Mum shares story of super-rare mono mono twins on TikTok

"I said I'm not because last week I wasn't... they just don't multiply like that. She said, "OK well, you see here... they did." - And that wasn't even the scary part!

They say twins are miracles that come in pairs. They're a double blessing that you may consider to be double trouble at times, but whack them in cute matching outfits and all is soon forgotten. 

But did you know some twins are rarer than others? 

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Put a finger down... Source: TikTok/lex.ginger.

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"At six weeks there was one baby and one sac"

Following along with the viral "put a finger down..." challenge doing the rounds on TikTok, mum, Lex Ginger, shared a video describing the moment she found out she was having twins. But Lex wasn't having just any twins, she was having 'mono mono' twins.

"Put a finger down if you were six weeks pregnant and went to the Ob-Gyn and saw there was one baby because there was one egg and one yolk sac, and then at seven weeks you get really terrible morning sickness and you have to go in for a check-up," she said in the clip that has since had more than 21.9 million views.

"And then you go to the doctor and the doctor goes, 'Oh let's do a scan, we might as well because you're here'.

"And then they do the scan and they keep looking and they keep looking and they keep looking and they keep looking...

"And then they look at you and say, 'You're having twins', but they don't say it in a happy way, and you immediately tell them that you aren't having twins because last week you weren't and then this week you can't... they just don't multiply like that.

"And she says, 'OK well, you see here... they did', and you say, 'Well no', and she says, 'Yes'."

Lex says her husband was going to go along with her, but she told him not to worry for just a nausea check-up, so she was there all alone. Noticing that the twins were very close together, she asked if they were conjoined, to which the doctor replied "they could be."

Or, they could be what's called 'mono mono twins'.

Say what now?

"Death death death..."

Lex goes into further detail: 

"[The doctor] says, 'Well, we won't know for another three months, but even if they're mono mono twins, they have a 50/50 chance of death," she continued.

"And it's a really terrible pregnancy and at 24 weeks you'll be hospitalised for two months.... most people don't make it to 24 weeks, I'll be honest with you, you're probably not going to make it anyway because, death death death..."

The doctor said she'd never seen this before in her entire career, the mono mono twin pregnancies are a one in 10,000 to one in 60,000 chance. She said it's way beyond her scope and Lex would have to move to a specialty hospital with 24-hour care.

Lex captioned the post with, "And Patrick never missed another appointment" and we think that's a pretty good assumption!

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The twins exceeded all expectations. Source: TikTok/lex.ginger.

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"Buy a lottery ticket"

People on TikTok wanted to hear more about this story (and so did we!).

"Wait. Are these the same twins that are born?" asked one commenter. "Can I get a story time? Please."

Another added, "Maybe like… buy a lottery ticket."

"This happened to my mom but it was twins and then suddenly quadruplets," chimed in a third. "We're all good though now."

Then and now! Source: TikTok/lex.ginger.

What are mono mono twins?

According to Twins Research Australia, "‘Monochorionic/monoamniotic’ literally means one chorion (the outer membrane) and one amniotic sac (the fluid surrounding the foetus). MoMo twins are identical and occur in approximately 1 percent of pregnancies about day nine after fertilisation."

In short, mono mono (or 'MoMo') twins happen when the embryo splits into two identical twins after the amniotic sac has formed, leaving both twins enclosed in the same sac.

"The only way to detect MoMo pregnancies is via ultrasound," says Twin Pregnancies Australia.

"Early diagnosis is important as complications can arise which warrant careful, regular monitoring. The most significant dangers relate to cord entanglement and/or compression and twin-to-twin transfusion."

In Lexy's case, her twins made it to their scheduled caesarean day of 32 weeks. Both Miles and Max were both at the same time with APGAR scores of 9/10, and neither required extra oxygen at birth.

*cluck*

This article was originally published on 28 June, 2022 and was updated on 20 September, 2022.

Originally published as Mum shares story of super-rare mono mono twins on TikTok