Identical vs. Fraternal.... Now we know!

I have always said from the beginning that my boys were fraternal. There are lots of reasons I felt this way including my Dr. I ovulated twice(2 eggs dropped), they had 2 sacs and 2 placentas, and they measured several days apart in our first ultrasound. 

 To me they are so different. In looks and personality. But, anytime we go out people ask or assume they are identical. To the point of people arguing with me when I say fraternal. Finally I decided to find out for sure. I wanted to be able to say without any reservation, Yes I am sure. 

I got some Christmas money and ordered a test online from a site a friend used with her twins.
You can get it here... www.proactivegenetics.com

 They send you some swabs. I collected 8 in total from each boy. They were not thrilled with the idea but I got it done. Then  I shipped them off to wait for 2 weeks.

Yesterday I got the results by email. So what do you think? Identical or Fraternal?

 

 

   

 

 

I started reading the results to Matt : We are pleased to report to you the results of the twin zygosity test that you requested. Analysis of the DNA indicates that Micah John Marteney and Mason Russell Marteney are... as my eyes read ahead of what my mouth was saying it literally fell open.

monozygotic, or more commonly referred to as IDENTICAL TWINS.

I could not believe what I was reading. I  know this sounds crazy like it shouldn't really matter, but I was shaken. Somehow everything I had thought was wrong. Of course nothing has really changed. They are still 2 very different (and very different looking to me) individuals. But now they are not just 2 siblings who happened to occupy my belly at the same time but TWINS! Yes I know they are twins either way. haha! But the same DNA. 1 egg split into 2 babies inside of me. Wow! So crazy. I started to wonder if somehow it would be different than I had thought when I look forward to what they might be like later in life. Will they start to look more alike? Will they have more of that "twin" connection somehow? Where they know how the other is feeling, or live together and work together, and have the same interests? Or will it be like I pictured with them looking less alike as they grow and having opposite interests but still having a connection because no matter what at some point they shared a space inside of me? No matter what that is pretty special.

Madison's response was kind of funny. She was in the room when I was reading it to Matt. She said, "No, I thought they were normal. They are different Mom! Micah has a circle face and Mason has an oval face. " haha! To her she never had any idea that they could be the same as twins like most people think. I had to explain that they are still different.

Overall it is just kind of surreal. I am going back through their newborn pictures looking at them kind of differently than before I guess. I can still tell them apart. Now I find myself looking more for the similarities than the differences though.

I am a mom to identical twin boys. I love them and cannot wait to see what God has in store for each of them.