It’s the big day they’ve been looking forward to. My twin boys turned 6 today! It is certainly a major milestone for the kids as well as for the parents. Here are the reasons why:

• 6 is the age when they start primary school. Until a year ago, kindergarten in Switzerland was not obligatory, so that for many kids, 6 is the year when they actually “leave the nest” for the first time.

• 6 is the age when kids start paying. From now on, they will be paying for public transport, museums, swimming pools, shows, etc. For the kids, 6 is the age when they can have their very own – albeit reduced – ticket. They are no longer the “gratis” babies who had to sit on mom/dad’s laps at ice hockey matches. They will have their own seat! Oh, how proud they are. (And oh, how much more do mommy and daddy have to spend now).

• 6 is the age when kids can do much more. There are games, rides, or toys that are only accessible to 6+ kids, including that big slide and the 3-meter diving board at our local swimming pool.

• 6 is also the age of the big doctor’s check up, when inoculations are finally completed, and when the kids are checked for school readiness.

In addition to these milestones, we have agreed that a couple things can happen once they turn 6, namely:

• They can choose the clothes they wear in the morning, although mommy still has to give the final approval based on weather conditions.

• They can go and shop for their birthday presents.

• They can brush their teeth in the evenings on their own.

Things went fairly well even though they went for sleeveless shirts and shorts on a not-so-warm day. It took them two hours to decide what to buy with their birthday budget of 10 Swiss Francs (about 8 US dollars).

In the end, they refused all suggestions from us parents – from swimming fins, to a ping pong set, etc, and opted for a little stuff toy instead (much to Dad’s dismay and mom’s delight). As for the tooth brushing, it went pretty well despite a mishap with the toothpaste.

It was just 6 years ago, they were born premature and much smaller than normal babies. I remember the weeks when they had to stay in the neonatal clinic. I remember how we lived through post partum depression, the superhot summer of 2003, four months of breast milk pumping, countless sleepless nights, tummy aches, teething pains, and respiratory tract infections. Those are the times when I had my doubts whether I could make it. But then I also remember the first smiles, the first steps, the first words, all the other “firsts”. My six years have come and gone. And I guess I’m allowed to say: we made it! Good night, my babies.

What happens when you are down to your last embryo and your chances of producing more are slim? This is a question facing many parents who are undergoing IVF. And this Greek fertility expert seems to have found a solution – artificially split up the embryo. In the process, Karl Illmensee, laboratory director at the Genesis Fertility Center in Patras, Greece, is creating twins and multiples in the lab.

Monozygotic (identical) twins and multiples are produced when an embryo spontaneously splits to produce several identical embryos. Illmensee does this manually. He claims that by splitting high quality embryos at the 6-to-8 cell stage, viable twins can be produced.

The success of an IVF cycle can depend largely on the number of embryos implanted. This technique can give couples who have a short supply of embryos higher chances of getting pregnant.

As expected, this technique is embroiled in controversy. Two main questions crop up: Is it ethical? Is it safe?

Is it ethical? After claims of human cloning, or performance of IVF on a 70-year-old woman, the ethical question in this issue seems pretty tame.

I am more concerned about the safety of the technique. Would the babies be healthy? Multiple pregnancies as such as associated with a high potential for genetic aberrations plus pregnancy complications that can threaten both the mother and the unborn children.

Illmensee counters objections by saying “splitting one embryo into two or more embryos could serve the needs of infertile couples in several ways. As long as a couple is fully informed of the risk of such an outcome, there would appear to be no major ethical objection.”

Nowadays, people always associate twinning with in vitro fertilization (IVF). They may be right but there is actually more to twinning than IVF. Especially when it comes to monozygotic twins, commonly known as identical twins. Monozygotic twins develop when an embryo splits into two, resulting into two embryos. The reason for the splitting has always been a puzzle. This is the puzzle that researcher Bruno Reversade is trying to solve as he goes around the world investigating so-called twin villages, as reported in Nature News.

