In the old times, conceiving twin babies is a dream come true for most mothers and it continues until the present. They say having twin babies makes you a lucky mom that is why a lot are hoping to conceive 2 babies at a time.
According to What To Expect page, the ratio of having twin babies in women pregnancies is 9.5 per 1000 pregnancies but this was still in 1975. There was a high increase in rate over the 3 decades which made it to 16.9 per 1000 pregnancies and this was recorded in 2011.
As explained by HuffPost, the reason behind the increase in rate is because of the assisted pregnancy by using fertility pills. Taking fertility pills increases the chances of multiple gestation because multiple eggs are produced during fertilization.
Even though it gets higher over the decades, it is still considered rare in some countries. Here are some fascinating facts about twin babies and twin pregnancies.
1. There exists a Twin Town
There is one place in Earth where there are a set of 220 twins in one village. Doctors have wondered how it happen. It is a remote village in Kerala, India where there are approximately 2000 families living. Their rate of twin pregnancies in their village is almost 6 times the global average rate according to Mail Online.
2. Born twins with different fathers
This may sound impossible at first but science has explained it. This phenomenon is called "Heteropaternal Superfecundation" or just simply bipaternal twins. This happens when two eggs are fertilized in the same cycle by sperm coming from separate partners. The rareness of this is 1 in every 400 fraternal twin pregnancies.
3. Mother of twins has longer life span
There was a study that was published in The Royal Society revealing that mothers of twins have lived longer. The sample population was taken in the state of Utah in the 1800s. Although these were true only to all natural twin conceptions. There were no IVF, fertility pills or any medically assisted pregnancy in the 1800s.
4. Twin babies have their own secret language
This is called cryptophasia. A language developed by twins. A research that was published in the journal Institute of General Linguistics has revealed that 40 percent of twin babies have their own secret language.
5. Left-handedness is more common in twins than individuals
There was a study in 1996 that has shown 21 percent are left-handed in twins which is twice the rate compared to those who are born solo.
