Sera shared this with me and gave me permission to share it with you. It’s not everyday you see identical twins still attached to their placenta!
She says, “They were both vertex. It was very difficult keeping baby A attached while waiting for Baby B to come. There was some fancy maneuvering going on!”
This picture has caused quite a stir. I’ve communicated with the mother and would like to share more information to clear up any concerns. Yes, the babies were still attached to the placenta (was not staged that way). The twins were birthed in the hospital and they checked out early as mom and babies were healthy and doing well. Also, these twins did not have TTTS.
Here they are an hour after birth.
It’s so great to be able to share birth images such as this. Normalizing all types of birth is a great ‘job’ to have.
~January
Recommended Reading
The Long, Beautiful Births of Solla Zakara and Winter Lumina {Natural Birth Story of Twins}
What Fate Had In Store For Me – A Twin Hypnobirthing Birth
Birth and Children Are Not All Balloons and Roses
The Harshe Podcast – Episode #27: Facebook is NOT Life
2 Videos of Twins and Triplets Born Naturally!
5 Twin Birth Stories – Variations of Normal
Born En Caul, Twins in NICU, Hugs, & a Happy Baby
Two Mamas, Don’t Forget Dads, and Pooping Without Fear
A Fight for a Twin VBA2C Birth in the Hospital!- Surprise! It’s Twins!
76 Comments
Liz F
I love that someone positioned their cords so they looked like little hearts <3
Lisa H
I was going to say that very thing! Its so precious…. what an awesome photo.
Tammy Mendoza
Beautiful!!!!
Laureen
Fantastic!
Yvonne
My three and a half year old daughter thought this was adorable, she was sitting in my lap when I loaded the page and she said “Two babies, one placenta and two umbilical cords! They’re twins, how cute!”
Alicia
My 6 year old sons comment was similar. “look mom the finger-painted hearts on their tree “cause they also love their mommy”
Shanons
Why is the one baby so much more blue? Is that from keeping him attached?
Mrs. BWF
It might just be the lighting. Baby on the right seems to be closer to natural light (and on white) and baby on the left further away from the light and lying on blue.
emma
it could also be that baby on the right was first born n has had time to pink up n baby on left may have just been delivered? ?? just a theory
Jaclyn
That’s exactly what I think as well. She says one of the babes had to stay attached for the other to be born and I think babe just had more time to pink up!
Jaclyn
and it`s a fantastic photo! So amazing!
emma
absolutely beautiful! x
Monica
I am the mom of identical twins. One of my boys was darker pink and one was lighter pink. It took them a few days to a week to even out. The nurses told me that there could have been natural discordance given that they shared a placenta… Just a theory. And also, they are two different people (easy to forget, even for me) so one just may have been pinker!
marrie
I have identical twins too, and baby a was born vertex, baby b breech half an hour later. A was much paler, B much ruddier, and B needed to have lights for jaundice while A didn’t. I always thought that as Baby A came out, blood was squeezed out of him and into the placenta, and then when the cord was cut Baby B was left with the extra blood to deal with. That was totally my made up explanation in my head, lol.
christie
the baby on the left looks to be newer so hasnt had time to pink up, the one on the right looks as though he/she?? has been wiped down. just gorgeous, agree the heart shaped cords was a nice touch 🙂
christie
just looked at the picture again, definitely “He” 🙂
Cara
As baby on right is already clean and dry, I’m going to have to vote he was born first (notice soles of feet still blue too, peripheral cyanosis – normal in babies) Baby on left looks fresh, wet and messy still. Don’t think keeping either attached had anything to do with their coloring! 🙂 This is a rare and wonderful picture!
Kristin
could be because he wasnt wiped down and the other baby was. maybe he came out last.
Marisa
If you look closely, you can tell that the “blue” baby hasn’t been cleaned up yet, so i’m assuming the baby that appears more pink was born first, and there fore has more color (all babies are blue-ish when they first come out as i’m sure you know already lol). I am also going to assume that this picture was taken asap after the second baby came out, so that they could detach them and get them into the arms of their family 🙂
Shannon Klipstein
This looks like a case of acute Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. You can read more on my website: http://www.TTTSupport.com or at Fetalhope.org
Sometimes when babies share a placenta they can also have connecting vessels which causes one baby to get less blood and nutrients than the other. This is a very dangerous syndrome. I lost both of my twins to this a year and a half ago. I would love to see more awareness about this attached to this photo.
Sarah
You can still have a size difference between identical twins without TTTS. The mother says that they didn’t have it. And the pinker baby looks like he was born first and cleaned off.
I’m so sorry though for your loss! TTTS is very scary. My doctors suspected my twins may of had it.
Kari
Sooo awesome
Mommagina
Wonderful picture!
Linda
That is beautiful!
Anna
January, do you know if these twins were born vaginally? If so, holy awesome!!! It’s unheard of for identical twins to be born vaginally!
