Hello, dear readers! I have a lot of questions in my head about having twins. And you? For example, twins are inherited through which line? What other conditions will increase the chances of a “double” pregnancy? What should you do to have twins? If you are interested in the mysteries of nature, then quickly open my article.

The birth of twins has always caused ambiguous attitudes among different peoples. The Incas, for example, worshiped women who gave birth to twins, considering the latter to be the sons of Lightning. In South America, the birth of twins was considered a sign of female infidelity or its connection with evil spirits.

In the north of the continent, the Indians treated twins very tenderly and respectfully, considering them a gift from the gods. They treated mothers of twins in Japan in a very “cool” way: they were expelled from the tribe for fear of contracting multiple births.

“Virus” of multiple pregnancy

Of course, today it looks funny. Modern science has studied it well. They are simple and fit into a harmonious scientific theory:

1. The main factor is geographical: Africa is considered the ancestral home of the twins;
2. Second place belongs to age: the peak of multiple pregnancy is 35 years;
3. The number of births closes the top three: the probability of having twins increases with each new pregnancy;
4. Nationality also matters: African women lead the way in the birth of twins. - women with black skin. Europeans follow them. In other words, a 35-year-old multiparous mother from Ethiopia is 10 times more likely to become pregnant with twins than a Chinese woman;
5. Chumps are at risk for twins, and in addition, diet matters. In Nigeria, for example, which is a leader in multiple pregnancies, yams are consumed. This is a vegetable containing estrogen, a female sex hormone that controls pregnancy;
6. The time of conception is also important: priority is summer and spring. The duration of daylight hours stimulates the production of gonadotropic hormone. And it activates the ovaries;
7. Refusal of hormonal contraceptives creates conditions for multiple births;

Interestingly, all this is only true for the birth of fraternal twins. Identical twins do not follow any rules. The frequency of their births is constant: 3 cases for every 1000 pregnant women.

Where do twins come from?

Multiple pregnancies are different. There are two options: identical or fraternal twins. Monozygotic twins occur when a normal egg fertilized by one sperm suddenly divides in half. What causes the oocyte to do this is unclear. Through what line are such twins transmitted? The answer is simple. Having identical twins is not inherited.

In all likelihood, this is still some kind of complex mutation of a fertilized egg, the trigger of which is a virus or some other provoking pathogenic factor.

The process is similar to cloning. Identical twins are identical in every way. And only they have the right to be called true twins.

Where do twins come from?

Polyzygotic twins or twins are produced when two different oocytes are fertilized by two different sperm. Moreover, there may be more sperm, the main thing is that during one ovulation several eggs mature. Then the result is not twins, but triplets, quadruplets, and so on.

Fraternal twins are simply brothers or sisters born at the same time. Women who have the hyperovulation gene are usually capable of such pregnancy and childbirth.

This ability, or rather, this very gene is inherited. The ability to have multiple pregnancies does not disappear from pregnancy to pregnancy.

If a woman has already given birth to twins, her chances of having twins in her next pregnancy are 4 times higher. For example, Madalene Granate from Italy gave birth to triplets 15 times.

Dizygotic pregnancies allow for different paternities. Unbelievable but true! Fertilization just happens on different days. This is how the husband and lover become happy parents at the same time. There are many examples. Unconditional proof of this possibility is the simultaneous birth of children with different skin colors. There is only one condition. In terms of time, one conception should not lag behind the other by more than a week.

Why is this possible? Do the ovaries really function in turns? Of course not, they work cyclically. But there can be several ovulation cycles in a row with a difference of a week.

Probability of having twins

What is the actual likelihood of twin girls having twins? There is no doubt that genetically they receive the gene for multiple births from their mother. This is due to the process of ovulation. Boys do not participate in it. However, if the boy himself is one of twins, then his daughter has a chance to give birth to twins in the future. Hooray! I am the future grandmother of twin grandchildren.

And yet, it is not a fact that twin daughters themselves will give birth to twins. Most likely, they will be a “transit” for the transmission of the multiple pregnancy gene further along the female line. That is, the granddaughter of a grandmother who once gave birth to twins will most likely have twins. The birth of twins within a generation is an almost proven pattern. There are three hypotheses about this:

1. The content of special substances in sperm - enzymes that can split the oocyte into several fragments. This somewhat contradicts the theory of inheritance through the female line, but only partly. Let us remember that twin boys pass on the possibility of multiple births to their daughters.
2. Mutations in the mother's cells due to irregularities in RNA.
3. When the gene set of a zygote is formed, some identical genes are repelled, which causes the cells to form a second individual. As a result, twins are born.

That's it! In what line do twins run in your family? Write, we look forward to your comments.

Greetings, dear readers!

I was walking down the street yesterday and saw wonderful twins. Thoughts about this immediately began to swirl in my head. And today I propose to try to figure out the question of what is the probability of having twins, and at the same time estimate your own chances of such a miracle.