In the general population, the rate of having identical twins is 1 in every 250 to 300 births. In some remote villages in the world, the rate is as high 1 in 10 births. One of these villages is Mohammad Pur Umri in northeastern India, where about 10% of its 2000 inhabitants are monozygotic twins. A stranger who happens to inadvertently walk into this farming village would think he is seeing double. In another case, Reversade traveled to Jordan to interview and collect saliva samples (for DNA testing) from a family with 15 pairs of monozygotic twins. Then his next stop is Linha São Pedro, a Brazilian village predominantly inhabited by German immigrants, where again, 10% of births are twins.

Over the years, human biology experts cannot agree about the mechanisms of monozygotic twinning. Dizygotic twinning is easy enough to figure out because the two embryos come from two eggs which are separately fertilized by sperms. The reasons for multiple egg production have been linked to hormones, maternal age, and well, the number of embryos transferred during an IVF cycle. Monozygotic twinning however is more of a mystery.

Some experts say it’s something to do with genetics, e.g. “it runs in the family”. Other says it’s the environment.

There is also the question whether producing twins is an advantage at all. Some experts believe that at least 12% of natural conceptions can result in twin embryos. However, in most cases, one embryo doesn’t survive so that only about 2% those pregnancies successfully produce twins. The disappearing twin is a common phenomenon. However, there could possibly be even more cases where one twin is lost before it is even detected.

Why a lot of twin pregnancies only deliver one baby is theorized to be due to the fact that a woman’s body is designed to carry only one baby to full term. Having twins, therefore, may actually be an anomaly, a reproduction process gone awry. The disappearing twin is probably a mechanism to correct this. When uncorrected, the pregnancy can result in complications such as the high rate of congenital defects in twins, including conjoined (Siamese) twins. And what about those twins who survive and develop normally? Well, those theorists say it indicates “a healthy system that is able to support two embryos through implantation and pregnancy.” Hmmm… at least something that makes me, mother of monozygotic twins, feel better, for a change.

Whatever findings Reversade’s investigation of the twin villages may reveal will definitely interest me. They might even help me in answering one of the most common questions I hear: Which side of the family has twins? Yours or his?

I have very little experience in putting one baby to sleep. I can’t tell you how to put three or more babies to sleep at the same time. But as a mom of twins, I sure do know how to put twin babies to sleep. At least my babies. Because every baby is different.

Here are some of my strategies.

Schedule. A regular sleeping schedule for one baby is important. Much more with two. It is important that they would be more or less on the same schedule. It’s better for the babies but also for Mommy. We always had our bedtime routine of washing, storytelling (yes, I read to them even as babies mainly our favourites Guess how much I love and Mr. Brown can moo) and lullaby singing. I also tried to have naptimes on schedule. As fellow blogger brit has written, a schedule disruption can lead to an overtired and rather crabby baby. Times two, in my case.

Separate beds. My boys were in the same room but had separate beds right from the start. I found that they were less likely to disturb each other when they woke at night. Also I had an extra bed in another room just in case. Often, when one baby woke up in the middle of the night, I would take him downstairs and put him in his playpen. He’d play and eventually fall asleep there and I’d simply cover him with a blanket and keep him there till morning. When both babies woke up at night – well, that’s another story.

Anything that swings  or rocks - Hammocks and rocking/swinging beds. I would have loved to rock my babies to sleep. But aside from the fact that the ratio of 2 babies to 1 mom makes this logistically almost impossible, there’s also the safety part to consider. Holding two babies in one go increases the chances of dropping one -or even both. Especially when you are sleep-deprived. Now, I know moms of twins who swear to baby hammocks or rocking beds. We didn’t have any of those and we didn’t want to buy them either so we improvised. I used my babies’ car seats as sleeping baskets – at least for naps. I swung them, one in each hand till my arm muscles ached. I made sure they were securely buckled up, though. Or I took one baby in my arms, while I rocked the other one in his car seat with my foot.

Pram/buggy. In the mornings, the best way to get them to nap was push them on the pram. I did this every morning, rain or shine, warm or cold. After they had fallen asleep, I would head back home and place the pram on our roofed terrace. Yes, my boys napped outdoors. And I got to exercise!

Car. Now, if everything else fails, I’d load the babies and the car seats in the car and go for a drive. Ten minutes max and they would be napping. We also tried to schedule our long drives during nap time to avoid disruption in their sleeping patterns.

