The Ins and Outs of Fraternal and Identical Twins

People always seem somewhat fascinated by twins and multiples. You can't really blame them. Often times though we get the same questions over and over again. I've always been bombarded by questions about my twins, even before they were born. Do twins run in your family? Did you take fertility drugs? Are they identical? Fairly common questions.

I remember when I was about 6 months pregnant a woman asking me if I knew the sexes of my twins. After telling her that I was having a boy and girl she asked me, "Are they identical." My husband and I were somewhat speechless at the time. After a moment I explained that they couldn't be identical because one was a girl and one was a boy. She didn't seem to quite grasp the concept. Much to my surprise, even though people are aware my twins are opposite sexes, I have been asked that question dozen's of times. I've come to realize that there's simply a lot that people don't understand about multiples.

So what exactly makes a twins identical? Well, Identical twins come from the same egg. During conception a fertilize egg divides into two. These types of twins are always the same sex. They have the same DNA and look like mirror images of each other. Contrary to what some people may believe these types of twins are not hereditary. Just because you're grandmother had identical twins doesn't mean you have a higher chance of having them. No one knows exactly what causes identical twining. Fertility drugs and the age of the mother have no effect on creating these types of twins. These types of twins make up about 1/3 of twins.