Raising children of the same age is somewhat harder and more expensive, although there is always a lot of hassle with one child. But there are also advantages - children always have a partner to play with, and in general, having a brother or sister is much better than being alone.

Twins always arouse increased interest among others, because they are born much less often than “single” children. In the past, mystical properties could be attributed to the phenomenon of twins. In some cultures, the birth of several children from one pregnancy was considered a gift from the gods and a blessing of the family, while in others it was considered the machinations of dark forces.

There is still an opinion that twins can have one soul between them. We don’t know whether this is so, but there are many coincidences in fate. Although this may be due to similar inclinations, preferences and hereditary characteristics.

Where do they come from?

You know the answer to the question “where do children come from?” If the meeting of the egg and sperm was productive, their fusion occurred, then a zygote cell is formed, and from this single cell, over the next 9 months, a complex multicellular human organism develops. What's next? One baby or several?

In some cases, the developing embryo is divided into two parts, resulting in genetically identical organisms, always of the same sex. In fact, this is an analogue of clones, only natural. Their fabrics match in all respects.

They can be donors for each other. Since two humans develop from one egg, they are called identical twins. And they also have exactly the same dad. In what case this will happen, what can cause the embryo to split into two halves - science does not yet know.

Depending on the duration of the “split”, children may have a common placenta, or one amniotic sac for two. Or everything separately, if the babies separated in the first days after conception. A problematic option is conjoined, or “Siamese” twins. But this happens extremely rarely - one case in 10 million births.

With fraternal twins the situation is somewhat more complicated, but they are more common, and their appearance has explanations. By the way, people call them twins, although from a medical point of view the term “twins”, “triplets”, “quadruples”, etc. refers only to the number of fetuses during pregnancy.

Only now the thought occurred to me that the names “five” and “gear” also resemble something else. But where to go - how much we counted, let’s call it that. So why are they different? - because the mother’s two eggs, or even more, matured at the same time.

This happened during one cycle; fertilization most likely occurred simultaneously. Individual eggs are fertilized by individual sperm. And the result was two different fetuses, with different genetics, quite possibly of different sexes.

And to each other they are biologically no more close than ordinary brothers and sisters from different pregnancies. Relatives, yes, but not identical. And we cannot hide this fact from you - dads here may turn out to be different.

If a woman has matured two eggs, and she managed to have sexual intercourse with several men, or at least two, then the so-called “super fertilization” could occur - the embryos will have different fathers. What is the likelihood of such a development of events and whether such a thing could happen at all is best known to the expectant mother.

The role of heredity

Let us clarify right away - the probability of having identical twins is not inherited. But with fraternal twins it’s different. The ability to hyperovulate, that is, the simultaneous maturation of several eggs, is inherited.

It is clear that only women can express it, and the chances of becoming pregnant with twins from a twin man are the same as from any other. But the daughters of such a dad can receive the hyperovulation gene, and it is they who can show the world a multiple pregnancy.

Only daughters. Sons have nothing to do with it, and the birth of twins depends on their wives. Now it is clear through which line this tendency is transmitted - through the female, and indirectly through the male.

It is also clear why in some families twins appear through a generation (the “grandmother-granddaughter” chain, if the grandmother had only sons), and in others - in everyone (a continuous “female” line of the grandmother, her daughters and then granddaughters from daughters)

Who has better chances?

There is no clear advice on how to get pregnant with twins with a full guarantee.
But there are many factors contributing to this result, in addition to the heredity discussed above:

1. Age of the expectant mother– at a young and young age, the likelihood of having twins is extremely low. Closer to 30 years, and often even after 35 years, it is higher. This is due to the intense production of hormones in women. Further, according to age, the chances seem to be lower, but late pregnancies often become possible after treatment, including hormonal therapy that stimulates ovulation. Therefore, many couples who were previously childless become parents of several children at once, and we are not talking about IVF now, more about that below.
2. Repeated births - with each subsequent birth, the likelihood of having twins is higher.
3. Hormone therapy– and not only taking drugs that stimulate ovulation in the treatment of infertility. Taking contraceptives also plays a positive role, no matter how strange it sounds. Of course, twins will “happen” not during the course of contraception, but after its cancellation. The woman’s body has rested and now intensively produces its own hormones. An important condition is that the duration of the course of taking the drugs must be at least 6 months. Then you can get the expected effect. Under no circumstances take any medications, even microdoses, yourself. And the advice circulating on various forums on how to increase the chances of having several heirs at the same time - taking ovulation-stimulating medications is generally beyond what is permitted. Any medications, especially hormones, are prescribed only by a medical specialist after examination. He will be the one to choose the course of treatment that suits you. And remember - hormones are not vitamins ki, which you can drink on your own, although it’s also better not to.
4. During IVF (in vitro fertilization, that is, fertilization outside the mother's body, in a test tube, relatively speaking), several embryos are implanted into the uterus, in the hope that at least one will take root. But it happens that several, or even all, are fixed. Some embryos in such cases suggest removal, but it is the parents who decide what to do in such a situation.
5. The time of conception, or more precisely, the season of the year. When daylight hours are longer, hormones are produced more intensely. Therefore, a spring-summer attempt to acquire heirs can please you with double or more results.
6. Adequate nutrition and adequate body weight. Or even a little excessive. A larger and more corpulent mother may be more likely to have several babies than a thin and petite one. Not to mention exhausted by diets, if suddenly she was able to get pregnant.
7. Nationality, or rather even race. It is known that the likelihood that dark-skinned women will have twins is higher, fair-skinned European women are in second place, and even twins are rare among women of Latin American and especially Asian origin, not to mention even more so.

