Different Types of Multiple Pregnancies

There are two types of twins; they can either be identical or fraternal twins. Identical twins look alike physically and are always the same sex. They come from one embryo, this means that they are from the same ovule and sperm. They have exactly the same genes and this explains why they look alike physically. One ovule can also divide into three and when this happens there can be three babies that look exactly alike but it is not something commonly seen.

The other case is when a woman produces more than one ovule and two different sperms fertilize the two ovules and both implant into the uterus at the same time. These types of twins, do not share the same genes. However, their genetic composition is the same as any children that are born from the same parents, the only difference is that they are born at the same time. These types of twins can be the same sex or a different sex. a triplet pregnancy can also occur in which there are two identical twins and one that comes from the second fertilized ovule, meaning that there would be two identical ones and one that looks different.

The chances of a woman having identical twins increases after a woman has turned thirty five years old; on the contrary the probability of a woman having fraternal twins increases until a woman is around thirty five years old or less and then the chances of it go down. There are some incidences of certain families that have a high incidence of fraternal twins. This occurrence becomes more common when the woman takes medication in increase fertility because these medications often make the woman produce more than one ovule.