Physical activity. As soon as they could walk, I kept them physically active, e.g. a walk around the block (without the buggy!) or a couple of hours at the playground. I found that they sleep/nap after exercise.

I guess I did something right along the way because my boys started sleeping through at 5 months and continued to nap till they were 4 years old, one even till he was almost 5! Or maybe they are just sleepy heads by nature. Whatever I did that worked, I found out by trial and error.  These are definitely not found in the books. As I said before, each baby is different and Mommy has to simply find out what works for her baby!

Ranjit Hayer is 60 years old and is one of the oldest women to give birth, definitely among the oldest in Canada, and certainly as a mom of twins, according the CBC Canada. After several decades of trying to conceive, her patience finally paid off in double dose and delivered twins earlier this week.

Ranjit has been through several miscarriages and even an IVF scam. She and her husband were originally from India.

Ranjit’s case put fuel into the ongoing ethical debate about IVF treatments. In this case, the ground for objection is Ranjit’s advanced age. The cut off age for IVF treatment in Canada is 45 to 50 years old. Because of her disqualification due to her age in Canada, Ranjit went to India to have the IVF procedure done using donor eggs. She was initially pregnant with triplets but lost one embryo. However, she came back to Canada to deliver in Calgary.

With advancing age, pregnancy becomes more difficult and riskier. Ranjit suffered from gestational diabetes and hypertension, as well as placenta previa. She had hemorrhage in her 7^th week of gestation and her twins were delivered by emergency C-section. The babies are doing well but one baby needs breathing assistance and the other is in a special neonatal care unit. The mother had severe bleeding that led to the removal of her uterus as well as blood transfusion and a stay in an intensive care unit..

Many critics are objecting to the fact that people like Ranjit are circumventing the cut off age under Canadian law by having IVF outside the country but still the Canadian health care system has to bear the burden of the costs of prenatal complications as well as the postnatal and neonatal care.

Aside from pregnancy complications and the costs, there are also the social, psychological and financial implications of people close to retirement age still having to raise children to adulthood.

The IVF-at-any-age issue is a very difficult and sensitive topic. On the one hand, technology offers people the possibility of fulfilling their wish for children. On the other hand, at what price and how would it affect the children?

What do you think?

Folks, here is another amazing New Year Baby story.

Six years ago, I, my sister-in-law, and another friend, were pregnant in the same year and delivered within four months of each other. I’m sure this happens lots of times but it was fun for us. But what is the likelihood that twin sisters would deliver hours apart in the same hospital?

Martha and Dorothy from Memphis, Tennessee did just that, according to FoxNews! Dorothy was due on January 3 and Martha on January 11. Somehow Martha labored early on New Year’s Day. Dorothy rushed to the hospital to be with her twin and then started to have contractions herself as well! It ended up having the twin sisters having contraction back to back. Both delivered their babies on the January 1, 2009 within hours of each other.

As mom of identical twins, people are always asking him whether there is any truth to the so-called “ESP” or “special communication” among twins. And I honestly reply “I don’t know.” I know however that my twins have a special bond that goes beyond the usual inter-sibling bond or the even the parent-offspring bond. I’m sure Dorothy and Martha also have this bond that led to the almost simultaneous yet unplanned deliveries.

What a story that would be for their kids!

Babies Online will be selecting someone to receive a FREE copy of Twin Sense: A Sanity-Saving Guide to Raising Twins. All you have to do is share your opinion by leaving a comment about this post. That?s it! Leave a comment and you?re entered to win.

Tarrance Kyle Griffin Jr. was born last year. He’s healthy and well, and probably happy that his little brother was born this year—a New Year’s baby. The funny thing is, they’re twins! Little Tarrance was born at 11:51 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, while his brother Tariq didn’t emerge for another 26 minutes.

That means they have birthdays on different days, different months, and different years! “It was a shock!” said their mom, Tangernika Woods. She had hoped the boys would be born on January 1, but conceded that this just proves the fraternal twins have a mind of their own.

And having a separate identity is an issue for some twins. Tarrance Sr., the boys’ dad, understands this well, as he is also a twin. So Dad is happy for the arrangement. “All I can say is they have their separate birthdays now, you know?”

