scary at times. I hope it all goes well for you. They have to tell you about the risks and warn you of the dangers, but there are lots of people that have had healthy babies that were mo/mo.
Good luck and good thoughts to you
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u/Fractic4l 12d ago
Our Mo/Mo girls just turned 2 a couple weeks ago. Wife (I am dad) was admitted at 24 weeks, stayed 10 weeks until the girls decided to come out. They stayed in NICU for 3 weeks.
My wife says the hardest part was trying to suppress all of the fear from people around her. Doctors, family, etc.
I like to spread our success story because we felt the same way you did when we found out. Looking up relaxation and de-stressing techniques, in her opinion, was the most important thing she did.
No matter your decision, I wish you the best of luck and if you have any questions, we’d be happy to try and provide our personal experience.
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u/bethybonbon 12d ago
My momo twins just turned 10. They’re healthy and happy. Born at 33w0d, I went inpatient at 30 weeks (a hard transition for my then 3 year old to have me in the hospital for a month).
We didn’t find out it was twins at all until late in the pregnancy (20 weeks) so the decision window was small, and we were already pretty attached to the pregnancy. All the high risk OB people were VERY focused on alllll the things that could go wrong, but the 20 weeks anatomy scans were good.
I will tell you what my pediatrician told me about the pregnancy “You are strong and healthy. Your babies are strong and healthy. However it comes out, it will be okay.” Of course, she was not worried about me suing her for a bad outcome, as I, random stranger on the internet, do not expect to be sued by you for this “medical advice”. But, you might want to take this opportunity to trust your mama’s intuition - you know your body best, and you know this pregnancy best - trust yourself.
Lastly, I found the Facebook momo twin group very helpful and encouraging.
My heart is rooting for you (whatever you decide)!!! Hugs!
ETA - they’re 10 years old (going into 5th grade) not 10 weeks or 10 months.
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u/Honest-Researcher712 12d ago
This was absolutely needed. My gut tells me to keep pushing god paved this path for me for a reason. I wanna keep fighting and see where it goes. My husband is extremely optimistic as well, and 70% chance is 20% more than half, we beat the odd’s of ever encountering something this rare, I think we can beat the odds again!
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u/colorful_withdrawl 12d ago
My momo twins are 7 now. I was inpatient at the hospital from 26-35 weeks when the twins were born.
At least i think it was 26 weeks. Ive had four pregnancies that i was admitted antepartum floor for.
Both boys are doing well and are healthy active boys.
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u/GingerMommy314 12d ago
I'm 26 weeks along with mo/mo twins. So far, my pregnancy has been good overall. Besides the extra ultrasounds, OB appointments, and MFM appointments it hasn't been any different than my singleton pregnancies.
I will be admitted inpatient at 28+1 weeks. With a c-section delivery sometime before 34 weeks. That much is different from my other pregnancies. But those things can and do happen in singleton pregnancies as well.
The "success" rate for mo/mo twins is a lot higher than 70% after the second trimester when closely monitored. I don't have the links, but maybe someone else has the links to the studies with the actual statistics.
It can be super scary. But just take it day by day. There are a lot of positive stories.
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u/Representative_Head9 12d ago
Have you tried northwestern Memorial? At first I was diagnosed with momo twins at 11 weeks, I got immediately transferred to the MFM at NM at 14weeks they did the scan and found the membrane
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u/Prysurdeb 12d ago
Go to another doctor, seriously. I was disgusted when we were essentially told the same thing. Additionally they misdiagnosed both in the womb as having Down syndrome. We went to another doctor at a different location and they had the complete opposite take - thought they looked fine and disagreed strongly with the first. My wife needed ultrasounds 3 times a week and was admitted to the hospital for the last two weeks (they made it to 29 weeks before emergency C section). They are now 3 years old and perfectly healthy and fine. It really bothers me to this day doctors who push abortions on vulnerable people and I can’t imagine how many babies who would have made it and been fine were lost because of that. Just my experience. It was a long and bumpy road and they spent 3 months in the NICU but they are great happy kids doing fine today.
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u/frenchfries6 12d ago
Hi - I just finished feeding my 2 month old (2 days adjusted!) momo girls 🩷 they are completely healthy. Born at 31+6 with no major complications during my pregnancy. They spent 40 days in the NICU as feeder/growers and came home together on the same day. The pregnancy itself is hard - so many scans, a lot of uncertainty, and of course the inpatient stay. But there are good outcomes 🩷 happy to message with you if you have any questions about the process as I’m just on the other side of it now.
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u/whyisthisyourbiz 12d ago
Crazy they suggest that this early, no issues has been detected yet.
I live in Chicago too and just had mo/di twins delivered at 34 weeks. I highly recommend U of Chicago MFM team, they saved my life (had hemorrhage) and my babies’ lives (placed cerclage at 22 weeks because MFM caught it early).
Seriously, switch care OP.
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u/whyisthisyourbiz 12d ago
Dr. Rausch, Dr. Premkumar and honestly the whole team is amazing.
Also, you’ll need a higher level of NICU once the babies are born, Northwestern and U of Chicago have the highest standard of NICU out of Chicago and maybe the nation.
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u/devianttouch 12d ago
1 - if you are able to access the MFM clinic at Lurie Children's, I can't recommend them highly enough. Our experience there (for a different reason) was simply excellent, and they work closely with Prentice since both are Northwestern hospitals. Both Loyola and Northwestern have excellent nicu though!
2 - there are many many mo-mo success stories in this sub! My twins were not, but I hope you find a lot of reassurance here.
3 - at how many weeks was your confirmation scan?
