Six months after giving birth to identical twin boys, Britney Alba sent a text to her OB/GYN. The message read: “I think I might be pregnant.”
“I was pregnant alright,” the elementary school teacher, 27, tells TODAY.com.
In August 2022, Alba and her husband, Frankie Alba, a firefighter, 25, welcomed identical twin girls Lynlee and Lydia. The babies joined identical twin brothers Luka and Levi, who were also conceived without reproductive assistance.
Lynlee and Lydia are 13 months apart from Luka and Levi.
“People gawk at us when we’re out in public. I used to get stopped all the time when it was just Luka and Levi — you know, people asking, 'Are they twins?' Now it’s like a circus,” Alba says. “Everyone wants to get a look!”
Alba doesn’t mind one bit. She agrees that identical twins are pretty magical.
“Yes, they’re super cute but they also share a unique bond,” Alba says, noting that Luka and Levi only started sleeping through the night after they started sharing a nursery.
“With Lynlee and Lydia, they’re most at peace when they’re holding hands or touching,” Alba reveals.
It makes sense that the sisters find comfort in physical proximity. Lynlee and Lydia were monochorionic-monoamniotic, (MoMo), which means they shared the same placenta and amniotic sac. MoMo twins make up roughly 1% of identical twins, according to Dr. Meghana Limaye, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at NYU Langone Health.
MoMo twins face increased risks, including stillbirth and tangled umbilical cords. When cords become knotted, it can lead to the death of one or both of the babies.
“We recommend that patients be admitted from 24 or 26 weeks (gestation) until delivery, which is usually at 32 to 34 weeks with several hours of fetal monitoring per day,” Limaye says.
Alba was 25 weeks along in her pregnancy when she was admitted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Women and Infants Center.
"They would monitor their heart rates multiple times a day and every time they would check, I would hold my breath, waiting to hear two heart beats," Alba says. "It was very scary — but I had the best care."
Lynlee and Lydia were delivered via cesarean, or C-section, at 32 weeks gestatation at UAB. Delivery is always by cesarean due to the risk of cord entanglement, according to Dr. Limaye.
Lynlee and Lydia are now 3-months-old, while Luka and Levi are 17-months-old. The adorable foursome enjoys going for rides in their four-seater stroller.
Alba says it feels like just yesterday that she learned she was having a second set of identical twins.
“You know, it’s funny, I wasn’t scared,” Alba shares. “I remember thinking, ‘OK! Round two.'”
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