Conceiving Twins?

[LilMrsK]

My mother is a fraternal twin. There are 7 sets of fraternals on my mothers side. My father has about 6 sets of fraternal twins in his immediate family. Non of these were because of fertility treatments etc.

Does this make me more apt to have twins? I have read both yes and no...any insight ladies?

Thanks for the help. Just curious I suppose!

[on tra_k]

Hi LilMirsK - you probably know more than me if you've already done some reading on it, but I would say a definite YES.

My background is in animal reproduction rather than human, but my understanding is that ovulation rate has a genetic component - livestock breeders strive hard to increase the average ovulation rate through selection for the more fertile animals.

Your family history could mean you have a higher than average chance of fraternal twins ie. release of two eggs. In any case, you should have no trouble conceiving with such fertile ancestry.

BTW - Identical twins does not have a genetic component because it's just one of nature's little quirks when a fertilised egg splits early enough to make two separate babies.

I hope you don't mind the comparison to production livestock!!

[diva det]

yes definately. I believe around30-50% more chance if your mother or grandmother had twins. There is two schools of thoughts about twins and genetics. One is that the twin gene is passed only through the maternal side. It means that you are more likely to release two eggs if your mother did. Another chain of thought is that the paternal side can still pass on this gene as well. i.e a father can pass on the gene to release two eggs to his daugher. Confused????
What I am trying to say is that the more twins in your family, the higher the chances of having twins.
One way you can find out if you are likely to have twins is to have an ultrasound done around ovulation time so that they can see how many eggs you are releasing.
In the end I guess it really all comes down to fate.
Good luck.
HTH
odette

[CatherineL]

I actually heard that it is quite comman to release multiple eggs! With this pregnancy there is actually a subsequent sac where the second egg was fertilised but unfortunately the embryo didn't survive, yet the sac kept growing with the healthy fraternal twin. The second sac was about half the size of the that of the live one.

I'm not sure if we fell pg naturally (had trouble TTC due to quality of sperm) again whether we would have higher chances of falling pg with twins again. As far as i know, i am only aware that there are two sets of (distant) fraternal twins on my father's side and none on mum's.

[butterfly_warrior]

In any case, you should have no trouble conceiving with such fertile ancestry.

I'm sorry, but this statement just isn't true!

Following my mother's line only (because I know it better than my father's). My Grandomther was one of 14 children, my grandfather was one of 10. They had 6 children. My mother had no trouble conceiving at all (after two unplanned children dad got the snip). None of my mother's sisters (4 of them) had trouble conceiving. My sister conceived extremely easily... My father is even one of 4 children and there were no conception problems with his siblings either.

And then there's me... stubborn, severe PCOS that has landed us doing IVF.

I know this doesn't really contribute to the current discussion, but there's no guarantee that your family's fertility will also apply to you. I've got another friend who is in a very similar situation to mine with regards to everyone in her family conceives easily, and then there's her...

BW