A LETTER TO THE BOYS

When I first found out I was pregnant with twins, I was told that you were most likely fraternal twins because you had your own sacs & placentas. (You were dichorionic/ diamniotic twins). Also your placentas were on opposite sides of my uterus. But as I did more research (along with some help from Nanny) I discovered that identical twins who split within the first three days of conception can have their own placentas & sacs. So you could be identical or fraternal.

Then after you were born, we vacillated between thinking you were identical & fraternal. I tended to lean more towards identical, as did my family. Daddy & his family (plus Great Grandma Pansy) believed you to be fraternal because we can so easily tell you apart. Nanny continued doing research, as is her way, and she discovered a third kind of twin type. Semi-identical, which is where the twins share identical DNA from their mother, but different DNA from their father.

The suspense was killing Nanny, so we talked & decided to go in together on a DNA test for your first birthday. We tested for all three twin types via mouth swabs. Daddy, myself & you two got swabbed & we sent in the samples. We got the results shortly before your first birthday. Daddy videotaped us reading the results we got via e-mail. Identical!!! I couldn’t believe it. For the last twelve months we had told everyone we didn’t know your twin type. We had heard opinions, argued & now, finally we had the answer! We kept that information to ourselves until your birthday. (Which was really difficult!) We finally did the big reveal at your party. Everyone was stunned & really happy to finally know!

Daddy said that he couldn’t believe we were so lucky & blessed that God would take our one baby and split him into two. Identical twins only occur in one out of 250 births. Plus identical male twins are the most rare twin type. You two are extra special! You have identical DNA, but I did find out that your finger prints will not be identical because of different life experience.

And from your hair whorls we know that not only are you identical, but you are identical mirror twins; your whorls spin opposite ways. Also, if you truly are mirror twins, one of you will be left handed & one of you will be right handed. Only 25% of monozygotic twins are mirror twins.

I also read that when you have children, your kids will be ½ siblings genetically, as well as cousins. And if, somehow, you marry a set of identical twins, then your kids would be considered full siblings genetically. It’s so fascinating to me. So there you go, the story of your twin type and all the random facts associated with it.