Woman delivers rare ‘MoMo twins’. What that means

Britney Alba with her twin baby girls. (Image credit: Britney Alba/University of Alabama)

A woman in the US gave birth to a rare set of twins -- who make up less than 1 percent of babies born in the country.

Britney Alba, a school teacher from Alabama, delivered monoamniotic-monochorionic (MoMo) twins in October, 2022.  In fetal stages, MoMo twins share the same placenta, amniotic sac and fluid. Births can be fraught with complications.

What makes Alba's story even more extraordinary is that the babies were the second pair of twins she birthed in a little over a year.

The woman was admitted to the University of Alabama's Maternal-Fetal Medicine division, that specialises in high-risk pregnancies, when she was 25 weeks pregnant. She received round-the-clock care.

Attending to Alba was a multidisciplinary team of maternal-fetal specialists, high-risk obstetrics nurses and neonatologists.

"The team conducted ongoing prenatal care, including fetal monitoring several times a day to ensure the twins remained well," the hospital said 'Given the rarity of her pregnancy, Alba was also visited by medical students, residents and fellows."

Doctors said their goal was to deliver the twins via cesarean section at 32 to 34 weeks -- the national standard, considering the high risk of stillbirth associated with delays in MoMo births.

Alba's baby girls were delivered at 32 weeks and kept under the care of a multidisciplinary Regional Newborn Intensive Care Unit (RNICU) team

The mother and babies were discharged on December 7,  two weeks before the original due date.

The doctors who attended to them said their story was something they will always remember.

The girls defied odds since the beginning, Dr Rachel Sinkey, who is part of the hospital's Obstetrics and Gynecology department, said.

“MoMo twins are rare, and sometimes both twins do not make it,"she added. “I think the team-based care approach at UAB between maternal-fetal specialists, genetic counselors, nurses and NICU team greatly helped the outcome."