I found out i was pregnant 8weeks ago now not yet been for my fisrt scan. but what are the chances of having twins my husband is a twin and i have one set of twins on my side of the family. i heard that it skips a genaration so if that ture its my gen to have them now.

I know you’ve gotten alot of answers all ready but it drives me crazy to see all of the mis-information out there. I’m the mother of identical twins so I hear these types of questions alot:

1. Identical twins (monozygotic) are from one egg that splits. All pregnancies have a 1 in 250 chance of being identical twins. This is not impacted by age, ethnicity, fertility drugs, or family history.

2. Fraternal twins (dizygotic) occur when the female produces two eggs in the same cycle. Some factors include fertility drugs, higher maternal age, ethnicity (for instance more common in African Americans less common in Asians), and family history.

3. Because it is up to the female to produce two eggs at once a family history of fraternal twins is only relevant on the female’s side. So if your husband is a fraternal twin this doesn’t impact your pregnancy (he can’t make you produce two eggs) but if you have a daughter then she has an increased chance of having twins. This is also part of the reason why there is a myth about twins skipping generations.

4. If you have a set of fraternal twins on your side of the family then there is a chance that you have the "twin gene" which will increase your chance of twins. However, if the twins in your family are identical, are a result of fertility drugs or born to a woman who was 35+ when they were born this might not be as much of a factor.

It wasn’t until I read more about them from reputable sources that I learned how many myths there are out there (like skipping generations, etc).

BOTTOM LINE: You have an INCREASED CHANCE of having twins if there are fraternal twins in your family but this doesn’t mean you "will" have them.
Hope this helps

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