Identical or Not?? Sooo Confused

My girls are identical and we found out through DNA tests. I had one placenta but two sacs...my doctor said there are too many variables to determine identical or fraternal before birth. The testing was done immediately and we knew before we left the hospital...
Congrats!! Twins are wonderful!!

There are 2 sacs around a baby-an outer and an inner. Mono-di means one outer sac and that each have their own inner sac which means identical. That's what my girls were. If there's only 1 placenta then more than likely they are identical. Sometimes the placentas can fuse together making it look like one in fraternals.

My neighbors have twins who look identical but are actually fraternal, 2 different sacks. None of us can tell them apart - just the parents, and only then from the front! They just laugh about it and love their children who are beautiful girls. I'm not sure why you are so concerned - you should de-stress and enjoy the pregnancy. There are many mysteries and joys to come - it's okay to experience them as they occur. We never have all the answers in advance. Unless they have told you there is some great problem or risk, there's no point in aggravating yourself.

Our twins are identical, yet were in separate sacs. The dr. informed me that it all depends on how early after conception the 'split' happens as to whether they're in their own sacs or in the same one...if it's an early split, you'll have 2, late split will be single. When our girls were born, I thought the dr. was crazy--they looked NOTHING alike. He laughed at me and told me to tell him that in a year...man, was he right! There are days that even I have trouble telling them apart just by looks. Just remember, though...Even though they may LOOK alike--they are separate individuals who will have totally opposite likes/dislikes. They will be their own little people. Congratulations!

Here's an interesting chart for you to look at:

http://multiples.about.com/cs/funfacts/l/aa060101b.htm

From this information it appears that it's possible for them to be identical but statistically speaking it's most likely that they are not.

Apparently either one can have seperate sacks and either one can have one plancenta.

I'm assuming you do not know the gender yet? Obviously if you find out it's a boy and a girl, you'll have your answer :-)!

Good luck!
K.

The only fool proof way to tell if they are identical is genetic testing. Usually identical twins share the same sac. But it has happened that they didn't. I'll tell ya, you are having two babies! Congratulations! Lord willing, they will be healthy and you and your family will be blessed!

A friend of mine just had twins and they had the boys DNA tested to see if they were identical or not. They just learned the boys are identical but boy are they individuals LOL

Agree with the other posts - the only way to determine if they are truly identical is by testing their DNA once they are born.

You can't always tell til birth, but the attending physician at delivery probably will. They told me my girls were fraternal, in separate sacks and with separate placenta. They told me the placenta is the key. If they really only have one placenta then they are identical, but they told me that was a difficult call to make til birth. I have heard people say that they had to have their twins tested to know. That was not my experience.
Now does that mean people will believe you "NO" My girls were fraternal twins, but looked alike til about 10yo. People could never tell them apart and would argue that they were certainly identical. Today as they turn 20 soon, people argue that they are certainly not twins.
You will find that identical twins age and get more and more alike and fraternal twins as they age get more and more different. Hence the reason at twin conventions there are catagories for "most alike" and "most different"
May God bless you with healthy, happy, and peaceful twins.

My sis had twins they are now 3 I can't tell them apart for the life of me I keep asking them their names they tell me the other twins name till someone say's no they are kiddin you.When they were born 6 weeks early you could tell them apart as tehy grew I can't tell them apart as well as others only their parents and big bro can tell the difference.They were told that they would need a DNA test to tell for sure because after birth they were unable to determine the sacks and tyhe placenta something seperated don't know for usre jsut can't recall exactly what happened,they won't get a DNA test if their brothers want to then maybe they will later in life but as of now they are happy with just having them there's no need to know if they are identical or not.Having multiples it's confusing on how much lingo their is twins it's twins to me.After their born time will only tell & you can go for the DNA route ask if it can be doen with the after birth when it goes to lab after delivery.

My girls are identical. They shared the same sack. For some reason the dr couldn't tell that until I was about 20 wks along but they are definitely identical. They were born with a 2 lb difference (6 lbs and 4 lbs) so of course they looked different at first but the bigger they got the less you could tell them apart.

i agree with those who say DNA test is the only way to 100% tell... we have boy/girl twins so we know they are fraternal... but we have 2 friends who had their twins tested... our friend with the girl/girl twins found that they are identical... our friend with boy/boy twins found that hers are fraternal, even though they look like clones of eachother!
there might be ways to tell for sure before birth, but from what i've heard the test is the only way to tell 100%!
Congrats on twins! its a wild ride :)

i think if they have different sacs are fraternal.
same sac = identical

my twins are fraterna

boy and girl

I've always heard you can only tell by a DNA test after they are born, unless they are boy and girl then they are definitely fraternal. I think if they shared a sac they would be identical, seperate sacs can go either way.

Definitely identical.

Hi. Congratulations on your twins. I was recently told that I was having mono/di twins (monochorionic/diamniotic) conceived through IVF. They are in different sacs and we don't know if they are sharing a placenta yet. Just because they are in different sacs it DOES NOT mean that they are not identical. In fact you want them to be separate sacs because the risks are so much higher when they share a sac (Monochorionic/Monoamniotic). Since I went through the IVF process we were able to see the split egg at 7 weeks. So, we know for sure that they are identical. Here is some info:

The most common form of identical twins are mono-chorionic (one placenta), di-amniotic (two maniotic sacs). It is very rare to have mono-chorionic, mono-amniotic twins-these are then in the same sac, with no dividing membrane.

Fraternal Twins
Fraternal (dizygotic) twins are the result of two separate eggs being fertilized by two sperms at the same time, so that two embryos implant and develop with two placentas. The twins may look different and be different sexes.

I got this from http://www.baby2see.com: Most of the time in identical twins the zygote will split after 2 days, resulting in a shared placenta, but two separate sacs. These are called monochorionic, diamniotic ('mono/di') twins.These twins are very similar genetically, and share a single afterbirth.

Of course the article was saying that while all fraternal twins are di/di, that can also occur in 20 - 30% of identical twins. It sounds like if they are mono/di though that they will most likely be identical.

Here's the question though, have they ALWAYS looked to share one placenta? The reason I ask is, fraternal twins could have started out as di/di but then the placenta fused making it look like they are sharing one and are now mono/di.

Either way, congrats!!