When Nathan and I learned our boys were sharing a placenta, doctors immediately informed us that this meant the children would be identical twins. For a few weeks, we thought the babies could be high-risk monoamniotic twins, but we eventually learned (to our great relief) that each boy had his own separate sac. I had wanted twins my entire life, and I always fancied how cute identical twins were. Nathan had grown up with several sets of twins in his family (all identical), so he wasn't too surprised when we learned Ezra and Elliott were identical.
After doing a significant amount of research on twins, I let Nathan know his genes had nothing to do with the single egg dividing. According to research, identical twins are not genetic. I suppose it is just a coincidence that Nathan's grandmother had identical twin daughters and that Nathan's aunt, the sister of identical twins, also had identical twin daughters. Further back in Nathan's family, there are other sets of twins (I believe his grandmother's grandmother was a twin) and they are all identical. I don't know what the statisical probability of these random egg divisions is, but I find it intriguing. Who knows? Maybe in 30 years we'll learn that genetics do, in fact, play a role in an egg suddenly dividing. Perhaps all of us mothers shared a desire for twins and willed our bodies to have two babies rather than one (that sounds crazy, I know). Several times, I have jokingly stated, "I willed that egg to divide!" Of course, I know that isn't possible, but I can't wait to tell our boys the story about how we knew we were going to have twins.
Here is a picture of the identical twins in our family. Baby B's are on the left and Baby A's are on the right. Our family loves twins!
At least you've had the first male identical twins in the family. That I know of anyway. I love this picture. It's so crazy and awesome.
ReplyDeletei definitely don't think it's crazy to think about willing the egg to divide. i have an awful lot of faith in the power of will. i am so glad you appreciate your twins so much, and that you write about your twin mama journey with such love, enthusiasm, and candor.
ReplyDeleteI've wondered if genetics really do play a role in identical twins. See twins run in my family. I have identical twin uncles and I have two cousins who have had twins. However theirs are fraternal. Mine are the only other identical ones. So I like to think that I have a close connection with my grandmother because we had the identical ones. That sounds weird. The other weird thing is that the twin thing skipped a generation but not only that, those of us who have had twins,(my cousins and me) are the oldest daughters. So two of my aunts, their oldest daughters and me, an oldest daughter, have all had twins. Crazy.
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