Identical twin- surprise!

[Anonymous]

I'm a twin and that's not the surprise. I've grown up with my twin sister and while we look A LOT alike, we have some very small differences in our noses, smiles, and my sis was always a little bit bigger than me growing up. We were always told that we were fraternal because we didn't look 100% alike but never really knew. Our mom had a test done during pregnancy that showed we were identical, but it was the 80s and our mom thought that they had tested one of us twice.

There's been times when we've fooled people but we have different styles (hers is better tbh), some different lifestyle habits (also hers is better), and people who know us well can tell us apart though we've continued to fool all our kids REPEATEDLY. We are also SUPER similar in many ways.

My sis did an ancestry DNA test for one of her kids (I had already done one for myself, she never did one but she wanted to use the data for a medical purpose) and just got the results back. It showed me as his mom We share 50% DNA. I clearly did not birth her child lol so now we know we are identical twins!!

Our kids are genetically half-siblings and when my boys and her boys would call each other "Cousin bros", they were actually onto something! lol.

There's no issue here, it's just a cool thing to share after 35 years of not knowing. But dang, if me and her had married identical twin brothers and had kids....our kids would be genetically full siblings; what a bizarre thing to think about. Anyways, if you are a twin and don't know if you are identical/fraternal....find out!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a twin and that's not the surprise. I've grown up with my twin sister and while we look A LOT alike, we have some very small differences in our noses, smiles, and my sis was always a little bit bigger than me growing up. We were always told that we were fraternal because we didn't look 100% alike but never really knew. Our mom had a test done during pregnancy that showed we were identical, but it was the 80s and our mom thought that they had tested one of us twice.

There's been times when we've fooled people but we have different styles (hers is better tbh), some different lifestyle habits (also hers is better), and people who know us well can tell us apart though we've continued to fool all our kids REPEATEDLY. We are also SUPER similar in many ways.

My sis did an ancestry DNA test for one of her kids (I had already done one for myself, she never did one but she wanted to use the data for a medical purpose) and just got the results back. It showed me as his mom We share 50% DNA. I clearly did not birth her child lol so now we know we are identical twins!!

Our kids are genetically half-siblings and when my boys and her boys would call each other "Cousin bros", they were actually onto something! lol.

There's no issue here, it's just a cool thing to share after 35 years of not knowing. But dang, if me and her had married identical twin brothers and had kids....our kids would be genetically full siblings; what a bizarre thing to think about. Anyways, if you are a twin and don't know if you are identical/fraternal....find out!

Congratulations! Just curious why you didn’t believe the science or why your mom would’ve thought they tested you twice. The answer was always there. Also, I’ve known identical, twins to have small differences. They’re not always quite as identical as you would think.

[Anonymous]

What a funny story. I don't know why your Mom didn't believe the doctors. My college roommate was an identical twin (her twin also went to our school and lived in our dorm). They looked a lot alike but pretty soon after meeting them I could tell the difference. I couldn't tell you what was different about them, probably a bunch of slight difference that all add up.

[Anonymous]

We have friends who have twin girls who are very clearly identical. But their mom insists they are fraternal. I think it's a way to sort of force them into their own identities. But I've never met a set of fraternal twins who I can't tell apart, and these two are difficult to tell apart.

[Anonymous]

OP here - my mom said that there were lots of flaws with this specific test and that it wasn't always accurate. She also apparently had a doctor who didn't check to see if we were in one sac or two and then when she asked, "how will i know if they are identical or fraternal"? He said that, "you'll know if they look exactly like or not".

Womp womp. It was quite the surprise to my mom lol. She immediately called all of her sisters haha. Me and my sis did a joint announcement last night on FB. One person commented that she wasn't sure if we were joking that there are differences in our appearance lol. It was quite easy for family/friends to tell us apart though growing up. We also have usually had different hair styles and sometimes I'm heavier or she's heavier based on different factors.

[Anonymous]

Do you get to be called mom 2 now? Or maybe mom too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you get to be called mom 2 now? Or maybe mom too?

lol!!! I often just respond when I hear a child call mom before I realize who said it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have friends who have twin girls who are very clearly identical. But their mom insists they are fraternal. I think it's a way to sort of force them into their own identities. But I've never met a set of fraternal twins who I can't tell apart, and these two are difficult to tell apart.

I knew twins once who looked truly identical except one had bright blind hair and the other red hair. They were fraternal just looked incredibly alike except for the hair.

[Anonymous]

Do you feel any different now that you know? Does it seem like a deeper bond? Is it weird to think about the fact that you two were a single embryo at conception and then became two different ones thanks to haywire cell division?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you feel any different now that you know? Does it seem like a deeper bond? Is it weird to think about the fact that you two were a single embryo at conception and then became two different ones thanks to haywire cell division?

lol, idk, maybe! My mom said that she was told that it would have been an act of god for me and my sis to be identical after going through some fertility treatments so I told her that yeah, an act of god happened lol. We've always had a really deep bond. We talk pretty much daily and was my best friend growing up. It's cool to know for sure and it's wild to think that her children are genetically my children too and mine hers lol. I love having a twin.

[Anonymous]

I love these stories. My grandmother is a twin and INSISTS she and her twin are identical because the doctor who delivered them said there was one embryonic sac and told her mother they were identical. In reality, these two barely look like siblings - one is blond/blue eyes and one brown eye/hair, different builds, etc. Kind of funny -- no one ever challenges them as they identify as identical but it never really mattered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you feel any different now that you know? Does it seem like a deeper bond? Is it weird to think about the fact that you two were a single embryo at conception and then became two different ones thanks to haywire cell division?

lol, idk, maybe! My mom said that she was told that it would have been an act of god for me and my sis to be identical after going through some fertility treatments so I told her that yeah, an act of god happened lol. We've always had a really deep bond. We talk pretty much daily and was my best friend growing up. It's cool to know for sure and it's wild to think that her children are genetically my children too and mine hers lol. I love having a twin.

oh and I can only strive to someday be one of those people that have done hilarious twin photos when they are elderly lol! It does kind of make me feel a bit for our older sister (there are 3 girls), because it definitely reinforces that she has been more of the 3rd wheel sis and that's a crummy place to be but it honestly doesn't really change much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love these stories. My grandmother is a twin and INSISTS she and her twin are identical because the doctor who delivered them said there was one embryonic sac and told her mother they were identical. In reality, these two barely look like siblings - one is blond/blue eyes and one brown eye/hair, different builds, etc. Kind of funny -- no one ever challenges them as they identify as identical but it never really mattered.

Aww, that’s cute. We knew our twin girls were fraternal from day one because they have different blood types. Later, it became clear that they have different hair and eye colors. I think it’s fascinating that there’s a third type of twins. It’s rare, but sometimes an egg splits before fertilization takes place, and then each of the resulting divided portions of the egg are fertilized with a different sperm, resulting in two embryos that are half identical.

[Anonymous]

I think that's a better case scenario than codependent twins who are SURE they look identical when they totally don't. With the sets up twins I grew up with, there was always one slightly better looking one, and then slightly squished looking one- but we had to all pretend we couldn't tell them apart. I always felt cringe about that.

I even know a couple sets of VERY fraternal twins whose mothers dressed them identically even though they had very different features and body types- kind of a David Spade/Chris Farley situation.

I think it's good to have your own identities so I could see myself telling mine they are fraternal instead. Haven't decided yet.

[Anonymous]

My sisters are identical twins -- they took the DNA test when they were in college -- but they are easy to tell apart. I think one sat on the other's head in utero and squished it because one has a narrower face, haha.