A few weeks ago I had a conversation about twins with a woman who was confusing maternal and paternal with fraternal and identical. I politely set her straight. Then last Friday, I had a conversation about twins with a woman who thought her likelihood of conceiving twins was higher because her boyfriend is a twin and her grandmother had twins and twins skip a generation. I then politely set her straight.

And then it dawned on me that I might not actually know what I am talking about. I mean, I know the difference between maternal, paternal, fraternal, and identical. But I might not have my facts straight when comes to the how and why of fraternal and identical. I read those twins books while pregnant, meaning I might not accurately remember what I read. Combine that with my already poor memory and it’s likely I could be making up facts at this point.

Here is what I think to be true:

• Twins do not skip a generation so it doesn’t really matter if your grandmother had a set of twins
• Men have nothing to do with the likelihood conceiving twins, although they are necessary to the whole process or whatever
• Identical twins cannot be predicted; sometimes your fertilized egg just splits
• Fraternal twins are the hereditary kind, meaning either you drop two eggs during ovulation or you don’t
• Fraternal twins can look identical but not be

I know a few other things to be true (like the Tooth Fairy isn’t real) but those are the biggies. I should also point out that what I think to be true is specific to my own experience of conception. Stephen and I didn’t have any help making babies and the facts might be slightly different for a couple who conceived twins with medical assistance.

So, other parents of twins, do I know what I am talking? Or, am I doing more to confuse the issue when trying to set others straight? What are your twins? Fraternal or identical? Mine are fraternal - and they are beautiful.