The boys weighed in at a healthy 5 pounds 7 ounces, and 5 pounds 15 ounces. Born near Detroit, Michigan, the babies will go home this weekend. They will join siblings aged 7 years and 11 months.

I wrote about twins in my last post, saying how fascinating they are to me. With apologies to all the world’s twins and their parents, here I am again! This is the kind of scenario I fantasized about when I was a kid. I always wanted a twin sister, and even pretended sometimes (when I met someone new) that I did. I can imagine how much fun it would be to have a story like this. And considering they have a brother only 11 months older, maybe they can even play triplets.

At any rate, best wishes to the Woods family. God bless your new little babies. Have fun—and try to get some rest.

For more information on twins have a look at this months Comment Contest Book Giveaway! This month’s prize is Twin Sense: A Sanity-Saving Guide to Raising Twins.

Let’s be honest. Most of us are fascinated with twins. When I see a set in the store, I always want to look closely and see if they are identical. Some friends of mine have triplets. Two are identical twins and one is fraternal. I don’t know which captivates me more. Of course, I don’t want to stare, but maybe multiples get used to it? I don’t know.

Well, one set of twins in Britain now has double the reason to catch a second glance. Lauren and Hayleigh are fraternal twins, but looking at them, you may not think they were even related. Lauren is white; Hayleigh is black. Statistics vary, but Snopes.com says the odds of multiracial parents having two single-race twins are about 1 in a million. How likely are they to accomplish the same feat twice?

Alison Spooner and Dean Durrant are now fond of saying their family is two in a million. They just brought home their second set of twin girls, Miya and Leah, who share the same beautiful looks as their older sisters. Seven-year old Lauren has red hair and blue eyes, just like Mum. Twin Hayleigh has brown skin and hair like Dad.

In November, the new twins were delivered early by cesarean, and so were originally taken to a special care unit. It wasn’t for five days their parents saw them side-by-side and really noticed the same differences. “I was shocked when I first found out I was pregnant with twins again  -  but I never thought for one second they would turn out the same as last time,” Miss Spooner said. “‘I was blown away when I saw them together. I didn’t know until then that there was such a big difference between the two.”

Finally, the babies are healthy enough to go home, and to have their pictures shown to the world.

Like I said at  the outset, I am fascinated by twins. If I had twins of my own, I’m sure I would be annoyed by people like myself. But I’m just being honest. Most of the fraternal twins I have known look fairly similar. Think about Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. I suppose I probably have known more fraternal twins, I just didn’t know it because of their different looks.

This is so cool! What a beautiful family.

For more information on twins have a look at this months Comment Contest Book Giveaway! This month’s prize is Twin Sense: A Sanity-Saving Guide to Raising Twins.

Laura Williams is only 18 and she is one of millions of women who delivered this week. But what makes her different from the others is that she delivered twins – and not just ordinary twins – but conjoined twin girls. That makes Laura the youngest ever woman to mother conjoined twins, according to the Daily Mail.

Conjoined twins are better known as Siamese twins. They occur in 1 out of 400,000 pregnancies.

The anomaly in the twins’ physical structure was detected on her 12^th week of pregnancy. Laura was then advised to have an abortion. The survival rate for conjoined twins is rather low. Only about 5% survive 24 hours after delivery. Those who do, have to undergo several corrective surgical interventions to separate them. In the last 500 years, only about 600 conjoined twins were to have survived. Even those who survived had to live very difficult lives. On top of this bad news, Laura can potentially suffer from pregnancy complications that will prevent her having anymore children. Reaching a decision whether to abort or keep the babies was very difficult for Laura and her husband Aled, who already have an 18-month old daughter. In the end, the couple opted for the latter, a decision that was some people applauded and some people condemned. However, Laura and Aled wanted to give their twins the chance to beat the odds. For one thing, Laura’s twins are conjoined at the front, which give them good chances of survival, according to the doctors. Current medical interventions also increase chances for successful separation.

Laura delivered her twins by C-section today, November 26. They are reported to be healthy, according to Sky News. They are joined at the breastbone but have separate hearts. The babies are called Faith and Hope – very apt names, I would say. After all, theirs is a story of faith and hope.