Mrs. BWF
Yes Anna, I believe they were. 🙂
Kim
These are my friend’s babies. They were not only born vaginally but she walked out of the hospital three hours later wearing them. She’s a superstar. 🙂
sera
Thanks Kim 😀 it was the quickest hospital stay ever (under 5 hours). 🙂
Sarah J
She is my hero! I was wondering if they were born vaginally too! That’s amazing! Go mama! I’m so glad they shared this and their photos. <3
Christina Gabbard
<3 this. I shared on CPL Facebook fan page. Ty.
Ronni
Well, I DID post this cool picture on my page. Let’s see if “anybody” notices. =P
Love Yvonne’s young daughter’s response. How could healthy newborn twins be anything but cute?
Gail
Stunning, I LOVE IT!
Leigh Anne DuChene
Amazing and beautiful!!
bellabirth
That is a birth story I would LOVE to hear! WOW!
elizabeth
beautiful picture. thanks for sharing
Maria
Re: the color difference, you can tell that the baby on the left still has a lot of vernix on his body, while the one on the right has been cleaned up. The color of the baby is not due to being attached to the placenta “too long.” Delayed cord clamping is very beneficial!
What a neat picture!
Tine
Oh, that’s gorgeous! What a beautiful picture and so wonderful to see twins born normally!
And about the colour of the bubs, leaving them attached allows the natural, essential transfusion of much needed placental blood to flow into the babies, so it’s unlikely that they would be blue as a result of having the correct blood volume.
Early cord clamping (the practice in many hospitals, and definately done for cord blood storage) means that babies are deprived of a significant percentage of their blood volume and stem cells (which the baby needs inside him / her, not frozen in storage somewhere) which can lead to significant negative health consequences.
Dinah
What a glorious photo. Congratulations to the strong and wonderful mamma!! I’d like to ask though, which twin was born first? I’m guessing it was the twin on the right, who looks to have received more of the placental blood volume in comparison to the twin on the right? Where they the same weight? By the look of the photo the twin on the right looks a big bigger? Spectacular photo! Bless xx
Lindsay
Like jaundice?? My first DD was born via csection and was jaundiced, my 2nd was a hospital VBAC and I requested delayed clamping but he clamped it earlier than I wanted..2nd DD was jaundiced as well and even more so than first DD. I thought it had to do with our RH factors…but I could be wrong
Donna
I delivered identical twin daughters VBAC. They had a twin-twin transfusion before birth. The first was born perfectly healthy. The second was only nice minutes later, but she had 70% red blood cells instead of around 45%. She was as red as red can be. They looked similar to the babies in the photo.
Amber
My babies are also TTTS survivors and the second I saw this picture I KNEW there had to be some transfusion. Not enough to be dangerous, but it’s very clear. Two babies sharing one placenta means there is blood being shared as well which means at times it will be shared unequally.
Daisy
The little legs!! <3 Lovely
mary lanser
wow, that is truly amazing!
Kylie Look
Stunning photo – love the little hearts from the cords – super cute!!! Congrats on these two little beauties!
Pamela
AMAZING and so sweet… the babies are beautiful!!
Krysann
This is an awesome photo! I love the hearts as well. I called my hubby over and his response was an excited, “Oh, wow! That’s beautiful.”
I know this isn’t the point, but I just don’t get why FB (or people, for that matter) can’t stand these kinds of images. The first moments of life are not obscene. They’re precious and remarkable. Thanks for sharing this!
Heather
I had a HBAC with my first set of identical twins and they suffered from acute TTTS. They had a color difference similar to the babies in the photo. (My donor was pale and anemic and my recipient was very red and polycythemic.) I would guess that the subtle color difference of the babies in the photo could be from some shared vascular connections in the placenta and the delayed cord clamping.
Mrs. BWF
The mother commented regarding the color on FB. She said, “The truth is the baby that’s pinker was born in water and that is why the colour is better. The cord pulsed for way longer than the other born on a bed 😉 my midwife and nurse made the hearts :)”
There were no issues w/the babies.
K-Lo
Twin to twin transfusion was my first thought, as well. My ID twins were born vaginally, in a hospital no less, and had chronic TTTS that was discovered early in the pregnancy. But it can happen shortly before or at birth as well.
Beautiful babies! Congratulations!
Mandy
I am a mother of identical twin girls (also delivered vaginally) and i never even gave it a thought to have tried keeping my girls attached to their placenta for a picture like this! very awesome!! Also, my girls are 2 months old now, and still one is pinker than the other.
moday
So beautiful and also a “Lotus Birth”.
Curious was this at home or hospital.
🙂
Karrie
Thank you for sharing <3 Also would love to read their birth story some day.
