Cool Facts

 

 

Cool Facts Page, For Everything ‘Cool’, Of Course!

 

 

 

 

 

Molly Ringwaldoften remembered as a child actress, from movies like ‘Sixteen Candles’ and ‘Pretty In Pink’, gave birth to twins on the 10th of July, 2009. Their names are Adele Georgina and Roman Stylianos, obvious girl/boy twins.  They are super cute to!!

 
 

 

Angelina Jolie, had boy/girl twins, back in 2008. Their names are Knox Leon, and Vivienne Marcheline.  I used to think she had to have had the ‘mommy tuck’, but now after surviving my own set of twins, maybe she didn’t. Hmmm..I can only wonder! (And I do:)

 

 

 

  

 Marcia Crosshad twins, fraternal girls, back in February of 2007, named Eden and Savannah.  Quite normal names for a celebrity. I always forget her name, because I can onlly think of her as Kimberly Shaw from Melrose place, or Bree Van de camp, from Desperate Housewives. Sorry Marcia. You rock though.

 

 

  

 Julia Roberts and her husband, became proud parents of twins, boy/girl twins, to be exact, in 2007. Their names Hazel & Phinnaeus. The girl’s name reminds me of that old show with that elderly maid named Hazel, and the other, my 4 yr. old’s favorite tvprogram. The kid with the triangle face he he.  I’m sure the twins will grow up to be so gorgeous their names will make no matter.

 

Kate Gosselin. I don’t know quite when and how she became a celebrity. Apparently from simply having alot of children, and beating down her husband on national television. (Not that he’s any kind of angel), However, I guess she is considered a ‘D’ list celebrity & is a mother of twins, so I will add her to the list. Kate and Jon Gosselin, had twin girls back in February, of the year 2000, followed by a 6 pack, which is what I would need to put up with that woman.    Her and Jon have since split.  No big surprises there.  Gotto feel for those children!

 

 

Jane Seymour, the graceful & timeless actress, is also a mom of twins. Twin boys, named Johnny & Kris, who happened to be named after two celebrity friends, Christopher Reeve, and Johnny Cash. They were born in the year 1995. I’d say a long, long time ago, but to me, it feels like yesterday, so keeping my trap shut there.

 

 Niki TaylorSupermodel, and also mother of twins, gave birth to sons, Jake & Hunter, in December of 1994, just months before losing her beautiful sister, Krissy Taylor, to Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia. She was only 17 yrs. old.

 

 

 

  

Interesting & Fun Facts About Twins

 

 

4.5 million twin individuals live in the United States today, or about 2% of the general population.  An additional 90,000 sets (180,000 individuals) are born each year.

 

 

 Twins (and other multiple births) are on the rise. There were 33 percent more in 1988 than in 1978.   

 

Some thirty percent of multiples are born six weeks premature, or before 30 weeks of gestation.  This figure is 10 times higher than their proportion in the population at large.

 

Nearly 25 percent of the twins born today are not expected until days or moments before their births, eventhough we have the use of ultrasound today, some women still do not utilize it.

 

As American women put off their pregnancies until past their 30th birthday they are increasing their chances of having multiples.

 

 

A woman’s chances of having twins is approximately one in 90 in the United States. Of these, one third are identical, one third are same-sex fraternals and one third are opposite-sex fraternals. 

 

 

Of all fraternal twins, 50% are boy/girl twins, 25% are girl/girl twins, and 25% are boy boy twins. Girls may be an ever so slightly, more common occurance, due to them being stronger right from the start. (As if, us girls didn’t know that.)  Seriously though, girls born premature have a better chance and do better in general then boys, and more females survive the pregnancy in general.  We rock. Enough said 

 

 

Up to 22% of twins are left-handed. In the general populace, only 10% are left-handed.

 

Did you know that where you live can help determine whether or not you conceive, spontaneous multiples? If you live in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the twinning rate is 25% higher than the general populace.  So avoid if you wish, or move there if you would like to be pregnant with multiples.  I’m done, so if I ever spend the night in Conneticut, I will make sure to take precautions, HA HA.

 

If you do NOT  want to have twins, then move to Hawaii. Their rate of twin births is 30% less than the rate in the rest of the nation. Don’t ask why, I have no idea.

 

 

The famous advice columnists Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby) are twins.  I never knew that.

 

 

Fraternal twins run in families. Identical twins are simply a fluke of nature, despite what some people believe.

 

 

Due to sonograms being more widely available earlier in pregnancy,
it is now estimated that for every live twin birth, there are at least 6 other “twins” that no one ever knew about due to the vanishing twin phenomenon.  As many as 1 in 8 of us may have started out as a twin ourselves. Crazy huh?

 

Conjoined twins (twins that are fused together), occur in every 1 out of 400,000 twin births.

 

A woman in Russia in the 1700′s, gave birth to 16 sets of twins, in addition to 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quads!  She’s got Michelle Duggarbeat by a landslide!  Wowser!

 

 

The earliest twins that were ever born, and lived, were at 22 weeks!  Each of the twins were  less than 12 inches long, and weighed only slightly more than a pound.

 

Twins do not have to be born on the same dates. The longest gap between birth is 85 days.  Can you even imagine?  Mine were mere minutes apart, and still there will be screaming about ‘I’m older then you, ha ha ha’.