From Pregnancy Through the First Year – Double the joy, double the challenges.

This Contest is Over, Congratulations to the Winner.

Although everyone experiences unexpected challenges with the arrival of a new baby, the parents of twins face their own unique sets of joys and frustrations.

As the parent of three children under the age of six, including three-year-old fraternal twins, Dagmara Scalise knows firsthand just how daunting that all-important first year can be. ?Ignore that old saying about parenting twins being twice as hard. Those who have been there know the truth: Parenting twins is exponentially harder.

Twin babies demand more love, more care, and more resourcefulness,? she explains and now, in Twin Sense, she offers real-world advice on dealing with the many issues that arise when caring for newborn twins. From breast-feeding two babies at once to snappy comebacks to rude questions, Scalise gives new parents a true insider?s guide that will make raising twins a pleasure.

For more information visit: http://www.twinsensebook.com/

Babies Online will be selecting someone to receive a FREE copy of Twin Sense: A Sanity-Saving Guide to Raising Twins. All you have to do is share your opinion by leaving a comment about this post. That?s it! Leave a comment and you?re entered to win.

A few months back, I posted a list of 10 most common questions that a mom of twins gets to hear. I’ve been meaning to go through the list of questions but somehow there were other more interesting topics to write about.

A recent post by Mrs H on Lisa Marie Presley expecting twins sparked my interest again in the issue and I feel it’s now time to tackle question # 10 – Are they IVF babies?

As Mrs H has written

“If not for multiples running in the family.. I’m sure conjectures regarding IVF would be swirling by now.” And she’s right.

In the same way, in last week’s People magazine exclusive interview with Angelina and Brad, the topic of IVF also came up in connection with their twins.

Believe me, it’s not only celebrities who are confronted with this question.

Now I know statistics show that the rate of twinning and having multiples has increased in the last decade or so and this has been attributed partly to assisted reproduction technology. But not all twins and multiples are conceived through IVF. There were twins before the first IVF baby was born and there will always be. And take note – there are many IVF babies out there who are singletons. Do they get scrutinized like twins and multiples? No way!

For me, this is the most stupid and offensive question to come from strangers and casual acquaintances. For one thing, it’s a very personal question and asking it amounts to invasion of privacy. In many cultures and for some people, fertility is a very sensitive issue and unlike Brad and Angelina, some people wouldn’t be “happy to discuss it.” That includes me. Rant over .

On July 11, a woman in Berlin gave birth to twins which are as unidentical as twins – or siblings for that matter – could get. One boy has fair skin while the one has dark skin. This was reported by The Local, Germany’s News in English. The mommy is from Ghana and the daddy is German.

In 2006, two girls with different skin and hair color were born in Australia to a Jamaican-English mother and a German father. In 2005, another set of fraternal twin girls with different skin tones was born in Britain.

According to BellaOnline (The Voice of Women), having twins of different skin tones is highly unusual. Usually, most mixed-race individuals carry both dark and light-skinned genes in theirs gametes (eggs or sperms). However, on rare occasions, some gametes may carry predominantly or totally genes for a certain type of skin/hair color only. For both egg and sperm to match their genes is a very rare occurrence indeed.

I am of Asian ethnicity, and my husband is German. It could have happened to us – but our twin boys are identical. To have twins that are so unlike in outward appearance would be weird – but also special.

“I imagine sitting at a playground where the other mothers will call me crazy when I tell them the boys are twins” said the mom of the African-German babies Ryan and Leo.

As a mom of twins, I always try to keep myself updated on the latest news about multiples.

American researchers gathered data on multiple births in 2004 and reported in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology the following statistics:

• 139,494 babies were born of multiple pregnancies
• 132,219 babies were born as twins
• 6750 babies were born as triplets
• 439 babies were born as quadruplets
• 86 babies were born as quintuplets or higher order multiples.

The high rates of multiple births in the US are attributed to assisted reproductive therapies (ART). 35% of pregnancies and 34% of births made possible by ART resulted in multiple pregnancies in 2003. ART accounted for 44% of triplets and 16% of twins who were born in the US in 2003.

