Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Double Vision?


Ever since they were born, we have wondered if our girls were actually twins. They looked so similar that for the first few weeks, we alternated between drawing magic marker earrings on Coraline, and writing their initials on their heels. Were it not for the development of Coraline's hemangiomas, we still would be relying on artificial means of telling our daughters apart. Still though, we do temporarily confuse them, including the classic example where Nana went all morning thinking she had the other girl. .
But on the other hand, we don't think our girls are identical, for they had separate placentas, and as similar as they look to each other, they also look similar to our son. Since he can't be identical to the girls, why should they be identical to each other. And furthermore, which is a more likely scenario after two eggs were released - that a third egg was also released, or that after that rare event, an even rarer event occurred and one of the eggs split.

Then again, Betty and Coraline are developing at the same pace (Arthur is always ahead), they have the same preferences, same behavior characteristics, and we still do mix them up all the time. So finally we decided to figure it out. We ordered a DNA test from ProActive Genetics. The girls each got four cheek swabs tonight, and they'll get another four tomorrow morning. Once we mail them back to the company, we just have to wait the two weeks to finally get an answer to this perplexing question.

3 comments:

Sheena/H2Mommy said...

That is such a neat idea. I can't wait to see if they are identical or not.

Luckily, there is no doubt that my girls are identical.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I saw your blog link on the August07 multiples board and just wanted to say hey. I have twins that were due in August but came our way July time! I have a Corah as well, quite like your Coraline! That is such an interesting idea to find out if they are identical or not, I know there is a higher chance with twins. I am positive my girls are fraternal though, they are just SO different!

Amy xo

Jennifer Uribe said...

It would be so cool if the girls are identical!

I saw some of your posts on the BBC Multiples board and have been having lots of fun reading your posts. I'm a twin mom and, like your Erin, I'm a teacher.

Can't wait to hear the results!