 

 

27 lbs. and 12oz. Total is the heaviest combined birth weight of any set of twins.  That means they would weigh almost 14 lbs. a piece! Holy smokes. That hurts me, just to think about it.

 

Only a mere 14% of women carry multiples past 37 weeks. Most women give birth prematurely.  I made it to exactly 37 wks.

 

56% of all twin births are spontaneous. (Meaning the couple did not use any fertility measures).  44% are from fertility measures, hence why so many people, like to ask their questions.  ‘do they run in your family’, ‘were you on anything?’.

 

Twins do not have to have the same father. It is possible for a mother to release two eggs separately (as much as 24 days apart). Consequently, the twins could have different due dates.  That is super shocking. 24 DAYS apart?  WOW!

 

82% of multiples are delivered via c-section, while 5% are delivered vaginally. The rest are delivered both by c-section and vaginally.  I think the # is higher then that, the 5%, I was part of that group.

 

Once you’ve had fraternal twins, you are 3 to 4 times more likely to have another set!  Watch out ladies!

 

 

Cool & Freaky Factoids About Twins
 

 
 

 

 
Can twins have 2 fathers?  YES, if the mom has sex, close enough to ovulation with two different men, and happens to spontaneously release, two different eggs, then it is absolutely possible to have two babies by two different fathers AT ONCE!!   Imagine that child support?  Just kidding, but seriously, that is freaky. 

A woman gave birth to twins, one who appears to be much lighter skinned, and one much darker (black), and looking nothing alike, so DNA testing was performed. That is when the news broke.

 

 The twins were born to James Harrison and Mia Washington in 2008. Talk about your baby mama drama!  I guess he forgives her, because they had a baby girl this year.  My husband would have had me packed and 1/2 way down the road, before they finished reading the report. This man has a big heart to forgive her like that!  Bless him!

 

 

  

Can twins have different birthdays?  OF COURSE, especially if it’s close to midnight, on the day your twins are born, however, it’s possible to have twins born even days or weeks apart, especially, and most commonly, in the cases of pre-term labor, where the mother’s labor is halted, after the birth of the first twin.

 

 

Also, they can be born in different years…NO, not years apart really, but if it’s New year’s eve, then giving birth to two babies in two different years, is a definite possibility.  One set of twins, Aaron and Luke Hegenberger, were born only 8 minutes apart, but were born in two different millenniums, back on New Year’s eve, then New Years day, the second twin came, making these twins born in different millenniums. How cool?

 

 *The twins shown in the above photo, were born a whopping 63 days apart to Darren & Kim Rugg!  One twin was born very prematurely at only 25 weeks gestation, and the other’s labor was able to be stopped, for an additional 63 days, which is rare, but possible*.

 

 
Siamese twins are a very rare occurrence, and the vast majority do not survive to birth. Used to be, that those who did, were seen in freak shows, at the circus, which I find horrific, but if they wanted to, to make a buck, a totally different story, (I’m just not one who likes people that pick on others, due to looks, that are out of their control), but I digress.

 

Twins Abigail & Brittany Hensel, are 15 yr old girls, who are conjoined at the head. I have seen a Discovery Healthspecial on these fascinating, and lovely  young ladies, and they seem very happy & content with their lives, and one another.  God bless them & their amazing parents. 

 

 
 

Can boy/girl twins be identical??  The answer has always been NO, but now research has shown, it IS possible, but very, very rarely.  There have been only 10 confirmed cases of ever such a thing happening, and it’s truly a freak occurrence.  It happens when there is a genetic mutation, in monozygotic male twins. For some reason, after the zygote splits, one twin loses a Y chromosome and develops as a female.  In conclusion, due to the rarity of this event, it is safe to assume that 99.9% of boy/girl twins, are fraternal. Just a cool factoid!
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

A Parasitic Twin,  is where a normal, healthy twin, is home to an un-viabletwin, that usually stopped living before birth, but not always, and was incompatible with life,  from the start. Missing organs, and/or structures, needed to survive. Some do live off the host twin after birth, but usually not for very long.  The blood supply of the host, is what feed the ‘mass’ that grows inside of the healthy twin.

 

It can grow over time, and removal is greatly encouraged.  A little boy had a fetus in fetu, (the twin in twin condition), as shown to your left, and looked about 8 months pregnant, before finally having surgery to remove the other twin from his body.  I happen to think the word Parasite, is pretty harsh, for another human being, that sadly wasn’t to be, but it’s their word, not mine. 

 

 

 Who holds the record for the largest twins ever born?  Combinedweight that is.  The heaviest birth weight record for twins, goes to  Mrs. J.P. Haskinof Arkansas.  They were born on February 20 1924, with a combined weight of 27lbs, 12 oz. Oww……That has got tohurt!   I was in pain with only 11!   God bless the woman. The twins were individually 14 lbs, and 13 lbs 12 oz. I surely do hope she had a c-section!!  My Uni hurts just thinking about it.  Anyhow, since then, a couple of mothers have come close, but no one has yet to beat her…Thankfully for them  HA!!

 

*Since I could not find a photo of the record holding woman,  who gave birth way back in 1924, here is the second largest set of twins, that weighed in at  10 lbs. 14 oz, and 12 lbs. 3 oz, for a combined weight of 23 lbs, born to parents, Joey and Erin Maynard, in 2008.*

 

 

 

 More Cool Facts To Come!