With multiple pregnancy comes risks to the mother and the babies. The main risks are preterm labor/delivery and low birth weights. The higher the order of multiplicity, the higher the risk. Compared to twins, triplets tend to be born on the average 3.5 weeks early. For quadruplets, it’s 5.4 weeks on the average. However, very premature births occur. In 2003, 5.6% of twins, 16.9% of triplet births and 28.3% of quadruplet births resulted in delivery before 29 weeks of pregnancy.

The health risks of very premature babies who survive are numerous and include:

• low birth weights
• congenital heart defects
• respiratory problems
• hearing and vision impairment
• cognitive impairment.

For the mothers of multiples, the following risks are significantly increased:

• gestational diabetes
• pregnancy-induced hypertension (preeclampsia)
• incompetent cervix
• premature rupture of membranes
• excessive bleeding during labor

Just when you think life is going to get easier because the kids are out of their nappies, comes the next challenge – finding a bathroom every time the little one needs to go – which is about every 10 meters or every 5 minutes. And there’s no use telling him/her to wait. At this age, bladder control is not yet fully developed.

In my case, it was two little almost 3-year old twin boys asking to go all the time. There were times when I was really tempted to put their nappies back on – except that they refused point blank. “We’re big boys now, Mommy. You said so.”

This problem, of course, can put a damper on travelling plans even if only to the supermarket. But don’t worry, this phase is transitory and will be over before you know it. Here are some survival tips:

Have a bathroom directory in your head. Like having a built-in GPS, a mom or dad should know exactly where the closest bathroom is, and how fast one can go from point to point, with or without a push chair.

Make kids go even if they don’t have/want to. As soon as you see a bathroom in sight, you shout “let’s do it!” despite the little one’s protest. I suppose psyschologists will have a lot of things to say about forcing kids to go. I had the problem of having 2 boys who never seemed to want to go at the same time. And one is always complaining about being dragged to the bathroom without wanting to go – only to ask to go 5 minutes later. I say, be opportunistic and make use what is within your reach. It’s a matter of survival.

Be flexible – and be creative. What happens when there is no bathroom in sight? Sometimes we have to resort to drastic measures that may not necessarily be hygienic. I say, the bushes should do in times of emergency. Or anything, just to keep the kids from wetting themselves and making a mess. My sister-in-law’s girl needed to go urgently and there were 10 ladies lined up in front of them. Nobody offered to let the little girl go first so her mom placed her over the bathroom sink. Of course, she cleaned up the place afterwards. Once in an airport, I was pushing a cart laden with luggage plus 2 boys and there was just no way we could find a bathroom in time. The rubbish bin had to do that time.

Teach the kids the road signs. The big letter “P” sign on the motorway means parking. For my boys, it means “pee” literally. They were trained to ask themselves when they see this sign “do I need to go?”

Have some spare clothes all the time. And a plastic bag for anything that gets wet. Even with their newly found independence – “I need to go but I can wait” – accidents still happeneded to my 4-year olds.

But then it’s over before you know it. My boys are now 5 and feel old enough to go to the bathroom without Mommy. “I know where it is and I can go alone.”

And then they’d be scornful about little ones still in nappies and laugh their heads off about their Mommy’s bathroom tales. And then you’d be asking yourself “what was all that stress for anyway?”

Everybody is glad that the birthday weekend is finally over. It was fun, don’t get me wrong. We are so happy to see our twin boys superhappy. But the aftermath wasn’t that nice.

It all started on Friday, their 5^th birthday. I delivered them and two football-shaped (soccer-shaped to you, North Americans J) cakes to pre-school, one for each pre-school class.

Saturday was the big day. Three hours in an indoor fun hall with 12 other kids. Bouncies, slides, bump cars, they had it all.

On Sunday morning, family and relatives dropped by with more presents. By Sunday afternoon, the boys were crabby, demanding, and outright impossible. The birthday boys turned into post-birthday monsters. They were drunk with all the attention, overwhelmed with all the presents, gorged with sweets, and just plain exhausted by all the excitement. So what can parents do in such a situation? How did we handle the aftermath of a birthday party?

