Identical twin sisters seen fighting each other in ultrasound scan
A pair of identical twins in China have been spotted in a viral video of an ultrasound apparently fighting each other in their mother's womb. In the video, the two babies look like they are kicking and hitting each other as their mother was undergoing a routine ultrasound scan at four months of pregnancy. The father of the twins, 28-year-old Tao, said the video was shot by him when he went with his wife for an antenatal check late last year in Yinchuan.
Tao told Chinese news outlet The Paper, he found the situation quite amusing to see his still unborn daughters "boxing each other for a few rounds". He took a video of the ultrasound footage before he uploaded it to the app Douyin. The video went viral soon after.
Tao also said he did not expect his children "to be internet stars before being born". The girls have since been born healthy and were given nicknames "Cherry" and "Strawberry," which Tao said are their mother's favorite fruits.
So far, the footage has received more than 2.5 million likes and 80,000 comments. China Daily was one of the country's news outlets that reported the viral incident. One amused user on Douyin said: "Whoever wins [the fight] can be the elder one when they are born." Another commented: "They fight in [their mother's] belly, but will love each other when they are born."
Tao also added that he saw his twin girls hugging each other when the couple went for another check in January this year. He said that he saw one of them apparently cuddling the other girl when his wife was undergoing an amniotic fluid test. He told The Paper: "We were so touched. The babies were so small and they knew how to look after each other. I believe they will live with each other in harmony when they grow up."
According to Tao, his twins shared the same amniotic sac, as well as the placenta, inside his wife's womb. It's one of the highest risk pregnancies possible and it's known as monochorionic monoamniotic twins or Mo-Mo twins. There is only a 50% chance babies will survive after the 26-week mark in such pregnancies.
The biggest risk in this situation is that the umbilical cords will get tangled which could result in impaired blood flow to one or both the babies. According to TwinsUK, Mo-Mo twins are rare and will occur in approximately 1 in 35,000 to 1 in 60,000 pregnancies.
Thankfully, Cherry and Strawberry were born healthy on April 8 at 32 weeks through a Caesarean section. The Yangzhou Evening News reported that the elder twin was born at 2:51 p.m. weighing 4lbs 5oz and the younger twin was born a minute later weighing 3lbs 9oz.
The medical staff at the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University said the emergency surgery was arranged after the nurses saw one of the twins' heart rates had suddenly dropped. In the middle of the operation, the doctors found that a large portion of their umbilical cords had tangled.
Deputy director at the hospital's obstetrical department, He Lin, told reporters: "The babies have been born safe and sound. It's their parents' fortune as well as my fortune. They are the first pair of Mo-Mo twins our hospital has successfully delivered."