Let's sum it up

In what cases and to whom are two, three, and other “cutes” born and what they are, we figured out a little. The highest chances, but with absolutely no guarantees, are given by IVF. You can transplant several embryos, but suddenly none of them will take root...

What contributes to the result, you now know. We can influence some factors ourselves, while others can only be influenced by medicine. Some things depend on factors that cannot be changed. For example, no one has yet succeeded in changing their race; skin bleaching does not count.

And you can’t argue with heredity - what is given is what it is. So try and trust in fate. Did you manage to get pregnant? The test cannot show how many children there are, only.

Features of the course of multiple pregnancy, preparation for childbirth - questions for separate conversations. We hope that you liked our article, if so, you can recommend reading it to your friends.

Ekaterina Chesnakova was with you with garlic, pepper and zest. See you soon.

I myself found out about this only 20 years later... An interesting story happened in my life. When I found out that it turned out that I had cheated on my husband, through his own fault, I didn’t know what to do.

Andrey and I got married when I was thirty and he was thirty-one. Andrey was already unsuccessfully married, but divorced a long time ago. He and his ex-wife had no children. I got married for the first time.

My husband had a twin brother, Igor. He was also divorced, but he had two children: a boy and a girl. I really wanted children, and I often told my husband about this. We didn't take any precautions, but pregnancy still didn't occur. I wasn’t very worried about this, because we were not eighteen years old, not all at once...

One day my husband called me from work and said that he would be late, asked me not to wait for him and go to bed. I did so. Andrei arrived long after midnight, undressed without dinner and went to bed.

He kissed me tenderly and said that he missed me. Naturally, I woke up, and what happened between us was what usually happens between spouses in bed.

Now that I already know about everything, I remember that that night everything was somehow different between us... Then I attributed this feeling to the fact that I was sleepy, but now I understand why.

In the morning, my husband left for work before I woke up. Then everything was as usual, only the delay made my heart beat faster. With trembling hands, I took a test and saw the coveted two stripes. Andrei, having learned that he would soon become a father, was very happy. He took great care of me while I was pregnant.

We had a son, Yaroslav. Andrei suggested that his brother Igor become our boy’s godfather. I had no reason to refuse, even though we didn’t communicate very closely.

Yaroslav grew up as a healthy and smart child. Since childhood, he was very similar to his father. My son studied well and entered college after school. In the fourth year, he introduced us to his fiancee and decided to get married.

We didn’t mind, we had just completed a new cooperative apartment and we were getting ready to move; the young people had a place to live.

While packing for the move, I decided to go through everything thoroughly and throw away absolutely everything unnecessary that I had accumulated over the years. While sorting through the papers, I found some old medical certificates from my husband.

To understand whether they were needed or not, I began to read their contents. These were some kind of medical examinations, and in the conclusion of each one there was a diagnosis of “infertility”...

I couldn’t understand why Andrei never told me about this and how I managed to give birth to an infertile man? I prepared information and questions for my husband’s arrival...

At first Andrei evaded answering, talked about some kind of “miracle”, and then, unable to withstand my pressure, confessed to what he had done.

Yes, he was completely sterile. His first wife left him for this very reason. And also because he suggested that she give birth to his twin brother. Well, what difference does it make, it’s just blood. The ex-wife was a decent woman and refused to sleep with her husband's brother.

Andrei really wanted to experience fatherly feelings, so by marrying me, he decided to correct all the mistakes he had made with his first wife. He didn’t tell me about his diagnosis, but secretly put his brother in my bed... Everything worked out. And I would never have suspected anything if I had not found these papers.

I needed to digest this information. I silently packed up and left. I wandered around the park and could not understand that, without knowing it, I had cheated on my own husband... I understood that Andrei had arranged all this for our common good, but I did not understand whether I could forgive him...

When I returned home, I told my husband that I forgive him and never want to talk about this topic again. Andrey thanked me for my understanding with almost tears in his eyes. Then our life went on as usual, we never thought about it again, but looking into Igor’s eyes now became a problem for me...