Birth of Twins
A mother-to-be is always shocked to hear that she is going to deliver twins. This is because it involves a lot of medical complications. Under such conditions, she needs to take special care of herself and her baby. This would certainly involve a careful and diligent nutritional diet and routine checkups with the doctor.
Identical Twins:
- They share the same placenta
- They are always the same sex and blood type
- They may not look alike and one can be left-handed and the other right-handed
- They develop at random and not as a result of any family history
Fraternal Twins:
- They may be of different sexes and different blood type
- They look different like normal siblings and are also called non-identical twins
- They are hereditary and run in the family
- They are common in older mothers and among African races
- They are least common in Asian families
Causes of Multiple Pregnancy:
- You are prone to have twins if you are more than 25 years of age and less prone if you are less than 25 years of age
- You can conceive twins in the first few menstrual cycles after stopping birth control pills
- Fertility drugs induce multiple pregnancy
- Transfer of embryos directly into the uterus (ART - In Vitro Fertilization IVF)
Symptoms of Twin Pregnancy:
- Weight gain is one of the symptoms for such pregnancy
- Severity of symptoms which are common to single pregnancy is the other symptom for twin pregnancy
Complications to be considered:
- Preterm labor
- Preterm birth
Facts:
- If you have carried fraternal twins, it doubles the usual risk of having twins
- A history of your partner’s side does not increase your risk of multiple pregnancy
- The natural incidence of twins is 1 in 80 pregnancies and for triplets 1 in 8000 pregnancies
- There are approximately 125 million human twins and triplets in the world, and 10 million identical twins
- One in two pregnancies with same sex babies are identical twins
- The rate of identical twins remains is 1 in 333 pregnancies across the globe
Babies are a delight but delivering twins can be both painful and complicated. Routine checkups are important. So don’t be careless about yourself and your babies.