Multiple Birth Info

Twins, triplets, quadruplets and more come in various types. Commonly referred to as ‘identical’ or ‘ fraternal’, I prefer the proper labels:

Dizygotic (fraternal) is defined as siblings whom share the same birth date. They began life an individual eggs (from the Mom) and seeing as there is always enough sperm available to potentially fertilize the eggs, they can result in twins, triplets, quadruplets quintuplets, or more. The larger pregnancies can be all dizygotic or a combination with monozygotic.

Monozygotic (identical) is when one egg and one sperm separate (for reasons still unknown) and produce two or more “identical” babies. The world’s only recorded monozygotic quintuplets are the Canadian-born Dionne Quintuplets.

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