The Hundling Twins
In the Hundling house we have 2 members who call June “birthday month”. They have to call it that because between ball games it probably takes all month to get a days’ worth of celebrating in!
Our youngest 2 of our 5 are a set of twins. The story of this discovery is one of my favorites. I had an intuition that something wasn’t the same as it had been with the other 3. I kept thinking it was because I was ‘old’ or as the doctor would tell me ‘advanced maternal age’. One lovely day in November 2016 we headed to a doctor’s appointment. My husband, Brice, came along as we had a family member to visit in the hospital that day as well, and I had convinced him to replace our living room green shag carpet, so he agreed to stop on our way home and check prices.
The staff started doing the ultrasound and just as regular as can be the doctor said, “there is baby #1, and there is baby #2”, as if this was information we already had. I’m not sure if I would describe the moment as joyful…more like a stunned silence. 4 kids was pushing the limit for us…we had not considered 5. Admittedly-I had always thought twins would be wonderful and fun. At the time we were excited, also scared. Brice decided we didn’t need to look at new carpet that day after all!
They are truly one of the best parts of our lives. They turned 8 this month and we are so blessed to watch this unique relationship. Sometimes it’s A LOT-imagine your 2nd grader having a friend over 24-7, a constant sleep over. Other times I admire them so much. They are constantly on the lookout for each other, defending each other, playing together. They certainly each have their own ideas and interests but typically always with the other in mind.
When I was pregnant I would get a lot of questions, mostly “are they identical”. I did not know a lot about any of this. Usually that person would press on and say “well are they in the same sac? Have you tested to see if they are identical? Are they the same gender?” and I’d say “I don’t know I’m carrying two babies and I’m completely stressed out and now you are making me want to cry because my fuse is short and the doctor says I’m an old mom and I have to go buy another car seat and crib so please stop drilling me with questions I can’t answer I want to lay down”. Just one long run on sentence like that on repeat! Joking, joking.
So, I learned that Identical twins are from 1 egg, and may or may not be in 1 amniotic sac but they will share a placenta. Fraternal are from 2 eggs and are in 2 separate sacs, each with their own placenta. A boy and girl set of twins is always fraternal, as they are not sharing the same DNA due to one being XY chromosome and the other XX. Identical twins are always either both boys or both girls. One can also do ‘official’ DNA testing to confirm. We have been told ours are fraternal as they each had their own sac and placenta. But others have told us we will never absolutely know unless we do the DNA testing. There is a genetic link for fraternal twins, but no proof that there is a genetic link for identical twins. The incidence of identical twins is less than fraternal.
How often does this happen? At the time I was pregnant I had found out that twins account for 1 out of every 36 pregnancies, and the older the mom the higher the likelihood. A quick ‘Google’ search today shows twins are 12/1000 deliveries globally, and 33/1000 in the United States. The frequency has increased over my lifetime. In 1980 the US rate was 18.8 twins per 1000 live births (18.8 twins is 9.4 sets, just to make sure we are all on the same page). The US has one of the higher rates in the world, but the highest is in Central Africa. Other random trends about moms who have twins: they tend to eat a lot of milk/cheese/yogurt products (due to a specific protein found in dairy that stimulates egg production), they tend to be taller, and they tend to be older. When delivered there is generally a 17 minute difference between the delivery of each.
Aside from all the facts about birth, I am fascinated by their relationship. Research shows that 40 percent of twins develop their own language. Its usually a short lived phenomenon as their language is developing. Twins do bond in utero. There are 3-demential images of twins reaching for each other as early as 18 weeks. At 8 years old ours wrestle often in their waking hours, but still reach for each other in their sleep.
Twins are a fun live experiment on the nature versus nurture debate. One of our twins is very independent, says ‘yuck’ when I kiss him. The other is a snuggly as can be. One hates spaghetti and corn, the other would eat them daily. One is usually up for trying new things, the other must watch his twin do it first. One lives in pants, the other in shorts.
A random fact I did not know until writing this was that mothers of twins tend to live longer. This fact was stated in several sources, but no specific research as to why this might be. I still think they might be taking years off my life! 2 boys and their ideas and my fear of heights-lots of farm stories I could tell about the places I have found them!