• Keep some of the presents for later – We didn’t want to open several boxes of Legos and Playmobiles at the same time, not to mention the puzzles and games. So I put the presents in two cardboard boxes in the cellar, making sure that I knew who got what from whom (I made notes at the gift-opening). My husband and I then showed R his box of presents and F his. We took a look at each present and explained what is inside, for which age group, and approximately how long it will take them (with Daddy’s help) to assemble each. We then came to a deal. Every two weeks (marked in the calendars!), they can each choose a present to open, assemble and play with. They saw the advantage to the strategy: they will constantly be getting new presents in the months to come – enough to last them till Christmas.
• Get back to the old routine as soon as possible – We are staying at home today, Monday. A friend called to ask whether we’d like to join them at the poolside. I declined. My boys spent the whole morning in the sandbox making mudpies, twisting in the swing, or rolling in the grass. It’s back to their old routine: mommy’s home-cooked meal, fruit snacks instead of cakes and sweets, midday quiet time. No visitors, no visiting, no parties. Even the trip to the supermarket was postponed till tomorrow. It was a peaceful, relaxing morning for everybody. My boys were almost back to the easygoing boys that they are.
• Write thank you notes – In a couple of days, we will be sitting down to write thank you notes for all the presents they got. Just to show them that when receiving something, we also have to give a little bit of something in return.
• Get ready for next year – No, we are not going to do away with birthday parties in the coming years. But now we know what to expect afterwards. We will be prepared!

When my son was born, I was so scared he’d be swapped for another baby, or stolen from the hospital, I insisted my husband stuck by his side at all times when the nurses took him to the nursery to wash him and weigh him and do the heel prick and all that stuff they do to newborns.

I even tried to get up with the epidural still stuck in my back (bad idea) to go with them, but sanity did prevail and my husband went with him. And yes he did come back, and we took the correct baby, the one I gave birth to, home.

It’s incredibly unlikely either will happen in the hospital, but it does happen. And to the most unlikely babies. You wouldn’t have though twins could be mixed up – even less so, one twin swapped from identical twins?

In this incredible case, 35 years ago, in a hospital in Las Palmas, Spain, a nurse took one baby from of a set of identical baby girl twins, and somehow replaced that baby with another baby girl. The twin’s mother took the twins home, and the other mother took her daughter home.

In 2001, one of the identical twins was working in a clothes store. While she was away from the store, her identical twin sister happened to walk in. The clerk in the store couldn’t understand why this identical-looking woman didn’t recognize her. And when the woman came by the store again, the clerk arranged for them both to meet.

After DNA testing proved they were identical, the twins, and the third woman in the mix-up, are all suing the government of Las Palmas for $4.7 million in damages.

Do you think they should sue? Is it the city’s fault? Do they deserve that amount of compensation?

The National Organization of Mother of Twins Clubs, Inc. (NOMOTC) will hold its 48^th Annual Convention on July 20-26, 2008 at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel. NOMOTC is a non-profit corporation that was founded in 1960. It serves as a support group for parents of twins and high order multiples.

The organization is composed of a network of more than 450 local clubs representing over 25,000 individual parents of multiples – twins, triplets, quadruplets and more. Its mission is to support families of multiple birth children through education, research, and networking and work hand in hand local support groups, health care providers, researchers, and educators. This year’s convention is sponsored by the Massachusetts Mothers of Twins Association.

The keynote speakers for the convention are Jon and Kate Gosselin. Jon and Kate are the hosts of the TLC’s reality show “Jon and Kate plus 8“. This couple are parents to twins who wanted another baby but ended up with six more. Their show tells about the unedited story of their unique life as parents of seven-year old twins and three-year old sextuplets. Jon and Kate can be seen on Discovery Health or The Learning Channel.

My twin boys turn 5 in fours weeks and this time they are determined in getting involved in planning the birthday party. Rightly so, I guess. During the first three years, I, Mommy, organized and decided on everything from the location to the guest list. The 4^th birthday was somehow squeezed between relocation and settling down in our new residence so there was really no party to speak of’.

But this year is THE YEAR when they would have their say.

The venue. No, no party at our own backyard this time. They’ve been invited to several birthday parties themselves so they have their own opinion of what’s cool and what’s not cool. Unfortunately they couldn’t agree between themselves which location is the coolest. So we made a list of the top 3 most popular venues and then we made a draw.

