"I may be a twin but I'm one of a kind!"
Are they identical or fraternal? The age old question a mom of twins gets. Depending on my patience level at the time of this question. I will either say identical or fraternal. Just whatever I feel like at the time. If I do have the time (and this stranger is nice) I will break into a long explanation about how I don't really know!
So how did I not know? What is the deal? Ok, so let me give you a little run down…..
So here is the thing… twins are weird. Twinning in general is very weird. I have explained in the previous blog post how twinning occurs. The difference between identical (monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic). Identical is 1 egg and 1 sperm that spits and two fetus form with same DNA. Fraternal are two eggs and two sperm. Pretty simple concept right?
Here is the deal as to why my doctors did not have a 100% answer to this question. At my first ultrasound they saw two placentas and two sacs. Typically this finding means fraternal. So I went a long thinking fraternal until about 20 weeks. Then I found out that I had same sex twins. My OBGYN then told us that at times a twin pregnancy that presents as fraternal with two sacs and placentas and carring twins that are the same sex, could be identical babies. How does that work? Like, I said twinning is weird. The doctor told me that basically if the egg splits with in the 24 hours of conception the embryos can sometimes implant and form their own placentas and sacs. I forget the exact percentage of times that this phenomena occurs but I think he said about 25% of the time. So I am thinking, "ok they could be identical but they probably fraternal." Then comes the delivery. As my doctor was delivering me he made a comment to me and said, "Huh… you actually only have one placenta?" "What? I was told two?" He then told me that he was going to send it to be examined to see if they can tell from the placenta if they are identical or fraternal (I am not sure what they look for to test this). He told me that I could have possibly had 1 placental the entire time or I had two placentas that fused. So at my 6 week check up I ask my OB about the result of my placenta analysis. I was told it was inconclusive. He told me to wait and see if they twins start look different or more alike as they grow up. If we are having a hard time telling them apart then we could do a DNA test. So that is what I did. As time went on I started to notice differences but there were times I would mix them up.
So how did I not know? What is the deal? Ok, so let me give you a little run down…..
So here is the thing… twins are weird. Twinning in general is very weird. I have explained in the previous blog post how twinning occurs. The difference between identical (monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic). Identical is 1 egg and 1 sperm that spits and two fetus form with same DNA. Fraternal are two eggs and two sperm. Pretty simple concept right?
Here is the deal as to why my doctors did not have a 100% answer to this question. At my first ultrasound they saw two placentas and two sacs. Typically this finding means fraternal. So I went a long thinking fraternal until about 20 weeks. Then I found out that I had same sex twins. My OBGYN then told us that at times a twin pregnancy that presents as fraternal with two sacs and placentas and carring twins that are the same sex, could be identical babies. How does that work? Like, I said twinning is weird. The doctor told me that basically if the egg splits with in the 24 hours of conception the embryos can sometimes implant and form their own placentas and sacs. I forget the exact percentage of times that this phenomena occurs but I think he said about 25% of the time. So I am thinking, "ok they could be identical but they probably fraternal." Then comes the delivery. As my doctor was delivering me he made a comment to me and said, "Huh… you actually only have one placenta?" "What? I was told two?" He then told me that he was going to send it to be examined to see if they can tell from the placenta if they are identical or fraternal (I am not sure what they look for to test this). He told me that I could have possibly had 1 placental the entire time or I had two placentas that fused. So at my 6 week check up I ask my OB about the result of my placenta analysis. I was told it was inconclusive. He told me to wait and see if they twins start look different or more alike as they grow up. If we are having a hard time telling them apart then we could do a DNA test. So that is what I did. As time went on I started to notice differences but there were times I would mix them up.
When we left the hospital I had to keep ID bands on because they looked soooo similar!
There were times I would snap a picture or look at them and go "huh? Maybe you guys are identical?" But then I see enough differences that I a was pretty that they are fraternal. Do you see why I wondered?
So my curiosity got the best of me and I just had to know for sure. I can always tell the apart but others have a hard time. My gut was telling me they are fraternal. However, at times, it did not make sense to me because we don't have a strong history of twins in my family. Fraternal twins tend to run in families more than identical. So I was thinking, "well, since this was a spontaneous twin pregnancy, I had no fertility help, and a weak family history of twins, then Identicals might make sense?" So I ended up doing a DNA test. Just to know!
The test is sent it to your home and it is a cheek swab test. There are 8 swabs you obtain and send it back to the lab. I took about 2 weeks to get my results. Today I got the results, and the verdict is…....
FRATERNAL!
They are indeed fraternal twins. Yes they do look a lot alike but my gut was right! Will the always look a lot alike? Who knows? Fraternal twins can look super similar such as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson (yes they say they are fraternal). Fraternals can also look nothing alike just as some siblings look like complete strangers. Either way it doest matter. Now I know for sure and can stop wondering! I can tell that complete stranger at Target that they are fraternal. So there you have it.
The test is sent it to your home and it is a cheek swab test. There are 8 swabs you obtain and send it back to the lab. I took about 2 weeks to get my results. Today I got the results, and the verdict is…....
FRATERNAL!
They are indeed fraternal twins. Yes they do look a lot alike but my gut was right! Will the always look a lot alike? Who knows? Fraternal twins can look super similar such as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson (yes they say they are fraternal). Fraternals can also look nothing alike just as some siblings look like complete strangers. Either way it doest matter. Now I know for sure and can stop wondering! I can tell that complete stranger at Target that they are fraternal. So there you have it.