# Is it possible to TTC twins naturally?



## Mama Poot

I know- an insane thing to ask when you've got two as young as mine! But I've wondered this for a while. My dad is a fraternal twin, and I've been told this gives me a teeny tiny higher chance of having twins myself. His twin brother has twin daughters, and one of those twin daughters has twins herself!! Is it possible to know if your body releases two eggs during a cycle?? If so, what would be the signs?? I guess way deep down I have this fantasy of having twin girls














: We would never do IVF or any other fertility treatments ( dont need to LOL! )


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## Three~Little~Birds

I don't know the answer, but I am totally curious if anyone else does...


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## ApplePieBaby

I've always secretly (ok, not so secretly) wanted twins too!


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## Panthira

I have twins and it's HIGH risk. My son is severely disabled with cerebral palsy from being a twin and my daughter has learning disabilities. It's very difficult for someone like me to hear people longing for twins when my 15 yr old son is in diapers and can't sit up on his own from being a twin. I guess it can be cute, if you survive the high risk pregnancy, or rather the children do...

Fraternal twins comes from the MOTHER because she's the one that releases the eggs. The husband has nothing to do with the ability to conceive twins, though a father might pass down the gene. Identical twins is a mutation and supposedly not genetic. I've conceived two sets of twins, but in the second set one of them was reabsorbed, resulting in a singleton birth.


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## loon13

I don't know if there is a way to tell for sure, unless you had some sort of ovulation testing done while you were ovulating.

Isn't there such a thing? A test to verify that you are ovulating?









Anyway, I'm a fraternal twin and I'm now pregnant with twins. The doc explained it to me that my mom had the ability to hyperovulate b/c she conceived fraternal twins naturally. She must have passed that ability on to me b/c I have now conceived twins naturally (and we're pretty sure they are fraternal although that's not quite verified yet).

Anyway, he said just because you may have the ability to hyperovulate doesn't mean you automatically conceive twins each time. The same thing as saying that just because you can ovulate doesn't mean you get pregnant each time. For all we know, I may very well have hyperovulated when we conceived dd, but we didn't conceive twins, only dd.

Make sense?







:


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## bobandjess99

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Panthira* 
Fraternal twins comes from the MOTHER because she's the one that releases the eggs. The husband has nothing to do with the ability to conceive twins, though a father might pass down the gene. Identical twins is a mutation and supposedly not genetic. .

Yup, sorry...your
dad being a fraternal twin has NOTHING to do with you having twins..now, if YOUR MOTHER, or your maternal grandmother had fraternal twins, then you would be statistically more likely.

I do not know of anything that would "help" you release more than one egg naturally. Perhaps if you took some fertility-enhancing herbs like red clover and vitex...but it seems unlikely.

I know some people really believe in a string mind-body connection..perhaps if you do, you could work on trying to "ask" your body to let you have twins?

Clomid would up your chance from 1% to roughly 10%...it is a fertility drug, but just a pill you pop, not anything like IVF or anything....

While i understand your fascination.. (i used to want twin girls back when i was readin the Sweet valley twins books as a little girl)....i think that if you talk to the real-life moms of twins, you will get a better understanding of how really hard it is.....and, like the pp said, there are more risks involved....obviously, there is twice the joy and love...but at a price.


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## TwinMom

Just like some of the pps said, fraternal twins are determined by YOUR genes, not your husbands, and identical twins just happen naturally. As a mom of twins, though, I have to say that it's not something *I* would choose to go through. I love my daughters, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't wish the pregnancy or those first four years on anyone, not even my worst enemy. You don't know what you're asking for.


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## mommysusie

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Panthira* 
I have twins and it's HIGH risk. My son is severely disabled with cerebral palsy from being a twin and my daughter has learning disabilities. It's very difficult for someone like me to hear people longing for twins when my 15 yr old son is in diapers and can't sit up on his own from being a twin. I guess it can be cute, if you survive the high risk pregnancy, or rather the children do...

Fraternal twins comes from the MOTHER because she's the one that releases the eggs. The husband has nothing to do with the ability to conceive twins, though a father might pass down the gene. Identical twins is a mutation and supposedly not genetic. I've conceived two sets of twins, but in the second set one of them was reabsorbed, resulting in a singleton birth.

