Twins

Many of you know, Joelle's omen of demanding twins (one boy and one girl - she's very specific) has me thinking about them. If we are graced with twins, I'll treat it as just that - fate and a blessing. I had always thought that I was more likely to have them because my dad had two sets of twins - one on each side of his family. I knew it was hereditary, but dad was right, it's only passed down by the mom. All these years, I thought I would have twins. Not that we are guaranteed not to! Apparently, there is a 1 in 90 chance. My good friend Laura pointed out today that statistics can be looked at in two ways. Sure, if there's a 99% chance you won't have twins, you're probably not going to. However, there are also 1% of people who will. What about that 1%? They're out there.... Some facts about twins: http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/2/3608_753.htm * The incidence of fraternal twins does vary. It's related to several factors, including the mother's age, nutrition, number of prior pregnancies and family background. In some parts of Africa, the rate is 1 in 20; in some parts of Asia, it's about 1 in 150. * If a woman has a family background of fraternal twins -- if she herself had fraternal twins before or if her mother, sister, or grandmother had fraternal twins -- it's possible that her chance of having fraternal twins is increased. * Unless you use fertility drugs, your overall chance of having twins is probably the same as the rest of the general population, about 1 in 90 pregnancies. * Your chances of twins goes up significantly if you're over 35 and goes up slightly in your 30s vs. 20s.