Identical of Fraternal?

The results are in.
 
 
(Cruiz, Cannon)
These adorable shirts were custom made by Stitcheroos, one of our sponsors {here}. I’ll probably dress the boys in them every time we leave the house, just so I don’t have to answer questions :)

They are identical!

Cannon and Cruiz are Di/Di twins, meaning the boys were in separate sacs and had separate placentas (easiest set of twins to carry). Being di/di and identical means the egg split during day one or two after being fertilized. I was probably the most excited about the results because being identical means I don’t have a higher chance of having twins again… which means I just might be able to talk Pat into another baby in the future! :)

How the test worked - For the twins 1st Birthday my parents paid to have the twins tested. My mom decided to go with this company {here}. The company sent us 10 cotton swabs and a tube to put them in for both boys. We swabbed the inside of their cheeks before bed with four cotton swabs, and the next morning used four more. They sent two extra in case something happened to the others. I placed the swabs in the separate tubes and sent them back to the company.

In the beginning I thought the boys were fraternal, at birth they looked very different and I had been told so many times that identical di/di twins were incredibly rare, so I didn’t think twice about it. After awhile, when they evened out in weight, they began looking much more similar and I noticed they had too many littlie similar characteristics that their siblings didn’t have – both allergic to milk protein, both had dimples, when I cut their hair it grows faster much faster on the left side than the right, and quirky personality traits. Then my SIL encouraged me to take a picture of both boys and put them together. When I couldn’t see Cannon’s different head shape I honestly couldn’t tell the difference. (Cannon on the left, Cruiz on the right).

   I began researching, and I found this.

“Additionally, some soft tissues of the head and face tend to be influenced by the limited space in the human uterus which was primarily designed for one fetus. Therefore, head shape can be quite different between infant identical twins although these differences may only be transitory.” – proactivegenetics.com

After I read that statement and few more things, my guess was they were identical. I was actually really surprised how happy I am that we tested. It is sooo nice to be able to answer people when they ask if they are identical or not. When I used to say, “We’re not quite sure.” most people didn’t understand. And like I said up above, Pat might be able to be talked in to trying for a girl way down the road :)

Here’s an interesting video on twins, which will explain a lot of question a lot of you might have.

Thanks mom and dad, it was definitely fun Birthday present!