I recently read that it is actually quite normal for babes to be blue…not something to be regarded as a "problem". Babes are apparently blue in utero and that we should not be scared to see them blue when newborn. I am sorry I cannot remember where I read this; but, for those who wish, I am sure if researched further you could find more information.
Peace, Love n Joy to all!
Cristina Galvan
This is so interesting 🙂 thanks for sharing. God bless them! 🙂 Good job mommy.
Sarah Pettit-Mee
Love this picture, I have only once delivered twins vaginally but they were non identical twins!
Carissa
That is awesome! Awesome pic 🙂 my identicle twins did not have a twin to twin transfusion but were different colours as babies are after time earthside – all babies are born slightly bluish and gradually pinken up! My second baby was born an hour and 10 minutes after her sister, so her sister had had plenty of time to pinken up before her sis! 🙂
sera
We had the same experience and both babes were the same colour shortly after birth. They were born about an hour apart also!
Kristy Alger
Words cannot express how simply beautiful this image is. Aa double bounty of life and love! Well done mamma, they are a triumph!
Diana @Hormonal Imbalances
We found out yesterday we are expecting identical twin boys. I’m 17 weeks. Thank you so very much for sharing this, it was amazing. Keeps me motivated!!!
Kathryn
Love this picture! Would also be interested in reading about their birth…….
Bianca
Such an amazing picture…welcome to the world little ones <3
Michael Ray Overby
Don’t Fear TTTS, Ladies. Watch Out For It.
Pamela Joy
Absolutely fantastic, and yet so sublime. Congratulations to all of you. Inspired by all the comments in relation to this birthing. Absolutely inspiring! Thank you.
Michael Ray Overby
For Additional Information on Twin to Twin Trasfusion Syndrome TTTS & What to Do to Watch Out for It, visit http://tttsupport.com or “TTTS Hope & Connections” on Facebook.
Michael Ray Overby
…
Mrs. BWF
Michael, I have emailed you twice. Until you respond to those emails, further comments will not be approved.
Thank you,
January
Shannon Klipstein
There is a whole side of this you are missing.
Mrs. BWF
Shannon I will not be approving a link to an article bashing my site.
First, this is not a home birth website, so you and the author do not even know the context of where your info is coming from.
Second, I have had no one contact me saying, “Hey, did you know about this? Can we work together to get more info out about it?” Instead I’ve been attacked via comments and email.
How can I share more info, working w/you or your ‘group’ when no one is willing to be a mature, respectful adult?
Third, the post is slander and the author does not have permission to share this picture on their blog. I will be contacting the mother and giving her yours and her information to handle that.
Like I told Micheal, your ‘voice’ for your ‘group’, I am a very open, understanding person and if just ONE of you contacted me nicely I would have been more than willing to share more info about TTTS. You need to step back and realize that you are not helping your cause, that you are not getting info out to anyone except your group b/c you are alienating people by your methods. If any of you want to stop being attackful and act like a reasonable adult, I would be willing to work with you to share more info about what you are obviously so passionate about.
Jenn
Go girl! Keep the crazy people at bay for us! I love this site and that you are not at all one-sided in anything! There are many ways to become a mama, and many ways to be a mama to our babies! I love this post, and think the babies and placenta are beautiful!! Twins are a variation of normal, not an anomoly to be treated. Great job to the mama who was able to pull off this birth! What courage and strength!!
sera
Thank you Jenn. I had the most amazing perinatologist who was respectful of my wishes and informative and present during my prenatal appointments and birth. I could not have had such an awesome outcome without her wisdom and care during my pregnancy. I was VERY fortunate to have such amazing birth support both from my dr and my midwife. I love them both for all the ways they supported me during this journey 🙂
liz p
it is really cool to see how the twins are attached to their placenta- surely not something i have ever had the pleasure of seeing! very cool…. and they are super cute
Petra Naess
Thank you for clearing up! As a midwife, I´ve been thinking about that picture since I saw it first time. And as married to an OB, we´ve had some discussions.. I was so excited but he was not..He was sure it was a TTTS. I´ll show him this today!
Stephanie
This is so wonderful! Thank you for sharing!
Sarah
Hi Mrs. BWF,
Can you ask the birth mother if I can share this link on my page. I run “Parenting Multiples” (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Parenting-Multiples/231153146941981) on facebook and would love to share these photos with other Moms of Multiples. The mother can message me too at Parenting Multiples, as I would love a little more information on the birth and her babies.
Sarah
Christina Gabbard
I <3 twin placentas – just fascinating!
http://carolinaplacentalady.com/?p=607
I shared your page on my site 🙂
joanna
The condition is called TAPS. There is no disputing it. The evidence (beyond the color) would be in the placenta. Good thing mom delivered bc it’s life threatening. Beautiful babies
Andreina
That’s amazing! Do you know if these twins were birthed vaginally or by C-section? it’s not really clear in the description. thanks!