What are the chances of me having twins ?

Question

at 5 wekks and 4 days i am showing , my belly is already getting hard . My mothers fathe had 2 sets of twins with two diffrent ladies . so i know it ruins in the familey . are chances better because it comed from my mothers side of the familey ?

Answer 1

You often hear news stories about twins.
In Dallas, recently, there were stories about separating conjoined twins, an 'epidemic' of twins, triplets and quads in an elementary school, the 'natural' birth of quads (two sets of identical twins), and there was the tragic story of toddler twins who drowned in their family's pool.

All of these stories and news coverage makes it seem that having twins and higher order multiples is very common.

Is it?

There has been an increase in multiple births in recent years.

In the United States, in the year 2000, there were:

118,916 Twin Births


6,742 Triplet Births


506 Quadruplet Births


77 Quintuplets & Other Higher Order Births


That is a 74 percent increase in the number of twin births from 1980.

And since there were just over 4 million births in the United States in 2000, about 3% of babies were born as a twin or higher order multiple (triplets, quads, etc.), which although not common, does mean that multiples are more common than many people believe.

So what is your chance of having more than one baby at a time?

Basically, it is 3% or 1 in 33.

There are things that can increase your chances of having a multiple birth, including a mother being 30 or over when she conceives. For example, while there is a 3% chance of having a multiple birth at age 25-29, it increases to 4% at 30-34 years and almost 5% at 35-39 years.

Other factors that can increase your chances of having twins include having a maternal family history of multiple births (fraternal), and of course, using fertility treatments (in vitro fertilization or fertility drugs).

Your chance of having twins is also influenced by your race (multiples are more common in African Americans and least common in Hispanics and Asians), how many times you have been pregnant (the chance of having twins increases with each pregnancy), and whether or not you have had twins already.

Keep in mind that statistics for birth rates and multiple births include all births, including those that were the result of fertility treatments and those that were spontaneous or 'natural'. So if you don't have any of the factors mentioned above that can increase your chance of having multiples, your chance is going to be a little less than 3%. The chance of having 'natural' fraternal twins is only about 1.7% or 1 in 60. The chances of having twins with the use of fertility treatments can be as high as 20-25%!

Of multiple births, the rate of fraternal twins has been increasing the most, and that makes sense since the chance of having fraternal twins is influenced by an advanced maternal age and the use of fertility treatments.

The chance of having identical twins has remained steady, and is about 0.4% or 1 in 250.

Other statistics:

chance of having conjoined twins: 1 in 50-80,000
chance of having 'natural' triplets: 1 in 8,100 (only about 30% of triplets are 'natural')
chance of having 'natural' quads: 1 in 729,000 (only about 6% of quads are 'natural')
chance of having 'natural' quints: 1 in 55,000,000
How about the mom that had two sets of identical twins? The chance of having 'natural' quads that are made up of two sets of identical twins is thought to be as high as 1 in 25-36 million. It is probably lower though. An internet search found other occurrences of having 'naturally' born newborn quadruplets which were two sets of identical twins in Kansas (Tetrick quads) in 2002, in Boston in 2000 (Battles quads), and in Texas in 1995 (Collier quads). So, in the past 8 years, among about 32 million births in the US, there have been at least 4 sets of identical twin quads born, for a rate of about 1 in 8 million.

And a family in Nevada gave birth to four identical boys (Karma quads) in 1997, and two families, one in California (Khamsa/Muy quads) and another in Washington (Hulford quads) had four identical girls in 2002. The chance of 'naturally' having identical quads is thought to be about 1 in 11 to 50-600 million (depending on who you ask).



Dr. Iannelli is the proud father of identical twin boys and a somewhat helpful stepson who is still wondering why we had to bring home two babies at the same time.

Answer 2

It depends on whether the twins in your family are identical or fraternal (born at the same time but don't look alike). Fraternal twins are genetic and if these are the twins that are in your family then yes it will increase your chance of having twins. If the twins in your family are identical it doesn't mean you have a better chance of having twins. Identical twins are a random event when cell division get messed up. So every woman has the same chance of having identical twins.

Answer 3

I know you are not going to believe this...but the fact that your mothers father had two sets twins has nothing to do with you being able to have twins. If your mothers father had twins with your grandma, then you have a good possibility to have twins...as it usually skips a generation.
It has solely to do with the female. Men do not have special sperm that split an egg or make you put out two eggs. The sperm are only there to fertilize whatever you got goin on...You have to inherit the possibility from your grandmother or mother. There you will inherit the likelyhood (or not) to have twins.

Answer 4

It's a genetic trait carried through females. So you can basically X out every male in your genetic tree, and examine it that way. If your grandmother had twins, that'd be an indicator. If your mother had twins, that'd be a better indicator. If they both had twins, you should probably start shopping for a side-by-side stroller.

Answer 5

Well twins usually skip a generation - my boyfriend is a twin and his greataunts or uncles (forgot which) are twins which means our daughter will have a higher chance of having twins.
I would look back into your family tree and see if there is a pattern.
i showed right about that time too and i thought it could've been twins too. Congrats!

Answer 6

It usually skips a generation. Unfortunately, you are gonna have to wait until your ultrasound. I had a good chance of having twins because it runs in my side and my husbands side of the family but I am just pregnant with one child!

Answer 7

yeah, you have 1/3 of a chance of getting twins. It runs in your family, so you might be lucky, especialy at 5 wks & 4 days.

Answer 8

ok for sure twins run on your loved ones so there's a threat. as on your remark "as my bro has had twin is there a sturdy hazard that something human beings wont have twins as he has had them" it would not artwork like that.....

Answer 9

i'm guessing by your other questions that you really want twins.

it will happen if it's meant to happen. and as far as the showing goes, you're probably just bloated, not a "baby bump"
i have never ever heard of someone really showing at 5 weeks.

i'm 7 weeks and ya cant tell a difference at all by just looking at me.

Answer 10

Were the twins in your family identical or fraternal?
Fraternal twins are genetic but identical twins are like a fluke.

Answer 11

Having twins has nothing to do with your father's activities. It is all about you. Try spellcheck next time, okay?