I understand what you are saying. I have fraternal twins, boy and girl. My girl is normal although small for her age. (she's 6 1/2 and in a 4t) but my twin boy is autistic. They are definately alot of work still.
Mine were concieved naturally with no help. My grandmother used to say that sweet potatoes are natural fertility drugs and will help you concieve twins. I hate sweet potatoes so I have never tried that theory.
One of the things I missed when I had twins was being able to spend quality time with each one. With my first son, I loved all the cuddling I was able to do, but I didn't have time to do that as much with my twins and I really missed that.


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## momz3

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Panthira* 
I have twins and it's HIGH risk. My son is severely disabled with cerebral palsy from being a twin and my daughter has learning disabilities. It's very difficult for someone like me to hear people longing for twins when my 15 yr old son is in diapers and can't sit up on his own from being a twin. I guess it can be cute, if you survive the high risk pregnancy, or rather the children do...

Fraternal twins comes from the MOTHER because she's the one that releases the eggs. The husband has nothing to do with the ability to conceive twins, though a father might pass down the gene. Identical twins is a mutation and supposedly not genetic. I've conceived two sets of twins, but in the second set one of them was reabsorbed, resulting in a singleton birth.









I'm so sorry


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## mama_at_home

Ok, from what I understand, your father's genes DO count. If the women in a man's family tend to release more than one egg, that trait can be passed onto his daughters. So if twins ran in your husband's family but not yours, it would not increase your chances of twins, BUT that trait could be passed onto your daughters. But since twins do run in your family, even on your father's side, that trait can be passed on to you. Twins run in my family on my father's side but not my mothers and I have fraternal boy/girl twins. Twins don't run in my husband's family but it would not have affected us conceiving twins anyway.

As far as wishing and hoping for twins, I did! I desperately wanted twins and I got them. I know many women who wished for twins and got them. In the book Having Twins, Elizabeth Noble talks about how women can "will" their bodies to release more than one egg, if you believe that sort of thing. Twins CAN be high risk but don't have to be, and aren't always. I carried my twins to 40 weeks 1 day and they were born at home in the water with no complications. My girl was 6 lbs 10 oz and my boy was 8 lbs 4 oz. I am truly so sorry to hear about the mamas who had complications with their twin pregnancies. Those things can happen and do happen, and those circumstances and very real and heartbreaking.

But I just wanted to point out that twin pregnancies don't have to be high risk and they can be very successful. Anyway, twins are SO MUCH WORK. So much more than I ever could have imagined, but I would not trade them for the world. Even though I feel like I am losing my mind, I love having twins and I would actually like another set one day. A LONG time from now.


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## texaspeach

I have always wondered about whether you can tell if you've released more than one egg. The only way that I know of is via u/s. I have looked at thousands and thousands of fertility charts with temp, mucous, etc and there is no pattern for twin charts as far as I can tell.

I just want to agree that your dad being a fraternal twin would increase your chances of having twins because you inherited half your dna from him. if your husband was a fraternal twin that wouldn't increase your chances because you're releasing the eggs. If we're talking identical twins, then there is no increase in chances because they are caused by a random division of a single egg.


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## twinnies10

Im not sure .....thats a good question

i do have beautiful twin girls who are healthy and there is nothing wrong with wanting twins !! people have healthy twins everyday just has they have healthy and unhealthy single births


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## mayalee

old southern wisdom of the grandmas, consuming sweet potatoes makes you extra fertile.


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## MoonStarFalling

I conceived twins right after stopping my wild yam supplement (I was using it as herbal birth control), plus I was breastfeeding and overweight. All things that contribute to conceiving twins. A high nutrition diet with lots of folic acid helps too.


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## TwinMom

Texaspeach, something I've always wondered is if I had such extremely painful and long periods as a teen because I was releasing two eggs. Not just periods, but ovulation was always painful. After having my twins I took b.c. pills for seven years, which solved the pain problems for the most part. I have only had five periods in over six years, thanks to breastfeeding, but I wonder if that will continue when AF returns, since I won't be using any b.c. Where's that Thank Maude for Vasectomies smiley?


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