"Let's not try to figure everything out at once"
WOW! It has been a busy past few weeks for us. We closed on our house and attended a few family functions. For two weekends in a row Matt and I have attended some family weddings. His cousin on got married and my cousin got married. The picture is of my cousin and I who are around the same point in our pregnancies. I am 21 weeks and she is around 19 almost 20 weeks. We are both small. She is a bit shorter than me and you can tell how much bigger my belly is compared to hers.
Anyway, being around family and pregnant at these events leads to lots of questions about the twin thing. The first thing everyone says to me is. "Wow, I can't believe there are two in there!" The next comment usually is, "So which side of the family has twins?" Then I get the question from all the female cousins "Does this mean I will have twins?"
After much question asking to my doctors and and my own research from books I have read. I thought I would break it down for people and explain the phenomena of spontaneous twinning.
What do I mean by spontaneous? I am talking about twins that occur without any medical interventions such as medications that stimulate ovulation and in vitro fertilization. In vitro is occurs when eggs are harvested by a doctor then fertilized then placed into the uterus.
Spontaneous twins are like mine... they just happened.
Is it genetic?
Twinning is still a concept that is not fully understood in the medical world. There are families that seem to have a strong twin connection. Of the factors that can influence a twin birth there is one genetic link that has been found. That would be a genetic history of something called hyper-ovulation. This is the tendency of the women's body to release multpile eggs during her ovulation. This increases the chances of having fraternal twins. There are some families where women have a gene for hyper-ovulation and release multiple eggs. Due to this gene it could explain a reason for twins. However, only women can ovulate. So this theory is only valid on the mother's side of the family. However the man could carry the gene and pass it to his daughter.
Does it skip a generation?
Lets say your Dad was a twin and you are not, does this mean I will have twins? It is a common misconception that twins can skip generations. There is no official definitive evidence of this. I have known families where it skips 3 generations and another family that seems to have twins in every generation. So... make your own conclusions.
So what about the identical twin thing?
Although there are thousands of theories and research on this particular topic, there is no official connection between genetics and identical twins. Medicine and science have yet to truly identify and confirm a clear cause for identical twinning. Identical twins occur when 1 egg splits into two embryos which forms two people. There is a theory floating around out there which involves an enzyme in the sperm that can cause the egg to split. However, I have been unable to find any other info to support this. At this time identical twinning appears to be a random event. Therefore all parents have an equal chance of conceiving identical twins.
So how did I get pregnant with twins?
I ask myself this on a very regular basis. Lets take a look at my family history. My mom is 1 of 6 kids my dad is 1 of 7 there are no twins anywhere. All my aunts and uncles are singletons and no one has had twins. My grandparents are not twins.
Let's look at Matt's side of the family. His dad is 1 of 10 kids and his mother 1 of 5. There are no twins.
So how did this happen and what the heck? After talking to my mom's mom I found that that she had a cousin who had twin girls and my mom's dad had a set of twin cousins (two boys). Those are the only twins I have found. However, if there was any twin connection it is on my maternal side which would support the hyper-ovulation theory. At first my doctors said that I was carrying fraternal twins and that I had ovulated to eggs, but now my doctors are not 100% if they are fraternal. Since my kids are the same sex, and we don't have a really really strong history of twins, we could be having identical twins. In theory this is a random act of nature. So what do you think my girls are?
We will see! The only way to know for sure is to get a DNA test of the girls after they are born or if the obviously look different then we will know.
Below are some pictures to explain how twins occur.
So lets break this down:
Anyway, being around family and pregnant at these events leads to lots of questions about the twin thing. The first thing everyone says to me is. "Wow, I can't believe there are two in there!" The next comment usually is, "So which side of the family has twins?" Then I get the question from all the female cousins "Does this mean I will have twins?"
After much question asking to my doctors and and my own research from books I have read. I thought I would break it down for people and explain the phenomena of spontaneous twinning.
What do I mean by spontaneous? I am talking about twins that occur without any medical interventions such as medications that stimulate ovulation and in vitro fertilization. In vitro is occurs when eggs are harvested by a doctor then fertilized then placed into the uterus.
Spontaneous twins are like mine... they just happened.
Is it genetic?
