It is estimated that out of every 10,000 babies, ten of them are born with Down syndrome. On the other hand, three out of every thousand twins are identical twins. But the probability that identical twins are born, and that both have Down syndrome, is one in two million births .
Twins Kennadi Rue and Mckenli Ackerman were born on May 12, 2021, at 34 weeks gestation, six weeks early, and had to spend four weeks in the ICU until they grew big enough to go home.
mono-di twins
His mother, Savannah Combs, from Middleburg, Florida (United States) has commented in an interview with News4Jax :
“It’s very rare what they have, but they have been my little gems,” he said. “They are called mono-di twins , which means they had their own sacs, but they shared the same placenta, which means they were going to be identical. It’s a very rare thing, but if you then add Down syndrome, it’s like one in two million.”
Monochorionic and diamniotic (or diamniotic) twins, like these girls, account for 90% of monozygotic twin pregnancies. In them, the zygote is formed by the union of an ovule and a sperm that divides after fertilization to create two embryos, a division that occurs between the fourth and seventh day after fertilization. They share the same placenta, but each baby grows in its own amniotic sac.
For its part, Down syndrome occurs because there is an extra copy of chromosome 21, which is known as trisomy 21. Not all people with Down syndrome have the same degree of disability, so it is very difficult to determine the degree of future development.
I was going to love them “however they came”
Her mother explains that they did blood tests twice, “but they couldn’t confirm if the babies had any problems.” They then suggested an amniocentesis test , but she turned it down because “it could cause a miscarriage , and I didn’t want to lose any of my babies. I was going to want them no matter how they came ,” she says.
The twins are famous on Tik Tok
If you want to learn more about them and see how the twins who have already turned eight months grow, you can follow the Tik Tok account in which their mother shares the day-to-day life of the little ones. These adorable girls attend physical and occupational therapy twice a week and are about to start crawling.