“Today, twins can usually be diagnosed as early as six to seven weeks of the pregnancy,” he adds.

Although it is a bit easier to get complications when having twins, the most important benefit is that you get two babies from one pregnancy. You combine all the discomfort, misery, body fat and inconvenient sleeping patterns of one pregnancy (which you would normally suffer through twice) to birth two babies at once.

A little more than half of twin pregnancies end in preterm delivery (before 37 weeks). While 40 weeks is the full gestation period of the average pregnancy, most twin pregnancies are delivered at approximately 36 weeks (range 32-38 weeks depending on the type of twin pregnancy).

With a twin pregnancy, your body makes high levels of pregnancy hormones. So morning sickness may come on earlier and stronger than if you were carrying a single baby. You may also have earlier and more intense symptoms from pregnancy, like swelling, heartburn, leg cramps, bladder discomfort, and sleep problems.

Some pregnant moms of multiples report intensified symptoms of nausea, fatigue, breast tenderness, food cravings, or the like. It’s more common in women who have experienced a previous pregnancy and thus have a basis ​for comparison.

Ultrasound can tell us a lot about a pregnancy, but it’s not always perfect. This is particularly true in the early months of pregnancy. Though it is rare, it is possible to have a “hidden twin” that is not visible during early ultrasound screenings.

It is estimated that 1 in 250 natural pregnancies will naturally result in twins. While twin pregnancies can happen by chance, there are some factors that may increase your odds of having two babies at the same time.

Most of it will simply be discharged from the body through the vaginal opening. Thanks to the placenta, amniotic sac, and mucus plug covering the cervix, your baby has a protection system that’s very specific about what goes in and stays out!

For a given pregnancy, the odds of conceiving fraternal twins are only determined by the mother’s genetics, not the father’s. Fraternal twins happen when two eggs are simultaneously fertilised instead of just one.

Identical twins do not run in families; rather, they are random. Experts also associate fertility treatments with an increased number of multiple births and twins. This can lead to the conception of fraternal twins as a result of the fertilization of two eggs.

When both eggs are fertilized, the resulting siblings are fraternal twins. Because there is no known gene that influences this process, it is considered a mere coincidence when one extended family has multiple sets of identical twins. The notion that twins always skip a generation is also a myth.

Yes, it can happen. In fact, one study estimates that as many as 1 in 400 sets of fraternal twins is “bipaternal.” How is it possible? Simple: Two eggs from the same mother get fertilized by two different fathers – within the same ovulation period.

Identical twins don’t generally run in families, but fraternal twins do. Their daughters would then have an increased chance of having DZ twins. So if you are a female DZ twin and there are other DZ twins in your family, you may have an increased chance of having DZ twins.

The chances of having identical twins is relatively rare — around 3 or 4 in every 1,000 births. And while it may be obvious, identical twins are always the same sex, either both boys or both girls, at birth.