BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Pregnancy Wondering about information on Twins

Hey, I am new here and I recently started looking around at information on twins after awhile of knowing my BF was an identical twin and in this research I discovered that there are twins on my mums side of the family. The ones I know about were my grandads dad was a Fraternal twin and there was another set of fraternal twins there plus my mums first cousin has fraternal twins too. Doctors also reckoned my mum was going to have twins because of her belly when pregnant with me but she was not. What I was curious on was could people give me information on what this means for me in the future and what it could mean if I do have the gene for twins? Not sure if I do? I was also wondering why the doctors would have thought mum was pregnant with twins when she wasn't. Is there any information out there about twins that I can find out about the different types etc between these as I know identical is not genetic. Any other information you could provide would be greatly appreciated too. Thanks for your help I look forward to hearing your answers. I just want to find out what this means and what it could mean for the future as I won't be getting pregnant soon I just was curious to find out about it.

The "Twin Gene" is actually a genetic predisposition to Hyper Ovulation. Hyper ovulation is when a woman's body has the tendency to release multiple eggs during ovulation, leading to fraternal twins.

It is possible that you have inherited the gene for hyper ovulation, making your chances of having fraternal twins higher.

The chances of having identical twins, on the other hand, do not seem to be genetic; So, the fact that your BF is an identical twin does not likely affect your chances of having twins. Fertility treatment can also increase your chances of having multiples.

Depending on when your mother was pregnant with you, the doctor may not have had access to ultrasound technology that is used today to diagnose twins. He likely had only measurements and touch to diagnose twins. Conditions such as a high amount of amniotic fluid around the baby can account for larger measurements; That, coupled with a family record of fraternal twins, could have led the doctor to believe that your mother was also carrying twins.

Thank you for the great questions! I'll look into writing an article on this topic.