Survey Results
As of November 18, 2002, we have had 141 surveys filled out by parents of twins. Just under 75% of all surveys believe their twins to be either fraternal or aren't sure of the zygosity, while about one in four report their twins are identical.
Approximately 2/3 of all moms gained 50-pounds-or-less during their pregnancies, with the remainder gaining more than that or not answering the question.
A surprisingly-high amount of survey respondents conceived their twins naturally, just under 80% of the individuals who knew their twins were either fraternal (or don't know their zygosity) and all but one of the 37 moms who responded their twins are identical.
About half of our moms did not have bedrest of any type; those that did were split fairly evenly between modified and full with the bedrest length of time being across the board from less than a week to more than 3 months.
So far in our survey results, it appears that the chances of delivering twins naturally as opposed to a c-section or combination (natural and c-section) is stronger for identical twins than fraternal. About 2/3 of all fraternal/unknown twins to answer our question thus far have been c-sections or combination births compared to vaginal deliveries, while 50% of the identical twins have been born via c-section/combo and 50% naturally.
This is a little surprising as identical twins do tend to be delivered at earlier gestation periods and if the identical twins share one inner (monoamniotic) sac, they are almost always delivered via c-section, but that is how our survey results look thus far. Overall, 68% of the identical twins gestation periods reported to us have been 36-weeks-or-less, while just 56% of the fraternal (or unknown zygosity) twins gestation periods reported to us have been 36-weeks-or-less.
Just under half of the survey answers indicate that at least one of their twins spent some time in NICU after birth although most typically the time spent in NICU was very short, less than two weeks, with more than 30% of those that spent time in NICU spending less than one week.
