OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (WDAF) – A family from Lawrence, Kansas hit the genetic jackpot and now this rare set of twins is coming home.
Wyleigh and Winnie McLaughlin were born on November 30 to parents Alijah and Justin McLaughlin at Overland Park Regional Medical Center in Overland Park, southwest Kansas City.
Girls are a rare set of monoamniotic twins, commonly referred to as “MoMo” twins.
MoMo twins make up about 1 percent of identical twins and less than 0.1 percent of all pregnancies, according to Columbia University’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
“It means they share a placenta and they share [an amniotic] sac and this is a very rare type of pregnancy,” said Dr. Thomas Lancaster, neonatologist at Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
Lancaster took care of Alijah for much of her pregnancy after she discovered she was having MoMo twins, which put the pregnancy in a high-risk category. MoMo twins are at a higher risk of serious complications, such as umbilical cord entanglement or preterm birth, explains Texas Children’s Hospital.
“Once she got to about 30 weeks, there was a fear that maybe one of the cords was getting knotted and so that’s when she decided to have her babies a little over two months ago,” she said.
The twins went to the NICU for further treatment. Winnie was released on January 14 and Wyleigh was due to go home a few days later.
Alijah says the family can’t wait to all be together and for the girls to meet their older brother, Weston.
“Putting them back together has been a huge relief,” he told Nexstar’s WDAF. “Just to see them like this, they probably missed each other.”
