insomnimama

Yaya see above- hyperovulation can only be passed from mother to daughter, so you couldn't have got it from your father's side.

yaya

Oh, but I've read differently? Who knows? I think there are so many stories & myths about twins & multiples. It's all pretty much just fantasising and wishful thinking in the end! (Unless you are on fertility treatments of course!)

Yaya xx

porkpie1981

yes thats right as the father can pass it to his daughter

maz

I'd love twins. My mum is a twin but she's identical - I think - and I don't want to quiz her as she doesn't know we've been trying and failing to conceive. She just thinks I'm a career woman and have no time for children.

Interesting point about the left handed thing. My younger brother is a lefty. I wonder if he was part of a twin set. sounds like a cardigan and jumper combo!!! If he was a twin, then I guess there is a potentially higher chance of twins for me. It also looks as though we're going down the IVF route - every month that goes by is a month closer to the treatment, so I guess there is a slightly higher chance there too.

Has anyone else heard that twin births skip generations - like men going bald???

xx

Coral

Makes me feel positively ancient!! Im 34 and DH is 40!!

I would love to find out Im having twins and read this morning that tall women are more likely to have twins (Im 5 foot 11, or 178cm)....

Also being over 35 years old increases your chances dramatically, but Im a year off that statistic.

Just one healthy baby would be great though!!!

insomnimama

Hmmn, have done some digging, and have found a mixed bag of opinions on this one.

http://multiples.about.com/cs/funfacts/l/aa060101b.htm

That said, the quote below provides a good explanation of why having twins on the father's side doesn't predispose him to father twins:

i.e. the gene is not for "producing twins"; rather it is for hyperovulation. Since the male does not ovulate, he would theoretically pass on the hyperovulation gene to his daughter. This means a man with twins in his family is predisposed to having twin grandchildren (only of his daughters' children, since the gene is for hyperovulation) as opposed to twin children.

So Yaya, you are correct- you could have been passed the gene from your paternal grandmother.

yaya

yeah, see this also: (from http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/4910/html)

"To answer your question, the propensity to bear fraternal twins does run in families, but one generation doesn't necessarily have a higher probability of having fraternal twins than another. Fraternal twins occur in about 12 of every 1000 births. There is no evidence that the likelihood of having identical twins is impacted by genetics. Identical twins occur in approximately 4 of every 1000 births, and are no more common in any one group of people.

Fraternal twinning is caused by inheriting a gene that makes it more likely for those with the gene to have fraternal twins than those without that gene. This gene on the X chromosome may cause hyper-ovulation – when a woman's ovaries release more than one egg per ovulation cycle. A woman can inherit the hyper-ovulation gene from either of her parents. However, if she inherits it from her father, the gene will appear to "skip a generation" because men cannot affect whether his partner's ovaries will release multiple eggs. Thus, a man with a family history of twins is not more likely to father twins himself. But, if a man has fraternal twins in his family, he can pass the twin gene on to a daughter"

Yaya xx

chefamy1122

I have 2 sets of twins in my family (mom's dad was a twin and I have cousins that are twins) both conceived without fertility treatments... so I have always hoped I would have twins. I want at least 2 kids, so this would be great

starryeye31

I was pregnant with twins once , they would not have been identical because they were in different sacs , I had what they call a vanishing twin , so I still ended up with one baby . I would love to have twins but I have a hard enough time carrying one baby let alone two and that was my first thought when the doc told me I was having twins because prior to that I had a baby 2 months early and an incompatant cervix . good luck and I hope you get that set of twins

porkpie1981