Fraternal or identical. How to tell?

Re: Fraternal or identical. How to tell?

• 12bailey18 member

  October 2014

  They tested my placenta after birth and my OB called and told me that my girls are identical a few days after delivery. Because we discovered my twins late (17 weeks) it was always hard to tell if there were two placentas that merged together or one. Turns out it was one placenta and they are mo/di identical.

  
  

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• Rynleigh member

  October 2014

  We knew immediately because our boys have different blood types. Sometimes you can see very obvious differences right from the start... Beside the difference in blood type, Simon had more "solid", opaque eyes, and Jamie had lighter, more translucent eyes (Simon now has dark hazel eyes which are on their way to brown, and Jamie's eyes are bright blue)... Jamie had a deep chin cleft, Simon had a subtle chin dimple... they had completely different features and hardly even looked like brothers, let alone twins. For others, the differences are very slight... for some, it's difficult to tell who's who even when you're staring right at both of them. DNA testing (does not have to be blood - they can do it with saliva) is the only way to know for sure. But some of those early differences (like blood type or dominant traits like a chin cleft) are pretty much certainty that twins are fraternal - for identical twins to have different eye colours or to not share a dominant trait like a chin cleft would require a dropped allele or mutation in one twin but not the other, which is very uncommon. 

    
  

  
  

   
  

  
  

  *Spontaneous* OHSS diagnosed 08.06.2012
  Right ovary removed 09.04.2012 via vertical laparotomy
  Essure implant placed on remaining tube 06.13.2013; successful followup scan 09.30.2013

  
  

  
  

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• carrotcake06 member

  October 2014

  My di/di boys are very obviously fraternal. They're spontaneous and there are no twins anywhere in my family for 4 generations, so I thought there was a decent chance they were ID. But nope. They have very different personalities as well.

  
  
  
  

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• twinmom1121 member

  October 2014

  We are not sure if our di/di boys are fraternal or ID because they do look so much alike. At my first ultrasound they told me they were fraternal but that's only because there were two sacs and two placentas. They have always been almost the exact same height and weight and have the same hair color/texture and eye colors. To me they look a little different but to everyone else they look identical. I am thinking about getting them DNA tested because I just want to know for sure! They didn't tell me their blood types at the hospital which I wish they would have.

  
  

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