*beware gratuitous photo sharing*

Thought I'd a share a more recent photo, just coz. They don't look anything alike in this one do they LOL?

Gorgeous photo of your gorgeous ID girls, Nicolie. Glad you have the result (and that I was right LOL ). Of course us parents of ID twins know they're nothing alike....

Yay! Isn't it nice to know for sure?

Not that I expected it to be otherwise .

Thought so! That's a lovely photo

I knew they were ID.

Your girls look similar to mine one has a rounder face and one looks a little thinner with a longer face which can make them look totally different in photos.

The photo is beautiful.

The last 5 posters (is that the right word!! ) all have beautiful ID girls.

As a mother of VERY different fraternal girls, it is so easy for me to see that all of your gorgeous girls are ID!! For you who are around them every day, it is easy for you to tell them apart, but for the casual observer, it's obvious they are ID.

They are all just beautiful!!

My girls are ID too but i knew before they where born cause of the way they were. were they in different sacs and had different placentas? is that the only time you test them or do some people test them even if they were like mine to mkake sure?

Hi Cynthia, glad to see you are still around .

They can't be 100% certain while you are still pregnant, because it can be hard to tell from ultrasounds whether there in fact 2 sacs or just one with a membrane between the babies (especially if you didn't have an ultrasound until 13 weeks like me LOL). Placentas often fuse together making them look like one, and ID twins can actually have seperate sacs and placenta if they split very early. In our case, we were told that our girls were most likely ID (93% likely to be precise!). The only way to tell for sure is with DNA testing. I guess the exception would be monoamniotic/monozygotic twins were there is no seperating membrane at all.

We had our girls tested because they are part of some twin research, and it's important for the researchers to know if they are ID or not. It doesn't really matter in every day life, it's just nice to know IYKWIM.

Our girls were only tested as we are also in a twins research study group called VIBES at the RCH in melb, its a premature birth research group started when they are born and they are assessed yearly until they go to school. I don't think I would have paid to have them tested - just to know.IYKWIM.

What resreach study are your girls in Calamity Jane?

nicki.d - I would have picked your girls to be ID too, I was surprised they are fraternal, they look so alike.

mumofterrortwins - LOL! If you saw my girls in real life, you would rethink them being ID. They are like chalk and cheese!! Admittedly, that picture probably does make them look similar, but they are poles apart.

I measured them the other day, and Caitlin is 9cm taller than Alana, and 3.5kg heavier. She is (and had always been) in a size bigger clothing than Alana. That's great though, because I've just been through Caitlin's winter clothes and handed them all down to Alana. It's great, I have twins girls, but I only have to buy one set of clothes!!

Nic~ I too think your girls look very alike, but then all your children look alike to me. I know that photos can be very deceiving too

Belinda

mumofterrortwins - they are in the Looking at Language study. It's a joint project between the Telethon Institute here in Perth and Uni of Kansas in the US so it's huuuge. It's been going for at least 6 years already and they have just had their funding extended too . We do an annual questionnaire and full speech assessments at 4 and 6 years.

Nicki - OMG 3.5kgs difference! I weighed mine today (at the vet, their scales are more accurate LOL) and they are exactly the same weight. At last check Hannah was 0.5cm taller.

I am jealous!

Nicolie, my girls are usually the same weight and up until about 2.5 they were often the same to the very gram. I think there is about half a kilo between them now (from what I can tell in lifting them!)