twin survey

[throckenholt]

following on from comments about if your dad is a twin ...

How about we see if there are any patterns here.

1. fraternal or identical
2. Twins in the close family
3. your age when you had them
4. short or tall
5. fat, thin or normal

Me:

1. identical
2. not really - my maternal grandfather had fraternal twin siblings and the female one of those siblings had fraternal granchildren through her daughter. My dad's sister conceived twins but lost them before birth - not sure if id or fraternal.
3. 35
4. short
5. fat

ooops - forgot ethnicity.

1. ethnic origin

me - white British

ooh this will be interesting

1. fraternal
2. no
3. 27
4. tall
5. was normal weight when had them, not any mroe
6. white brit, dp asian

you were the prime age, throckenholt!
The only typical characteristic I have is my height.

prime age (but is that for fraternal or id ? - I think maybe it is to do with multiple ovulation).

But I am the wrong height - maybe I should not have twins at all .

that is prob true actually, send one back!

hmmm - now which one to choose ?

Actually - I think he is way to big to go back to where he came from now. I think we are stuck with them both - even if we did get them under false pretences

where are all the twin mums today ?

1. Fraternal
2. No
3. 36
4. Tall
5. Normal (at the time, more of me these days )
6. White

1 - identical

2 - no

3 - 29

4 - tall

5 - normal-thin

6 - white

My midwife nearly died of shock when I told her I was having twins - "but you don't fit any of the patterns for twins" she gasped!

Would it be useful to also add on..

(7) any children already? My twins were my first, but having had children before can increase your chances of twins can't it?

I never knew you were more likely to have twins if you were tall? What's the science behind that then eh?

maybe it's that in terms of natural selection, taller women/weightier cave-women were more likely to have the necessary reserves for sustaining a multiple pregnancy in hard times?

1. identical
2. DP has fraternal Aunt/Uncle (fathers side). There were also twins 2 generations up from these twins apparently (i.e. their grandparents). Apparently my great grandma on my dads side had twins too.
3. 24
4. short (5'2")
5. normal/fat
6. White British

1. fraternal (g/b)
2. no idea my mum is adopted (non anywhere else though)
3. 34
4. tall
5. normal
6. both white british

1. identical girls
2. None that we know of, but we know v. little of DP's dad's family.
3. 36
4. tallish (5'8)
5. Still hadn't lost baby weight from DD1, so slightly overweight at the time (have now nearly lost all baby weight 3 years later ).

1. We've been told they're fraternal (they look id though )
2. Both my parents fathers were fraternal twins. My maternal grandmother had twin cousins and on my dad's side there are twins in every generation bar mine! (Dh also has twin cousins!)
3. 32
4. you decide-I'm 5'5"
5. fat
6. white British

done a bit of research and apparently the height thing is a bit more scientific than that. It's believed to be related to insulin-like growth factor (IGF) which is a protein that is released from the liver in response to the growth hormone. So obviously taller women would have more and it then increases the sensitivity of the ovaries to the follicle stimulating hormone, thereby increasing ovulation. Learn something new every day!

I looked up the subsequent pregnancies thing too, apparently if you have had more than four prior pregnancies you are more likely to have twins. Quite strange really, that the body decides to start upping ovulation when you've already got a houseful of babies!

done a bit of research and apparently the height thing is a bit more scientific than that. It's believed to be related to insulin-like growth factor (IGF) which is a protein that is released from the liver in response to the growth hormone. So obviously taller women would have more and it then increases the sensitivity of the ovaries to the follicle stimulating hormone, thereby increasing ovulation. Learn something new every day!

I looked up the subsequent pregnancies thing too, apparently if you have had more than four prior pregnancies you are more likely to have twins. Quite strange really, that the body decides to start upping ovulation when you've already got a houseful of babies!

done a bit of research and apparently the height thing is a bit more scientific than that. It's believed to be related to insulin-like growth factor (IGF) which is a protein that is released from the liver in response to the growth hormone. So obviously taller women would have more and it then increases the sensitivity of the ovaries to the follicle stimulating hormone, thereby increasing ovulation. Learn something new every day!

I looked up the subsequent pregnancies thing too, apparently if you have had more than four prior pregnancies you are more likely to have twins. Quite strange really, that the body decides to start upping ovulation when you've already got a houseful of babies!

oh bugger, sorry, computer froze!

1. identical
2. nope
3. 28
4. normal - 5'6"
5. thin/normal
6. white British

1. Identical

1. Mother's grandmother

no idea if any were ID or not.

1. 35

1. shorter than average

1. Thin side of normal.

1. white european

I read that ID twins are not a genetic thing, but fraternal can be are.

so - it looks like the patterns refer to fraternal twins - but not necessarily id ones.

Fraternal twins - more likely if you are tall, if you have more than 4 kids already ( fits anecdotally with my family my great gran has frat twins as numbers 4&5, gt gt gran on another side had frat twins as numbers 5&6, second cousin has frat twins as numbers 1&2).

I guess this going to get confused by those who are told they had fraternal because they were in their own placenta - but are actually id that split early.

Yup - we were told ours were fraternal because they were in own sacs, had own placentas and even the lambda sign evident..but they were ID that split early!

Anecdotally, rather than scientifically, I know three identical twin adults who all had fathers who were identical twins themselves!

Thanks for clarification on height and build - really interesting stuff.

I've also read that in times of famine and war, the level of twins drops, I guess also due to poorer nutrition levels, only to rise again as times get more bountiful.

1. Identical
2. None on either side
3. 28
4. Short
5. Fat
6. White Welsh not sure if Welsh people have more/less twins, so count me as British

1. fraternal
2. My great Aunt had fraternal twins but thats way back
3. 25
4. tall
5. Thinner side of normal
6. white brit (me and dh)

I don't have twins but would quite like to have had them so am interested!

I thought newer research had found that there is also a genetic/hereditary component to id twins in that some womans eggs are more likely to split?

A book I was reading the other day was saying something about the record no. of twins born to one woman was 15 sets!!!! Can you imagine?