Celebrities & Twins

[Newyearnewme1]

What is going on, 3 “celebrities” announced that they’re having twins. Is this the new must have thing?

I have nearly 4 year old twins and I can tell them it’s incredibly incredibly hard!

It will take your body and your relationship right to the edge. Twins are a total blessing, the relationship they have with each other now is amazing, but honestly the early days I barely remember it, and then the toddler stage came along which was a whole new level of hard.

I reckon IVF plays a part somewhere, but not all.
I understand that the twin gene is supposed to be passed through the maternal side but Multiple sets of twins occur on DH’s side going back generations, I’ve researched their side for years with documented proof. His great grandmother produced three sets, the1911 census set me off looking, it states she had 16 children but only 8 survived. This set me off searching the GRO indexes for the birth records, using both surnames and there they were. I have copies of the Birth Certificates with the times of the births noted. GRO didnt start until 1835 so to go back further in time I searched Parish records, back to 1700’s I discovered there’s a set or three in every generation. The family originated from Scotland and Scotlands People is a great research source. The twins gene skipped a generation and then resurrected itself with DH’s uncle’s wife having twins, then DH’s sister had twin girls and one of these has twins. There’s also naturally conceived triplets in another branch.

Yes possibly ivf

And if Rich /celeb they won't worry having 2 to feed and look after

I've had 5 ivf

3 were single

1 was 3 embryos

1 was 2 embroys

One of the single finally worked

My blondes and I joke they if our 2nd worked we would have 8/9yr triplets now

IVF yes. Hence the number of twins, though there's a bit of a higher likelihood of twins naturally as you approach perimenopause and your body tries to push out its remaining viable eggs. That's if you can still get pregnant naturally.

Rachel Weisz was another one - a baby at 48.

And donor eggs.

All these celeb pregnancies in their late 40s....I wish they would just be honest. It was stories like this in the media that made me think in my early thirties that getting pregnant in your late 30s and into your 40s was normal and easy.

In your mid 40s it's more likely you will have a natural conception than it is to succeed at IVF using your own eggs.

I'm quite judgy about people voluntarily opting for twins. There's a reason why the NHS mandates a single embryo per transfer in most circumstances: the human female body is optimised for one baby per pregnancy and for those pregnancies to last for forty-odd weeks.

Twin pregnancies carry risks which can last a lifetime. I'm biassed to be fair because all the twin births I know resulted in traumatic weeks and weeks in NICU, which is not the norm, but it's much commoner than it is with singletons. Some babies are always going to be premature, and thank heavens for the medical advances which help them. But it's not right to choose to increase that risk.

If you require funding.

If not you can choose how many to implant.

I had two implanted for twins for this very reason, and was young with good quality embryos. The clinic will always advise against it in line with the NHS guidance, but if you’re not requiring the NHS funding all they can do is advise.

@GolfEchoRomeoTangoIndia especially when it’s surrogacy twins, immoral as fuck.

Very rude and offensive that you find having fertility treatment “abit weird” why would you prefer they implant all embryos at once? Why do you think your opinion on someone else’s family is wanted at all?

All these celeb pregnancies in their late 40s....I wish they would just be honest. It was stories like this in the media that made me think in my early thirties that getting pregnant in your late 30s and into your 40s was normal and easy.

I'm always a bit torn about this. I had my son in my early 40s, through IVF with donor eggs and on the one hand, I absolutely agree with you. It used to really infuriate me when I'd hear friends discussing fertility be like "well of course all those 'facts' about fertility declining are based on information from France a hundred years ago so none of that is really accurate anyway" while I was quietly going through my umpteenth IVF cycle, with fertility that had very definitely declined. I do always feel really bad for people who take older celebrities' pregnancies as being evidence that 'it can still happen' and don't question how much science (and money - oh god, the money) was involved. So yeah, helping people in general to understand the realities is important.

On the other hand, it does feel really intrusive into the privacy of the children involved for information about their conception - which may well have involved donor gametes - to be public knowledge before they're even born. It's very personal information, and I can completely understand not sharing it widely. I'm open with family and close friends, and with medical and childcare professionals, about my son being donor conceived, but I'm not telling everyone at the bus stop and I'm very conscious it's something he may prefer to keep private at points in his life, as is his right. So although there are absolutely celebrities who I firmly believe didn't conceive with their own eggs at the age they are now, I also respect that it's not my business and that they may well be thinking about the privacy of their child(ren) in not getting into that in public.

@Persipan really good points of course. There are no easy answers.

Identical twins can happen to anyone, it’s non identical ones that run in families.

Alex Reid and his partner has infertility issues and did use IVF.

This

Be honest

Nothing wrong with de. Have several friends used them and if we had used the last embryos in freezer then we said we would try one more sound but with de

Saying got preg at 48. Not gonna be own eggs. Or unlikely

I was almost 44 when gave birth but my eggs from cycle 3 and was age 42

But they have Bebe honest

Read in secrets mags they were doing ivf

I'm not sure but I have no history of twins in either myself or dh family. I conceived triplets last year- 3 separate eggs, naturally. Sadly we lost one at 14 weeks and beautiful boy/girl twins in October.
I have ready that multiple births naturally conceived are on the increase, especially in the over 30's. I couldn't find any specific reason why though.

Eh?!

If it is IVF, then so what if they implant more than one hoping that either both survive and they have more than child, or they at least have a better chance of staying Pg?

And if not, how on earth could they have gone out of their way to have twins?!

Hmm I lost a twin in early pregnancy. Sadly like with most losses it was chromosomal and nothing to do with diet or prenatal care.

Yes, they have been open about it.

Our twins (now 5) weren't IVF, they were a heck of a surprise

Sorry for the typos I'm BF the twins lol

At least one of those was by surrogate, so likely more than one embryo implanted to be sure. Cos we don’t want to waste our money, do we.

I am not sure the twin gene is all that strong. 1 of my grandparents was a twin. I have 7 aunts/uncles on that side. Lot of cousins. One set of twins. On the other side, neither of my grand parents a twin and there is also one set of twins. Fewer aunts/uncles on that side and so unsurprisingly, fewer cousins too btu still, one set of twins on each side. It is just one person's history but it doesn't make be see much evidence of twin gene..

Yeah this. Drives me up the wall when you see click bait headlines like “twins born 15 years apart!”. Nope, not twins/triplets/quads however many embryos were created and used/stored.

IVF embryos are also more likely to split and become twins. So not something you can control of course but IVF increases rates of twins through 1) having multiple embryos transferred and 2) the increased likelihood of an embryo splitting post transfer

Yeah this. Drives me up the wall when you see click bait headlines like “twins born 15 years apart!”. Nope, not twins/triplets/quads however many embryos were created and used/stored.

My DC were both IVF babies - one from a fresh cycle and the second was a frozen embryo stored for a few years when the first one was implanted. They were both conceived (if you regard conception to the the fertilisation of the egg) at the same time but, at is happened in a lab instead of inside of me, we had the choice not to have them grow inside me at the same time.

I suppose it depends whether you think twins are babies conceived at the same time or born at the same time. I tend to go with "born at the same time" but could there be an argument for "conceived at the same time". Interesting!

I've IVF twins and love hearing other twin stories.

I did 5 IVFs and each time opted to have two embryos transferred, hoping one would stick, but two would be a bonus.
Twice I got pregnant with a singleton and then miscarried. Then finally, I had my twins. Born as scheduled at 38 weeks.