The Fascination With Twins

People have babies every second of every day. But, from my very brief research, the chance of having fraternal twins with no fertility drugs is about 3%. My chances may have been slightly higher since my grandfather was a twin.

Now, of course our initial reaction to the news of me being pregnant with twins was one of shock. That feeling very quickly shifted to one of excitement. We feel very fortunate that I became pregnant relatively easily, so if we're being given two babies then so be it! Our feelings shifted so quickly, so I often forget that hearing that I'm pregnant with twins can be shocking, horrifying or fascinating to others. It has become second nature to say, "they" or "the babies." I think in twos.

One of my favourite reactions so far came from one of the security people back in December. She asked me if there was any reason that I cannot go through the new body x-ray scanners. I told her that I was pregnant. I then prepped myself for the dreaded patdown that I'd heard so much about. Thankfully, it was completely uneventful and there was no groping, as the media had talked about. (I think the US is worse!) Anyways, while she's doing her thing, she asks me about my pregnancy and I end up telling her that I'm having twins. She stops, puts her hands up and says, "Oh! I feel so honoured!" No, she didn't say it sarcastically ;)

Sometimes the reaction is one that says, "poor you" in anticipation of all the work involved in raising twins. Good friends of my parents have twin grandsons. While having dinner with my parents and their friends, one of them says to me, "oh my God, your life is going to be hell for the first year!" Granted he was several glasses of wine in.... He didn't mean for this to sound like that, I know! I had a woman on Queen St. tell me that pregnancy was going to be hell for me in the last month or so (she had 10 month old twins herself). Thank you lady. That is very helpful information. These comments roll off my back now. Everyone is different and I know I'm strong enough to handle it.

More often than not, the reaction that I get is one of fascination and intrigue. At my first prenatal yoga class, we went around the room to do the usual introductions. When it was my turn, I introduced myself and said that I was pregnant with twins. "Ohh wow!!" The group said in unison. At this point regardless of who I'm speaking with, I'm usually asked many questions. Are they identical or fraternal? Boys or girls or both? What position are they in? What do kicks feel like? Did you do IVF? How are you feeling? etc.

Feel free to share your initial reaction, regardless of how good or "bad" it may have been :)