Womb-Mates!

I saw a woman at the mall yesterday with the cutest set of twins in a double wide stroller. A blonde girl and boy.

Mom was shopping while the twins entertained one another. I smiled and silently hoped that they would always be as close as they were that day.

The subject of twins is interesting. Think about identical twins. They’re so fascinating to look at (and figure out which is which in some cases). I can’t help but wonder if they have a more challenged life experience, just attempting to be unique and independent.

After spending nine months as womb mates, one would assume that twins would be very closely connected throughout life. Maybe even best friends. Well, that’s certainly been my experience.

When my twin brother Chris and I were born, they called us Baby Boy “A” and Baby Girl “B”. He got to be “A,”  because he popped out three minutes before me.

That three little minutes qualified me for the “baby of the family” position, which I never had to give up or grow out of. Yes, I was the long awaited girl after a string of five boys and other female bookend to my sister, Jessica.

This is the first picture ever taken of us at the hospital. The nurses did NOT stage this photo. As the story goes, just before the photographer was about the snap the shot, we got our pinkies hooked and were holding hands! Oooohhhhh.

Even now, in our fifties, Chris and I are often referred to as “the twins,” and oh my, sometimes the “babies.” From what I understand, we were the coolest toys my parents ever brought into the house.

In this more recent pic, it happened again!  Our fingers got locked. We were celebrating our birthday with our Mom, who brought these matching sweatshirts for us from our home town in Michigan.

My twin and I have a tradition that we honor each and every birthday. We spend the day together. We come up with a plan to play and have fun. Once we’ve honored our “twinday,” we join up with our spouses and kids to celebrate some more.

Some people have asked us if we’ve ever “felt what one another was feeling.” The truth is that Chris and I are very connected on lots of levels and therefore we do “sense” when it’s time to call or connect.

The weirdest question that has ever been asked of us (many times over, actually) is “Are you two identical?” Hint: don’t ever ask fraternal, girl/boy twins if they’re identical. I mean really, isn’t it a bit obvious?

Just goes to show you that there’s a lot that folks don’t know about twins. At  a site called http://www.families.com I found these 28 Interesting Facts about Twins. Take a look below. It appears there’s a lot of things I didn’t know about twins too!

In closing, I want to say how lucky I feel to have my twin brother, my buddy and pal for life. I don’t even mind sharing my birthday with someone else every year. Well, maybe a little.

On to the 28 twin facts . . .

1. Up to 22% of twins are left-handed. In the general populace, only 10% are left-handed.

2. Did you know that where you live can help determine whether or not you conceive multiples? If you live in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the twinning rate is 25% higher than the general populace.

3. On the other hand, if you don’t want twins, move to Hawaii. Their rate of twin births is 30% less than the rate in the rest of the nation.

4. If you are super adventurous and want triplets, Nebraska or New Jersey is the place for you to make your home. Their rate of triplets is double that of the rest of the nation.

5. The Yoruba tribe in Nigeria has the highest incidence of twinning in the entire world. Why? They eat lots of yams.

6. One amazing mother in Chile gave birth to the last of her 55 children in 1981. Her children includes five sets of triplets (all boys). Now that mom has her hands full!

7. Fraternal twins are much more common than identical twins. The chance of having twins is about 1 in 285.

8. Both Elvis Presley and Liberace were twins? Their siblings died at birth.

9. The famous advice columnists Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby) are twins.

10. William Shakespeare fathered a set of boy/girl twins.

11. Fraternal twins run in families. Identical twins are a fluke of nature.

12. There are 7 different types of twins: identical, fraternal, half-identical, mirror image twins, mixed chromosome twins, superfecundation, and superfetation. These other types are very rare.

13. Due to sonograms being more widely available earlier in pregnancy it is now estimated that for every live twin birth, there are at least 6 other “twins” that no one ever knew about due to the vanishing twin phenomenon.

14. As if the woman in Chile did not have enough children, a woman in Russia in the 1700’s, gave birth to 16 sets of twins, in addition to 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quads!

15. The earliest twins were ever born? 22 weeks! Each twins was less than 12 inches long and weighed only slightly more than a pound.

16. Twins do not have to be born on the same dates. The longest gap between birth is 85 days.

17. 27 lbs. and 12oz. Total is the heaviest combined birth weight of any set of twins.

18. Cirque du Soleil employs the most sets of twins. (With the exception of course of the Twins restaurant in New York City where you can only be a waiter if you are an identical twin.)

19. Only 14% of women carry multiples past 37 weeks. Most women give birth prematurely.

20. 56% of all twin births are spontaneous. (Meaning the couple did not use fertility drugs.)

21. Only 16% of triplet births are spontaneous and only 5% of quadruplet births are spontaneous. Anything more than quadruplets is not spontaneous.

22. Twins do not have to have the same father. It is possible for a mother to release two eggs separately (as much as 24 days apart). Consequently, the twins could have different due dates.

23. 82% of multiples are delivered via c-section, while 5% are delivered vaginally. The rest are delivered both by c-section and vaginally.

24. You have a 50% chance of having a c-section when you are pregnant with twins. You have a 100% chance of having a c-section if you are pregnant with more than 2 babies.

25. Identical twins experience nearly identical brain wave patterns.

26. Conjoined twins occur in every 1 out of 400,000 twin births.

27. Once you’ve had fraternal twins, you are 3 to 4 times more likely to have another set!

28. The rate of identical twinning is much higher in mothers that are very young and very old.

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