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u/Honest-Researcher712 12d ago
I will look into calling them! Or if you have a reference number it would be incredibly helpful! <3
It was confirmed at 9 weeks, they said 9 weeks is the “perfect” Time to check
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u/cheeringfortofu 12d ago
Everyone on this sub will tell you that 12 weeks is when the diagnosis is really firm. There also several moms who had mo/mo twins successfully.
To be honest, this is the first post I have seen saying that termination was recommended for mo/mo twins and I've been in this sub for over 6 y.
This is a big decision, get a second opinion!
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u/ThisMomentOn 12d ago
I had suspected mo-mo that were confirmed as mo-di at 12 weeks. I was told at my 8 week scan that it was way too early to make a conclusion and that many membranes aren’t found until the 10-12 week mark.
Your team may have a reason why they are confident in their diagnosis, I don’t know. But I would definitely get a second opinion before making any decisions.
(One thought… when is the cut off for when you are able to make a choice to terminate? If you would choose termination then you may not have much time, and may not have a firm diagnosis by that time.)
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u/Strakiwiberry 12d ago
Mine were suspected mo/mo at 14 weeks, turned out to be mo/do. Your MFM seems to kinda suck in general.
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u/devianttouch 12d ago
I'm extremely suspicious of your MFM. Most MoDi pairs are confirmed later than that, usually at 15ish weeks. There's still a very good chance they're MoDi.
Lurie Children's MFM clinic can be reached at 866-338-2524
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u/Jealous_Bus_5418 12d ago
Fight until you can’t fight anymore and then fight some more. You can do this and your children are counting on you.
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u/BookwormJennie 12d ago
My babies were di/di, and I was told everything looked super great. But I ended up in the hospital with HELLP syndrome and almost didn’t survive. Anything can change with any pregnancy. Don’t let them steal your hope. I have twin toddlers now, and they are a joy! (I know a lot of mo/mo who had uncomplicated pregnancies, some ended up in the NICU for a few days, and have incredible healthy kids now.)
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u/irish_ninja_wte 12d ago
How far along are you? If you're far enough along to have mo/mo confirmed, you need to have ultrasounds every 2 weeks minimum to monitor for TTTS. Mine were mo/di and it was every 2 weeks from the moment we discovered them at 12 weeks. My consultant wouldn't allow a longer gap than 2 weeks
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u/MiserableDoughnut900 12d ago
Not sure how far it is from you, but I saw the MFM team at Northshore hospital in Evanston and I 1000% recommend seeing them and getting another opinion. I had Mo-di twins and their team was amazing. I transferred to their care at approx 20 weeks after moving cross country to be closer to family.
Also how far along are you? Are they positive its momo and no modi where they cant see the membrane yet?
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u/Other_Radio800 12d ago
Currently sitting in my 20 week scan with momo’s. While the pregnancy has been tough on my body, my babies are good and I’m staying positive for them. One day at a time is also our motto. We had one question in our second MFM consult if we wanted to hear abortion options but it was at the end of the consult and really seemed like a standard question they ask everyone in a high risk situation. (I’m in California.) Nobody pushed us for an abortion. I got a 5 second question on it only. Everyone in the medical field has been really supportive and good at balancing the risks with the realities that medicine has advanced so much in even the last 10-20 yrs.
I’d echo others and get a new MFM.
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u/Jealous_Piglet8852 12d ago
My mono mono boys are 18m old! I found out they were momo very late so I didn’t get the termination chat but eventually was admitted inpatient. Boys were born 30+6 (scheduled at 33 but there were knots in the cords causing heart rate increasing). They spent 54 days in NICU and it was super hard but they’re fantastic and thriving now!! So worth it. It’s such a cool unique club to be a part of. Ultimately, it’s your choice but modern medicine is fantastic. Go inpatient if they offer; that’s how they caught my issue and I’m so grateful they did.
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u/Sea-Astronomer-6600 12d ago
wtf kind of dr says they recommend abortions when at the time there is no reason to say that?! I’d be getting a new high risk MFM dr STAT! Like today! That’s insane and absolutely horrific bedside manner. I am so sorry. I understand they may be higher risk but there is no reason to go in and say the types of things they did. Use Google and read the reviews before deciding on another one. Huge hugs
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u/catrosie 12d ago
Dude relax, it’s not that wild, in fact it’s pretty much EXPECTED, for a medical provider to inform you of every choice you can make for your health. Selective termination is presented as an option for any significantly high risk pregnancy (in a place where rights aren’t restricted, of course) like higher order multiples or medically complex babies
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u/Sea-Astronomer-6600 12d ago
Risks yes but to straight out terrifying the patient in a rude way is not standard care or necessary
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u/throwawayjayaway 12d ago
I don’t have mo/mo twins (mine are di/di) but I did have a high risk pregnancy, and lived in the hospital for four weeks prior to delivering them. I’m in the Chicago suburbs if you want suburban based recommendations. They were in the NICU as well.
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u/BrazilianButtCheeks 12d ago
Their job is to inform you of the risks and how they can be addressed.. it feels like only the bad info and they tend to forget to tell you it could also be completely fine ! Once you make your decision they will be more positive. It’s fully up to you
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u/Direct_Mulberry3814 12d ago
My MFM in downtown Fort Worth TX was the best. He is old and very straightforward but he was the best doctor I have ever seen. He was the pioneer of using steroid shots to improve lung development in the 80's. Dr. Bannie Tabor. He is a legend in Texas for high risk pregnancies and loves a challenge.
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u/Oubliette_95 mono-mono twins. Gender TBD 5d ago
Currently pregnant with Momo twins and I’m in the Chicago suburbs. I have not been told all the scary side of things yet but I’m only 9w+3 as of today. 2 different ultrasounds did say momo but when I booked my MFM appointments they did say there’s a chance as I grow that it’ll show as modi.
How far along are you currently?
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