You say they shared a placenta. That is two pups, two unblical cords, and one placenta? I'm trying to picture this. At first I'm thinking one umblical cord and trying to figure if it is a "Y" or if there was a pup at each end, but then neither would survive. As Elizabeth said, one twin would dominate the other. One eats all the food and the other starves to death or is under developed. Here is some information I found on the net The Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome Foundation: http://www.tttsfoundation.org/ What is Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome? Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) is a disease of the placenta. It affects identical twins during pregnancy when blood passes disproportionately from one baby to the other through connecting blood vessels within their shared placenta. One baby, the recipient twin, gets too much blood overloading his or her cardiovascular system, and may die from heart failure. The other baby, the donor twin, does not get enough blood and may die from severe anemia. The babies are normal. The abnormalities are in the placenta. Why does Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome Happen? TTTS is a disease that only affects identical twins who are monochorionic-diamniotic or monochorionic-monoamniotic. See Chart Identical twins do not run in families but occur randomly. Identical twins occur when the fertilized egg (morula) splits after conception. No one knows why an embryo splits to make identical twins, so we don't know why TTTS happens. What we do know, is that the later, in days after conception, that the embryo splits, the more problems that are seen including the syndrome. The occurrence of embryo splitting is out of our control. Most twin to twin transfusion syndrome pregnancies are seen with monochorionic-diamniotic twins. The Recipient Twin - The Larger Baby The recipient twin is receiving too much blood because some of the blood vessels of the other baby, in the placenta, look like a "fork in the road" and split. These vessels then cross their shared placenta over to the recipient twin. Because the recipient twin is getting his or her own blood, plus the extra blood, he becomes larger in size. This is one of the first signs of the syndrome. This extra blood is very thick like syrup. Because the blood is so thick, the baby's heart has to work harder to pump the blood. Because of the extra blood, the baby is urinating a lot. Amniotic fluid is generated by the baby urinating. This causes the recipient twin to have too much amniotic fluid. When TTTS is diagnosed midway through a pregnancy (approximately 16 to 26 weeks) 80-100% of these babies may pass away due to heart failure if nothing is done to help them. The Donor Twin - The Smaller Baby The donor twin is smaller and is often called the "stuck twin". This baby is getting too little blood and thus, does not urinate very much. This is why there is very little fluid in his or her amniotic sac. When born, it is often the donor twin who does better, because they are not as tired. Their heart has not had to over exert itself pumping the extra blood. However, when TTTS is diagnosed midway through pregnancy, 80-100% of these smaller babies may pass away if nothing is done to help them. They pass away from heart failure due to severe anemia. Happy Wheeks and Squeeks, -Jenni(the human behind The JenniFUR Clan) -the Gerbils(my little handfulls) -Weeble(the female super cavy) -and Chess(the getting better turtle) visit our web site at: http://www.angelfire.com/nm/jennthompson *Need web site or HTML help? *Need a place to post your pictures? ---> E-mail me! Save the GGMLEs! (the Great GML Experts) >From: Gerbil Maniac <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: :B Odd Birth [Oops!] >Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2000 17:45:55 -0400 > >Hi Doug: > >Oops, I should read the original post first! > >I had assumed that the normal and small pups were separate individuals. > >But since each premie was attached to the same placental as its normal >counterpart, then another phenomenon related to twinning is occurring. > >Sorry for the mix-up. > >********************************************* >********************************************* >** ttfn, Gerbil Maniac ** >** <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ** >********************************************* >********************************************* >Gerbil Owners Directory <http://surf.to/GerbilMania> > > >On Fri, 4 Aug 2000 15:37:14 Douglas White wrote: > >I had this happen a few days ago with my burmese and argente cream pair >that > >had one baby born dead that was half the size (about) of the other pups. >I > >have also seen this in guinea pigs but it was not twinning and I can't > >remember what the vet called it. > > > > Doug > > > > > > >What are you N2? Choose from 150 free e-mail addresses. >http://www.n2mail.com ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
