Celebraty Twins??

[leeloo]

Hi there everybody!

My question is in regards to the Enormous number of celebraties having twins... If it is unethical for doctors to be handing out fertility drugs to be people who don't really need it then how can this large number be explained!?

Interested in your thoughts!!

[PumpkinZulu]

I dunno, I just assumed they *did* need the fertility drugs, or ivf. Celebs can be infertile too I guess Thats one of the 'risks' of infertility meds, the chance of concieving multiples. To get them naturally you would have to either ovulate twice or have the cells split, both of which you can't control And I don't think a doctor would prescribe fertility meds just so you might get twins unfortunately.

[tattoo_mama]

they can afford IVF. nuff said

[Glamourcide]

Age is also a factor in multiples, as far as I know - as in, the older you are, the more chance there is of releasing more than one egg during a cycle, and also more chance of a fertilised egg splitting into two (or more!). That being said though, advancing age can obviously negatively impact your chances of conceiving at all so I wouldn't count on that to get you multiples!

[RockingBaker]

Over 35s have a higher chance of multiples. I'm an oddball as I release 2 eggs when I ovulate, both fertilised and one split and BAM triplets

[diva det]

please dont take this the wrong way but as a mum of twins ,in some ways, it disturbs me that you want to try for twins

the risks for preterm labour and prem birth, the toll on your body and medical intervention required, and the fact that the divorce rate and risk of PND is double than the general population with multiples, due to the stress and pressure, is testament to how hard it is having a multiple birth .

dont get me wrong- i love my twins to death and wouldnt swap them for quids but be careful what you wish for- it may seem cute and nice, but it isnt all that
having a singleton is hard enough but twins isnt just double everything- its double plus more!!!!
and well for triplets- man i take my hat off to you for staying sane lol

i didnt realise how hard it was having twins until I had a singleton and found it so easy
just food for thought from one twin mum

[Gigi]

i think when celebrities have twins, they have the advantage of money and nannies. Big difference.

[meow]

Is there really a high ratio of celebrity twins to single children?? I haven't noticed.

[Cherished]

I think we just hear about the celebrity twins, it doesn't mean that celebrities have twins more than regular people kwim?

As for conceiving twins, we looked into this when we were trying and what we found was really interesting. There are 3 types of twins. Natural identical twins where one egg is fertilised by one sperm and then the egg splits these are same gender. Natural twins that may look very similar and many people think are identical but are not... One egg splits before being fertilised and those 2 eggs are fertilised by 2 different sperm. As sperm determines gender these can be 2 gender twins. The Olsen twins are these type of twins! Then there are non identical twins where 2 eggs are fertilised by 2 different sperm so you can have 2 of the same gender or different genders. Natural identical twins has no genetic pre determination at all, it's something that just happens so the old "twins skip a generation" thing is crap. What can run in the family is the non identical twins as they are formed by ovulating more than one egg which is a genetic trait. This is also the type that you would get from fertility drugs or IVF as they cause your body to ovulate multiple eggs.

This is what we found anyway, I'm sure there are different views out there. But if you are really keen I think many IVF clinics have a free consultation you could go to and they would give you the facts, even your OB could probably tell you

[TaRhLi.]

I am currently pregnant with twins using IVF (having 2 embryo's put back) but most clinics advise against having more than 1 embryo put back at a time due to the risk of a multiple pregnancy. Australian dr's are very different to the ones you read about as they do not like to risk your health or the health of your babies by having large number multiple pregnancies. The only reason we were able to have 2 embryo's put back is mainly due to my age and also the number of embryo's we had available, this being said we have had 5 transfers using 2 embryo's which acheived the pregnancy with DD and now our twin pregnancy. So as you can see there is no guarantee of having twins using IVF - we used 10 embryo's for 3 babies.

Having twins may seem a joy and I wouldn't change this pregnancy for anything, however I am only half way through and it is already taking it's toll on me physically (I look almost full term) and I feel that my DD is missing out on a lot as I cannot do all the things I want to do with her... not to mention the extra cost already like 2 extra car seats, new twin pram, another cot plus double the amount of clothes and nappies we will need etc.

Oh and as for IVF babies being fraternal (non identical) this is not always the case - we know we are expecting 2 boys and as such they are unable to determine if they are identical or fraternal twins until they are born. Even though we had 2 embryo's transferred we don't know if they both worked or if only one worked and then split, even though both my boys have seperate placenta's and sac's approx 1/3 of identical twins pregnancies have this occur and in all of fraternal pregnancies this occurs so I have 66% chance of the boys being fraternal and 33% chance of them being identical.

[Traveller]

Many of the celebs who have twins are older, and have therefore a higher risk of conceiving twins naturally, or of needing IVF. However in China, where there is the famous "one child policy" many women take clomid to increase their chance of a multiple pregnancy. I have also heard of women in this country and America buying climid over the internet for this very reason. I doubt many, if any, doctor would prescribe fertility drugs just to try and get a multiple pregnancy. It would be unethical as a twin pregnancy comes with a higher risk than a singleton one.

Twins are fabulous, I would not wish mine away. But the pregnancy was hard (and I had a low risk twin pregnancy and natural birth). My body has still not recovered and they will be 3 next month. TBH I doubt it ever will fully recover. Add to that the pain I was in, forcing me to rely on TV to babysit my older boys whilst I struggled to cope. I would think very carefully before taking any actions to increase your chance of twins.

[Lenny]

But if you are really keen I think many IVF clinics have a free consultation you could go to and they would give you the facts, even your OB could probably tell you

You can't get referred to an IVF clinic for 'twins'. You need to have fertility issues. Thankfully all the FSs i have seen are very committed to maternal and baby health and generally support single embryo transfer. As medical advancements are made, there is less and less need for putting more than one embie back, as success rates are on the improve.

[Loula]

i know a BBer who only had one embie transfered and got twins

[diannescruffy]

I have a friend who has two singletons and desperately wants twins. She has no trouble conceiving and want's IVF for the sole purpose of twins, which as said previously won't happen. My advice to her was be happy to be able to conceive a healthy child.

Regards,
Dianne

[leeloo]

I think it's the idea of twins, which in the end is better than the reality!! My mum had twins and subsequently has 4 children whilst only having 3 pregnancies Both were natural births with no complications.

And for all those who are interested........ :-)

Celine Dion
Julia Roberts
Diana Krall and husband Elvis Costello
Marcia Cross and her husband Tom Mahoney
Patrick Dempsey, his wife Jillian
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Lisa Marie and her husband, Michael Lockwood
Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller
Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O

[Rainbow_Mumma]

I always thought having twins sounded fun but now im pregnant with twins im already finding it hard work like kelly i look full term and it feels like im full term and still have another 18 or so weeks to go.
We concieved our twins naturally and did nothing to sway it as well obviously you cant i tend to double ovulate

[tattoo_mama]

most of those celebs are older mums who either may have had fertility issues and gone to IVF or are realeasing more eggs naturally as they r older = more likelyhood of twins

[Mum2SweetCs]

Leeloo i also noticed lots of celebs having twins and seems most via IVF too.

I am having mixed feelings about having twins as I am on clomid and although not UTD yet, the chances of having twins are higher apparently.

Some days i think, it would be great to have it all over an done with (i want three children and it seems so hard to conceive bub #2 already!)

Some days i think, gosh DD is already a handful imagine that x 2!

Anyway, I have no control over what will hopefully naturally.