A bit of a vent :-)

wrote:

It's probably just my perception, but I've been interpeting "do
twins run in your family" as a slightly nicer way of asking "did
you take fertility drugs?" or actually "did you do IVF" because
the general public seems to be unaware of any fertility
treatments OTHER than IVF.

I think probably some people are asking it for that reason, and some aren't,
and it is probably impossible to tell who's who. With older folks, say more
than 30 years older than I am, I tend to assume they really do want to know if
twins run in our family, since it's the kind of thing I've heard lots of
conversations about over the years. (Another question like this that I've
always taken as having two possible meanings is "Did you know you were having
twins?" Well, I don't think there are very many delivery table surprises any
longer! I've always answered that as "I found out at the ultrasound, it was
quite a surprise.")

The classic answer to the runs-in-the-family question, by the way, is "They do
now!" :-)

Another way to handle it is to say "I think there are a few sets back there
somewhere," which is probably true of any family tree, after all.

--Helen

When we lived in Woodbury, MN (outside of St. Paul), there were 3 first
grades and 4 sets of twins! Each grade had at least one, and I can't tell
you how many adults were "twins" or twins visiting our store. I think they
must have thought about that when they called St. Paul/Minneapolis the
"twin" cities!

I do remember people asking us "when." but they got tired after 10 years of
marriage and would talk in hush, hush tones. At 25 years when I was
pregnant with the twins they looked at me like I had holes in my head! I
still get comments (though a lot less when we visit Chicago), about how
"old" my DH and I are for having almost 9 year old twins!

Shirley
mom to Chris and Kathleen 1/95

"The Huwe Family" wrote in message
.com...
Yes, I become pregnant by use of fertility pills and injections. We tried
to conceive for 3 1/2 yrs. I think the question bothers me the most
because
I DO feel inadequate. I am "broken" per se. But I personally feel that
it
is no ones business, especially not a complete stranger. A friend I don't
have a problem telling, but then, most of my friends already know. I've
tried to ward off the question with a simple "It was a surprise to
everyone"
and I have even answered the question with "Twins run in the family" even
though the strain ends with my great grandmothers sisters. Answering the
question without really answering. I have never gotten up the nerve to
respond in the way that Dear Abby says "Why do you want to know?"

Triplets are a bit common around here too. Naperville, IL has the highest
occurrences of triplets of anywhere in the country, so it is still
surprising to cause such a stir.

On a funny note though. The other day my family (DH, Me, 1 month old
triplets, and my mom) and a friend of mines family (Her, husband and 9
month
old twin daughters) went to a restaurant to eat. I got up to get the
food,
and a lady came over to my friend and asked if all the babies were hers.
She just laughed. We can't wait to go to a "fine" dining restaurant to
see
everyone sweat. 4 adults, 5 babies ;-).

Gayle

"Twinzmommie" wrote in message
...
Don't
recall any rude questions either, although there might have been a
couple that I just shrugged off. BRBR

Some of us who have posted about rude comments or questions have become
parents
of multiples through infertility methods. I am not sure if that is the
case
with you. However, questions like, "Do twins run in your family?, or
Did
you
use fertility drugs?" sometimes strike a nerve. It may possibly be that
our
backs are already up because before we were blessed with our children we
were
asked continually "Why don't you have kids yet, or When do you plan to
get
around to starting a family?" These sort of comments and questions
sting
quite
a bit when you are desperately wanting to become a parent but are unable
to
reach that goal without help.

As I said, I am not sure if fertility methods played a part in your
status
as a
parent of multiples and if it did maybe things just affect you
differently.

I do agree though that most often people are just being friendly, and
that
to
me is wonderful. It becomes not wonderful when their friendliness
included
touching my babies on the hands or the face or trying to get too close
where
they ended up waking one of both of them up after I had just gotten them
to
sleep.

Again those mentioned scenarios may not have been bothersome to you at
all, but
to some of us they were! We are all different aren't we?


Michelle
Mommy to Riley Claire & James Michael

When we lived in Woodbury, MN (outside of St. Paul), there were 3 first
grades and 4 sets of twins! Each grade had at least one, and I can't tell
you how many adults were "twins" or twins visiting our store. I think they
must have thought about that when they called St. Paul/Minneapolis the
"twin" cities!

I do remember people asking us "when." but they got tired after 10 years of
marriage and would talk in hush, hush tones. At 25 years when I was
pregnant with the twins they looked at me like I had holes in my head! I
still get comments (though a lot less when we visit Chicago), about how
"old" my DH and I are for having almost 9 year old twins!

Shirley
mom to Chris and Kathleen 1/95

"The Huwe Family" wrote in message
.com...
Yes, I become pregnant by use of fertility pills and injections. We tried
to conceive for 3 1/2 yrs. I think the question bothers me the most
because
I DO feel inadequate. I am "broken" per se. But I personally feel that
it
is no ones business, especially not a complete stranger. A friend I don't
have a problem telling, but then, most of my friends already know. I've
tried to ward off the question with a simple "It was a surprise to
everyone"
and I have even answered the question with "Twins run in the family" even
though the strain ends with my great grandmothers sisters. Answering the
question without really answering. I have never gotten up the nerve to
respond in the way that Dear Abby says "Why do you want to know?"