The theme. This was the easy part. It’s going to be a pirates` party. The decision was unanimous.

The menu. Mommy would prepare the menu. No arguments accepted. Maybe next year.

The guests. Old habits die hard. Of course I wanted to invite the play date kids - kids whom I know. But then it’s their party, and of course they wanted to invite their friends from pre-school. So we came up with a compromise. Each boy invites 5 friends, and Mommy proposes another 5 candidates subject to the celebrants` approval. So far so good.

Unfortunately, depending on how things went at pre-school - who quarreled with whom -the guest list constantly changed. Then came the day when the list was finally finalized and the invitations were sent out. That was last week.

Now we’ll just have to wait for the big day. The worst is over. Or so I thought.

‘Mommy, where’s Gabriel’s invitation?‘ F asked loudly when he saw his friend yesterday. ‘But you didn’t want to invite him last week!‘ I replied in a whisper.

‘Look, Mommy, look what Jim drew for me today?Did I invite him to my party?‘ R asked me today at pick-up time. ‘That`s nice of him, but no, you didn’t invite him.‘

‘Mommy, can I?‘ ‘No, you can’t. Sorry, we’ve run out of invitations.’

I am now bracing myself for more of this kind of situations in the next few days.

Am I a bit too hard on them?

Maybe I am. But I want them to learn to stand by their own decisions. After all, this is a major milestone in their young life. There will be other parties to come. Some day they might even demand to have separate parties. Or have parties without any Mommy involvement whatsoever. I just hope that when the time comes, they would have learned enough to make the right decisions?

?There?s my twin. And then there is mom. And nothing can change that.?

This is something I learned rather early in my life role as mother of identical twins ? that I am not the most important person in my sons` life. It was hard to accept at first but here?s what I told myself to help me swallow the bitter pill:

? They?ve been through a lot together and no amount of mother-child bonding can compete with that. Heck! They shared my womb from day 1 (or round that time). They even shared the same placenta. They had almost nine months head start when it comes to building a relationship.

? They have (almost) the same genes, for goodness sake. I share only 50% genetic similarity with each of them. They have (almost) 100% identical DNA. That?s something no one can beat and no can change.

? They are of the same age. It?s just natural that they share the same interests and laugh together at jokes that they only see. Some twins even have their own language (not mine, though).

? I should take this as a blessing in disguise. They will play together, go to kindergarten and school together. They will take care of each other.

That was 4.5 years ago. I?ve come to terms with my secondary role in my sons` lives. We do have some kind of mother-sons bonding. Not necessarily as intensive as twin bonding but suffice it to say that my boys love their mom, too.

And ? yes – they do take care of each other. (Caveat: Not always. They also quarrel and fight).

Just when I thought I know everything there is to know about identical twins, comes this new revelation. It seems that identical twins, previously thought to have 100% genetic resemblance, are anything but identical.

A group of researchers from the US, the Netherlands, and Sweden studied the genetic make up of 19 pairs of identical twins. They found that there are subtle but clear differences between the DNA of these twin pairs. These variations may be due to differences that occur during genetic copying and to mutations. In most cases, these slight differences have no observable effect in the physical and developmental make up of the twins. In some cases, however, these variations can make a world of difference health-wise. And we are not talking only about simple ailments but also serious and debilitating diseases as Parkinson`s and cancer.

Doctors were always puzzled how one twin can develop a disorder or disease and the other not. They`ve always attributed these differences to environmental factors. In the case of my twin boys, F developed eczema and asthma while R didn`t. And I`ve always asked myself, where did I do wrong? Have I somehow neglected one and favor the other? After all, I, the mom, am responsible for a lot of these so-called environmental factors, from food, to beds, to toys and baby products. It`s a relief to know that genetics, something beyond my control, plays a role in all of these.

But now, I`m at loss. With this new discovery, the the term ?identical twins? has become a misnomer. Monozygotic would be a more appropriate term but who would understand that? The next time somebody asks me whether my boys are identical, how do I respond?

Source:

Bruder et al., 2008. Phenotypically Concordant and Discordant Monozygotic Twins Display Different DNA Copy- Number-Variation Profiles,

The American Journal of Human Genetics (2008), doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.12.011.