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| Sunday, 31 July 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Twin feelings by Chamitha Kuruppu and Rikaza Hassan
Aruni Tharindra, never wanted to share clothes with her twin sister. Hiruni Kavindra, never liked the fact that she was always mistaken for her twin sister. Aruni, now a twenty-two-year old pretty woman says, as a kid she "cursed" her parents for giving birth to twins. "My mother always dressed us the same way. Similar dresses, shoes and even our hair styles were the same. I hated it, I always hated it," points out Aruni. Hiruni had her dislikes too. She performed better in her studies than Aruni. But since they were identical twins, teachers and colleagues, even their closest friends, had great difficulty identifying the two sisters. "It was I who got through all the examinations and did well at sports, but all the praise went to my sister. And the funniest thing is my sister liked it very much," chuckles Hiruni.
Multiple pregnancies have been on the rise in the recent years, with more twins and other types of multiples being born. The foremost reason for this rise is the increased use of fertility drugs. About 3 per cent of all twin pregnancies are undetected until birth. It is possible to have an ultrasound and not see the other baby, though rare. Being pregnant with multiples is not necessarily a high risk situation, except when dealing with higher order multiples or specific problems. Many people learn about their multiples at an early ultrasound. Although some believe that before the end of the twelve week gestation period there is still a high risk of the Disappearing Twin Syndrome, where one baby stops growing and is either absorbed back into the mother's body or is stillborn when the other twin is born. Some people find a rapid rate of growth in their uterus which leads some to suspect twins. Sometimes multiple heart beats are heard, leading the practitioner to believe that there is more than one bundle of joy in the uterus.
Twins are also smaller than average new borns, are more prone to be born prematurely and need intensive care and affection. The obstetric complications are more, the mother experiences more discomfort and their psychological and physical demands from their parents as well as society in general are greater. Babies are delightful, and twins multiply your joy. How do the parents cope with feeding multiple mouths? How does it feel to be one of a pair of twins? Little Natasha and Sean just turned ten. Natasha is still angry because they had a 'spider man cake' although she wanted one with Pooh. "Mother decided to toss a coin and my brother won. I hate to be a twin," complains Natasha. "I don't like her too. Although she is my twin sister she doesn't look like me, she is so different," says Sean who is too young to understand that they are non-identical twins. According to Sharon Colloms, Sean and Natasha's mother; bringing up twins is "very much more difficult" than looking after ordinary children. "I was only twenty-three when I had them. The two of them get hungry at the same time, they start crying together, they want to play with the same toy. Both want me to sleep with them at the same time. Everyone said that things will be better as they grow, but all I know is that things have gone from bad to worse," smiles Sharon. "But, since we have a boy and a girl, we don't have to think about another child. And they are so adorable. Although looking after them is a difficult task, I think I am lucky to give birth to twins," added Sharon. Azeez and Rameez Iqbal are eighteen-year-old identical twins. According to the two brothers, they are blessed to be twins. "Only our mother can identify us. And that is the biggest advantage," chuckles Azeez. Rameez recalls that a couple of years ago, he participated in several events at the school sports meet instead of his brother. "He was ill and couldn't take part, so we decided that I would compete instead," says Rameez. The two boys had adventures to share. Azeez liked a girl who came to Rameez's music class and threatened Rameez to stay at home so he could attend the class. "Oh, that was so much fun. The girl never liked me, because she thought I was Rameez," says Azeez jokingly. Prasadi, a doctor by profession, will soon be giving birth to twins. Prasadi's husband Prageeth who is also a doctor attached to the Diyathalawa Base Hospital has a history of multiple births. "We are glad that we are having non-identical twins. It's a boy and a girl," says Prasadi with a smile. She explains that it is important for the mother to take extra care during a case of multiple pregnancy. "The risk to the mother is greater than in the case of an ordinary birth; so it is important to have regular check ups as well as to maintain a nutritious diet," Prasadi points out. With her experience as a doctor Prasadi emphasised that during the early stages of pregnancy, a mother with multiple births feels more uncomfortable than an ordinary mother. "Such mothers experience severe vomiting. After around seven months, the mother might feel more uncomfortable especially due to the large stomach," explains Prasadi. According to Prasadi, since she prepared and studied in advance about the conditions during multiple pregnancy, giving birth to twins has not become too difficult a task for her. "The most important thing is that you should have the support of your husband and family, both during the pregnancy, and after the birth," she adds. Prasadi's husband Prageeth stresses that it is vital to be financially stable when having twins. From the diaper to the milk powder, you have to buy things for two infants and that requires a lot of money. When they start schooling you will have to spend money on their education. So, being financially stable is very important when having twins," notes Prageeth. However, for 43-year-old Karunawathi, a single mother from Kurunegela, raising her twins has become the most difficult task in her life. "My husband died three-years-ago when my twin sons were only five-years of age. Supporting their education with my small salary, is like a nightmare. I have made several appeals for financial support to raise my kids," says Karunawathi. For mothers like Karunawathi raising twins is a challenge. Unfortunately according to reports, most multiple births are recorded in the rural regions. Therefore, more education and financial assistance is required to raise these children to become healthy and productive individuals. In 1997, a few interested medics came together to form the Twin Registry of Sri Lanka. According to Dr. Athula Sumathipala, Founder of the Twin Registry, there are 12,000 pairs of twins in the city of Colombo alone and an estimated 108,000 pairs of twins in the island. With an approximately 3,500 twin births every year, families are not socially, psychologically or financially ready to take up the challenge of caring for two children at the same time. He believes that such families should be supported financially as well as be educated on the different aspects of raising twins. The main purpose of the Registry at the beginning, was to approach the natural phenomenon of twins from a research aspect; while identical twins are genetically identical, non-identical twins are not, giving the scientific community an excellent resource to identify the factors of growth that are affected by genes and the environment. The Twin Registry, with the help of a grant worth Rs. 20 million from the Welcome Trust, are currently in the process of building a state of the art research laboratory. They hope to form a Multiple Birth Foundation where a critical mass of twins will be trained to study their own issues. As a result, they will be in a position to provide evidence to develop their specific services. Twins are an immense and as yet untapped scientific asset as highlighted by scientific data collected internationally. They are not a liability to either their families or society, but instead are productive members of society. Parenting twins may carry its own special challenges, but it also most definitely yields its own special rewards. *** Sri Lanka Twin Registry's project Sri Lanka Twin Registry has initiated a project to help educational needs of twin & multiple children from low-income families in the island. For this process they seek financial or material support from individuals and charity institutions through out the country. According to Dr. Athula Sumathipala, Founder of the Registry, this project was initiated due to huge number of requests from divisional multiple birth foundations, and parents of registered twin members. Most of the letters forwarded to the institution by the registered members indicates that they need financial support to maintain their families with twin & multiple children. Therefore If you are interested to give your generous support to twin
children who are from low income families please contact the Twin Registry.
Mulleriyawa New Town, Sri Lanka. |
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However, after many years of battle, the two sisters today tell a
different story. "It's great to have a twin sister. She is always there for
me. Hiruni is my friend and I feel so lucky to have her," notes Aruni. "I
feel so ashamed that we used to hate each other just because we were twins.
Now, we can't spend a week without seeing each other. I think it's cool to
have a twin sister," says Hiruni. 
Twins are conceived in two different ways. Fraternal twins are conceived
when multiple eggs are released or there is more than one ovulation and both
(or more) eggs are fertilised. When one egg is released, fertilised and then
splits in two identical twins are made. This can happen with or without
fertility drugs.