Twins

TWINS

People love twins.  Maybe it's the sight of two little adorable babies cuddled together, the giant stroller carrying two massive carseats, or the cute doubles of everything.  Whatever it is, I can attest that people love twins.  But as much as people love twins there are a lot of misconceptions and old wives tales out there about multiples.  When we found out we were having twins I knew nothing about the subject and I'm pretty sure I read every section in pregnancy books and my Google searches were full of twin related topics.  So today I thought I would talk a little bit about how multiples come to be.  

Twins, that magical, mystical, super rare occurrence of more than one baby at a time.  Ok, so it's not so rare anymore.  Since 1980 the birth rate of twins rose 76%, 1.9%in 1980 to 3.3% of all births in 2009.  (CDC)  Here's a link to a scientific paper on the CDC's website for those of you that are into that sort of thing, which I totally am: 

Three Decades of Twin Births in the United States, 1980–2009

It's pretty interesting reading.  What are some reasons you might ask that the number of twins being born has increased so dramatically as compared to 30 years ago?  Two major factors have been identified as contributing to this rise:  the increasing age of women having babies and the increase in infertility treatments. 

"Twin birth rates increased for women of all ages over the three decades, with the largest increases among women aged 30 and over. From 1980 to 2009, rates increased 76 percent for women aged 30–34, nearly 100 percent for women aged 35–39, and more than 200 percent for women aged 40 and over." (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db80.htm#summary)

So the older you are the more likely you are to have twins!  Why is that?  This is because women over 30 are much more likely to release more than one egg during ovulation, called hyper-ovulation.  These days the average age for women to have their first baby is 25.  More than likely due to women waiting longer to get married and become established in their chosen career before having babies.  I myself had our first child at 25, our second at 28 and we had the twins at 31.  

In my mind 31 is not that old and when I talked the hubby into baby number three there was absolutely no way in my mind that we could have twins.  The only twins in my family are some cousins on my dad's side and their mother married into the family.  Why would this matter?  There is a gene that can cause a woman to release more than one egg during ovulation and that gene comes from your mother.  So if there are fraternal twins in your mom's family you are more likely to have multiples yourself.  What about identical twins?  Scientists have not been able to find a gene that can be linked to identical twins.

What is the difference between fraternal and identical twins?  Fraternal twins are the result of two eggs being fertilized and identical twins are the result of a fertilized egg splitting in two and becoming two developing embryos.  It can be a little more complicated when you start discussing identical twins and on that subject I do not even begin to believe that I know a lot about it.  We were lucky in that our little guys were fraternal and we had the least risky of the different types of multiples pregnancies.  

Are you wondering why so much research has gone into multiple births?  There are several reasons: multiples tend to have greater chances of different health issues, they tend to born much earlier than singleton babies and thus resulting in lower birth weights and stays in the neonatal intensive care unit, and the general healthcare costs for multiples is much greater.  I can definitely attest to the bigger healthcare cost for twins and ours were very healthy.

V getting his treatment for jaundice

Phew!  This was a basic overview of how multiples come to be!  Having twins is something that those who don't have them can never truly understand.  It's like a club.  An exhausting, rewarding, rollercoaster ride of a club where you discuss nursing two babies at a time (it can be done), getting the babies on the same sleep schedule (often difficult), and all the tips and tricks to make life with multiples easier.  All I have to say is improvise.  

Next time I'll share the story about how we found out we were having twins!

Until next time!