Being a Twin


Lets get one thing sorted out first before I continue.... you CAN get different sex twins! Every time a small child asks me if I have any siblings I answer, "yes, two sisters, one of which is a twin" and 9 times out of ten I get the reply "but you can't get boy and girl twins!" Occasionally even after I have explained the whole "twin thing" to them they still don't believe me and look at me as if I'm off of my head and need to be taken to the nearest institute as soon as possible.

Infact it doesent just stop with different sex twins, there are a large number of different types of twins, below are the ones that i'm going to cover in my page,
Fraternal twins-made from different eggs.
Identical twins (mirrored)-look the same and are made from the same egg.
Conjoined twins (siamese)-joined together by some part of their bodies.
Monochorionic-identical twins that are not seperated by any membranes in the womb.
Twins of two-two different farthers.

Through this page on my site I am going to be explaining to you the best I can about these different types of twins, hopefully you will read through it and by the end will be wiser on issues that surround twins. Before I do that though I am going to be ansering some of the most frequently asked questions or FAQs.

FAQs

What is it like being a twin?

Being a twin can be the best thing in the world and the worst thing in world, being a twin for me is just normal, I can't emagine life without me being a twin because I've never known anything different. It can be good sometimes though because we understand each other and can relate to past and present experiences. I think being a twin has also helped my school work because there is a constant competion between us, who can get the best grade and test result etc.
As i also said, being a twin can be the worst thing in the world, for example, if there is a school trip we have to pay double what everyone else pays which can get annoying sometimes, also if you get into trouble at school there is always the risk that she might tell mum and dad!

Do you find your twin annoying?

No not really, she can occasionally get on my nerves, and very occasionally we fall out, but no I dont find my twin annoying.

Do you like being a twin?

Being a twin can be quite cool. If your male and have a female twin like me then you are more likely to understand girls, and find making friends with girls alot easier than you would if you were a singleton or vic versa if you are a girl and have a male twin then making friends with boys is usually made easier.

Whats it like sharing your birthday?

Fine, probably better than having it by yourself because you have someone to celebrate it with.
The different types of twins

Fraternal twins

A fraternal twin is what I am, two seperate babies made from different eggs, fraternal twins are no more closely related than ordinary siblings, the only difference of course being that fraternal twins have a totaly different experience in their mothers womb having to share an extremelly small bedroom. Sharing this small room can increase the risk of fraternal twins being born small and premature. Fraternal twins can also be born with other conditions such as eclampsia and respiratory illnesses. In addition, there are also conditions that are unique to twins and larger multiple births such as twin-twin transfusion syndrome.

Identical twins

Identical twins form when one fertilized egg decides to split into two. Identical twins are genetic duplicates and so look exactly the same as one another. But if they are exactly the same then wouldn't that mean that there fingerprints were the same aswell? Identical twin fingerprints are not exactly the same, although you would think so if looking at them with the naked eye, on close examination identical twins do not have identical finger prints.

Monoamniotic Monochorionic twins

Monoamniotic Monochorionic are identical twins that are not separated by any membranes in the womb. They are at a higher risk for cord tangling because they could tangle on their own, as well as their twin's umbilical cord. Also Monoamniotic Monochorionic twins are at higher risk for Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. TTTS is when twins share the placenta unevenly. The twins themselves are healthy, the placenta is the culprit. One fetus gets too much blood and may die of heart failure and the other fetus gets too little blood and may die of anemia.

Conjoined twins

Conjoined twins come from a single fertilized egg so they are always identical and of the same sex. Conjoined twins are made in much the same way as identical twins, the only difference being that the fertilized egg that meant to split in two to form two seperate babies failed, leaving a partly seperated egg which continued to mature into a conjoined fetus.
Nowdays most pairs of conjoined twins are succesfully spotted during pregnancy. Some types of conjoined twins are easily seperated with a simple operation soon after birth, while other, rare forms can lead to much more complicated surgery, especially if the twins share vital internal organs. This can lead to ethnic and moral decisions eg. Is it right to kill one of the twins in order to save the other ones life?
Conjoined twins are usually born very weak, especially if they share organs, and don't usually live to a very old age, as with all the other types of twins they are liable to be being born premature and small.

Twins of two

Two eggs are released by the ovaries and each egg is fertilized by a different father. These fraternal twins are genetically half-siblings and share 25% of their DNA. This type of twin is extremely rare.

What characteristics put a woman at risk for having twins?

-Being taller than average
-big bones
-Mayby carrying a little weight
-African-americans
-Being pregnant at an older age (over 35-40)
-Being a fraternal twin (increases chances by 5 fold)
-On birth control for a number of years

Twin facts

2.6% of births in 1997 were twins
One in 50,000 births results in conjoined twins.
Fraternal twinning by racial background:
African 1 in 70 births
Caucasian 1 in 88 births
Japanese 1 in 150 births
Chinese 1 in 300 births

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