Twins, Triplets and other Multiples
Being a new wife, I now welcome the possibility of a baby. Many of my friends or batchmates have their babies already. At 26, my mom had a four-year old (yours truly) and a one year old(my brother). Times are changing though. Many are afraid to even tie the knot, whether it be because of financial worries or other apprehensions, or even because people still want to enjoy singlehood. When you are in a marriage, your salary is no longer yours alone, but your spouse’s as well.
Now, let us go back to the topic of babies. Both of my parents have twin relatives. In fact, my grandfather (my father’s father) had a twin brother. They also have another pair of twin siblings: one male and one female. My mom has an uncle who has a twin sister. She told me that when she was pregnant with my brother, she prayed for twins because she cannot have another operation after that. It was a caesarian operation performed by my dad on my mom. In fact, he did both of my mom’s C-sections. What doubled the risk was my mom’s congenital heart problem and scoliosis.
Fast forward more than twenty years later, I am married to my husband whose family also has several twin births.
Twins and other multiples are really fascinating. There are identical and fraternal twins. Identical twins come from one egg and one sperm. On the other hand, fraternal twins are just like any other pair of siblings. They come from two different sets of egg and sperm. (In fact, fraternal twins can have two different fathers! Shocking I know…but possible for women with multiple partners and predisposition to multiple births). It just so happens that the fertilization occurs at about the same time since the eggs are released simultaneously. This also leads to having the babies develop inside two separate placentas. Identical twins share one placenta, and are therefore closer. However, observations can make us conclude that after awhile the "identical twins" may not be so identical after all. One would be a bit bigger or taller. One may have a birthmark, and so on. Scientists are then more comfortable in calling them "monozygotic twins" or twins formed from one zygote (one set fertilized egg and sperm).
There are still more things to discuss about multiples. I just can’t help but share some facts. I would love to have identical twins, but having monozygotic twins does not depend on genes at all.