Twinning is still a concept that is not fully understood in the medical world. There are families that seem to have a strong twin connection. Of the factors that can influence a twin birth there is one genetic link that has been found. That would be a genetic history of something called hyper-ovulation. This is the tendency of the women's body to release multpile eggs during her ovulation. This increases the chances of having fraternal twins. There are some families where women have a gene for hyper-ovulation and release multiple eggs. Due to this gene it could explain a reason for twins. However, only women can ovulate. So this theory is only valid on the mother's side of the family. However the man could carry the gene and pass it to his daughter.
Does it skip a generation?
Lets say your Dad was a twin and you are not, does this mean I will have twins? It is a common misconception that twins can skip generations. There is no official definitive evidence of this. I have known families where it skips 3 generations and another family that seems to have twins in every generation. So... make your own conclusions.
So what about the identical twin thing?
Although there are thousands of theories and research on this particular topic, there is no official connection between genetics and identical twins. Medicine and science have yet to truly identify and confirm a clear cause for identical twinning. Identical twins occur when 1 egg splits into two embryos which forms two people. There is a theory floating around out there which involves an enzyme in the sperm that can cause the egg to split. However, I have been unable to find any other info to support this. At this time identical twinning appears to be a random event. Therefore all parents have an equal chance of conceiving identical twins.
So how did I get pregnant with twins?
I ask myself this on a very regular basis. Lets take a look at my family history. My mom is 1 of 6 kids my dad is 1 of 7 there are no twins anywhere. All my aunts and uncles are singletons and no one has had twins. My grandparents are not twins.
Let's look at Matt's side of the family. His dad is 1 of 10 kids and his mother 1 of 5. There are no twins.
So how did this happen and what the heck? After talking to my mom's mom I found that that she had a cousin who had twin girls and my mom's dad had a set of twin cousins (two boys). Those are the only twins I have found. However, if there was any twin connection it is on my maternal side which would support the hyper-ovulation theory. At first my doctors said that I was carrying fraternal twins and that I had ovulated to eggs, but now my doctors are not 100% if they are fraternal. Since my kids are the same sex, and we don't have a really really strong history of twins, we could be having identical twins. In theory this is a random act of nature. So what do you think my girls are?
We will see! The only way to know for sure is to get a DNA test of the girls after they are born or if the obviously look different then we will know.
Below are some pictures to explain how twins occur.
So lets break this down:
Two Sperm + Two Egg= Fraternal Twins (AKA Dizygotic)
This type of twinning accounts for 70% of spontaneous twins. This means that the twins could be the same sex or one of each. They could look a lot a like or look completely different like some siblings do. During a cycle 2 eggs are release and two sperms fertilize.
This type of twinning accounts for 70% of spontaneous twins. This means that the twins could be the same sex or one of each. They could look a lot a like or look completely different like some siblings do. During a cycle 2 eggs are release and two sperms fertilize.
Another typical sign that they are fraternal is that the babies have their own complete placentas and sacs. (My girls have this). However this does not always mean they are fraternal. I will explain that a bit later.
1 Sperm + 1 Egg = 2 Identical Eggs (AKA Monozygotic)
This type of twinning occurs for 30% of all spontaneous twinning. What this means is sometimes a single egg is fertilized and divides into two embryos. This occurs during the first 2 weeks after conception.
There are 3 ways that identical twins can look in the uterus:
This type of twinning occurs for 30% of all spontaneous twinning. What this means is sometimes a single egg is fertilized and divides into two embryos. This occurs during the first 2 weeks after conception.
There are 3 ways that identical twins can look in the uterus:
1. Two sacs and Two placenta. Just like fraternal twins. Identicals will always be the same sex (this is why we are not 100% if my girls are fraternal or identical) If the egg separation occurs with 72 of conception they could form individual sacs and placentas.
2. If the division occurs 3-8 days after fertilization the twins will develop two sacs and share a placenta. This occurs 60-70% of the time with identical twins.
3. The division occurs 8-12 days after conception they will share one sac and one placenta. 1-2% of Identical twins. Super rare!
So there you have it. Twins are weird and hard to follow.
Basically I hope this post help to explain twins a bit clearer. I am still a bit confused by it all. The pictures help a bit.
To all my family who follow my blog I hope this helped and did not confuse you even more!
Luvs
Cat
Basically I hope this post help to explain twins a bit clearer. I am still a bit confused by it all. The pictures help a bit.
To all my family who follow my blog I hope this helped and did not confuse you even more!
Luvs
Cat