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Question: Twins?
| niamat
- Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:49 pm |
Hi,
Ive been married for almost 3 years now, and from time to time, my husband and I have been thinking about having children. We haven't officially "tried" to conceive yet, but we're just talking.. The thing is I want to have twins, but I don't even know if it's possible. Here's a little briefing:
From my mother's side, there's no history of twins (except for her mother's sister's daughter who had twins).. And on my dad's side, there's 2 uncles and 1 aunt (out of 8 uncles and aunts) who have twins. ( One of these uncles with twins is married to my husband's dad's sister)
My husband has 9 other brothers and sisters (woww, I know!), and none of them have twins. But his mother's mother had quadruplets but they all died at birth.. By the way, my dad's mom and my husband's dad's mom were sisters..
I bet to the reader this all sounds crazy! lol
So I just want to know, what are the odds that we have twins in the event we decide to conceive? And if both my husband and I don't have any fertility problems, can I still take pills to have twins?
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| Dr. Chan Lowe
- Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:55 am |
 The incidence of twin births has been increasing over the past several years. In 1987 the incidence was reported at about 9 in 1000 births. In 2003 the number had increased to about 17 in 1000 births (Australian data).
There are several factors that have probably contributed to this. In particular, the use of fertility medications.
Really, there isn't much you can do to increase your chances of having twins. It is possible for you, even if no one in your family has had twins before. The rate is about 1% of all pregnancies that will result in twins. So, if you become pregnant there is about a 1 in 100 chance you'll have twins, roughly.
Interestingly, we've also seen that taking folic acid supplementation leads to an increased risk of twins as well. We now recommend that all women take folic acid if they are trying to conceive and throughout the pregnancy to help decrease the risk of neural tube defects. Twin incidence also increase with increasing number of pregnancies (I.
e. with each subsequent pregnancy the chances go up very slightly).
Best wishes to you and your husband on starting a family if you choose. One word about the fertility drugs. While they do increase the chances of multiple gestations (twins or even more), there are some pretty nasty side effects. While I'm a pediatrician, not an obstetrician, I suspect that it would be difficult to find an OB that would be willing to prescribe them to help with conceiving twins. They are generally reserved for couples that are having difficulty conceiving.
Hope this helps.
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