Twin Facts, Figures and More

Natural conceived twins and other multiples have always fascinated the world. Sure, it's easy to have multiple babies with the fertility drugs on the market today but to do it the 'natural way' is a true miracle. Here are some twin facts.

Did you read about twins who were born in different years? Did you see the story on CNN about twins born in different decades? Yes, both of these things happened very recently, with one set of twins. The babies were due at the end of January 2011 but medical complications set in and the twins needed to be born early. The Ob/GYN and the parents decided the babies would be born, one in the last minute of December 31, 2010 and the other a few seconds later. That few seconds later was actually the start of not only a new year but also a new decade, January 1, 2011. The story was shown on CNN, and shows a photo of the parents and their special twins.

Can twins have two different fathers? The answer is yes. The fraternal twins who come from separate eggs and sperm can have different fathers. While identical twins that got their start from one egg and sperm can only have one set of parents. Most of the time a woman only releases one egg, but occasionally two or more eggs are released. If that mother has sexual relations with two different men within a matter of hours, the sperm of each man can penetrate an egg.

Can identical twins be of different genders? Identical twins form from one egg and one sperm and they cannot be the opposite sex of each other. The fertilized egg receives the male or female chromosomes and then splits, a girl cell cannot split into a boy cell. It's the fraternal twins, which are formed by two separate eggs, and two different sperms that can be of either sex, sometimes the fraternal twins can be same sex.

In 2006 the birth rate of twins was 32.2 for every 1,000 pregnancies, of that fertility drugs helped ub 17% of those births. The rest were naturally conceived. Kyle and Kodi were born on January 11, 1991 to Kimmy who was a long-term friend. My sister Carm and I were with Kimmy the day she learned that twin boys were on the way. These boys were naturally conceived, with no fertility drugs of any kind. I've had the pleasure of watching these boys who look nothing alike grow up.

Twin Resources:

Twins born in different years and decades

Twins with different fathers

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