Triplets are a bit common around here too. Naperville, IL has the highest
occurrences of triplets of anywhere in the country, so it is still
surprising to cause such a stir.

On a funny note though. The other day my family (DH, Me, 1 month old
triplets, and my mom) and a friend of mines family (Her, husband and 9
month
old twin daughters) went to a restaurant to eat. I got up to get the
food,
and a lady came over to my friend and asked if all the babies were hers.
She just laughed. We can't wait to go to a "fine" dining restaurant to
see
everyone sweat. 4 adults, 5 babies ;-).

Gayle

"Twinzmommie" wrote in message
...
Don't
recall any rude questions either, although there might have been a
couple that I just shrugged off. BRBR

Some of us who have posted about rude comments or questions have become
parents
of multiples through infertility methods. I am not sure if that is the
case
with you. However, questions like, "Do twins run in your family?, or
Did
you
use fertility drugs?" sometimes strike a nerve. It may possibly be that
our
backs are already up because before we were blessed with our children we
were
asked continually "Why don't you have kids yet, or When do you plan to
get
around to starting a family?" These sort of comments and questions
sting
quite
a bit when you are desperately wanting to become a parent but are unable
to
reach that goal without help.

As I said, I am not sure if fertility methods played a part in your
status
as a
parent of multiples and if it did maybe things just affect you
differently.

I do agree though that most often people are just being friendly, and
that
to
me is wonderful. It becomes not wonderful when their friendliness
included
touching my babies on the hands or the face or trying to get too close
where
they ended up waking one of both of them up after I had just gotten them
to
sleep.

Again those mentioned scenarios may not have been bothersome to you at
all, but
to some of us they were! We are all different aren't we?


Michelle
Mommy to Riley Claire & James Michael

Who was it on the group who's DH replied to some lady drug infertility
therapy, "that after his wife took the cocaine and heroine she became
pregnant with the twins"! Of course the lady shut up and didn't know what
to say.

Shirley

"H Schinske" wrote in message
...
wrote:

It's probably just my perception, but I've been interpeting "do
twins run in your family" as a slightly nicer way of asking "did
you take fertility drugs?" or actually "did you do IVF" because
the general public seems to be unaware of any fertility
treatments OTHER than IVF.

I think probably some people are asking it for that reason, and some
aren't,
and it is probably impossible to tell who's who. With older folks, say
more
than 30 years older than I am, I tend to assume they really do want to
know if
twins run in our family, since it's the kind of thing I've heard lots of
conversations about over the years. (Another question like this that I've
always taken as having two possible meanings is "Did you know you were
having
twins?" Well, I don't think there are very many delivery table surprises
any
longer! I've always answered that as "I found out at the ultrasound, it
was
quite a surprise.")

The classic answer to the runs-in-the-family question, by the way, is
"They do
now!" :-)

Another way to handle it is to say "I think there are a few sets back
there
somewhere," which is probably true of any family tree, after all.

--Helen

Who was it on the group who's DH replied to some lady drug infertility
therapy, "that after his wife took the cocaine and heroine she became
pregnant with the twins"! Of course the lady shut up and didn't know what
to say.

Shirley

"H Schinske" wrote in message
...
wrote:

It's probably just my perception, but I've been interpeting "do
twins run in your family" as a slightly nicer way of asking "did
you take fertility drugs?" or actually "did you do IVF" because
the general public seems to be unaware of any fertility
treatments OTHER than IVF.

I think probably some people are asking it for that reason, and some
aren't,
and it is probably impossible to tell who's who. With older folks, say
more
than 30 years older than I am, I tend to assume they really do want to
know if
twins run in our family, since it's the kind of thing I've heard lots of
conversations about over the years. (Another question like this that I've
always taken as having two possible meanings is "Did you know you were
having
twins?" Well, I don't think there are very many delivery table surprises
any
longer! I've always answered that as "I found out at the ultrasound, it
was
quite a surprise.")

The classic answer to the runs-in-the-family question, by the way, is
"They do
now!" :-)

Another way to handle it is to say "I think there are a few sets back
there
somewhere," which is probably true of any family tree, after all.

--Helen

wrote:

When we lived in Woodbury, MN (outside of St. Paul), there were 3 first
grades and 4 sets of twins!

My son's kindergarten has two sets of twins in it. It is a rather large class,
though. (There is only one all-day kindergarten and one half-day at this
school, so unless you wanted your twins on different schedules, you couldn't
split them up even if you wanted to.)

They're both boy/girl twins, so no mix-up issues.

--Helen

wrote:

When we lived in Woodbury, MN (outside of St. Paul), there were 3 first
grades and 4 sets of twins!

My son's kindergarten has two sets of twins in it. It is a rather large class,
though. (There is only one all-day kindergarten and one half-day at this
school, so unless you wanted your twins on different schedules, you couldn't
split them up even if you wanted to.)

They're both boy/girl twins, so no mix-up issues.

--Helen

The other day my family (DH, Me, 1 month old
triplets, and my mom) and a friend of mines family (Her, husband and 9 month
old twin daughters) went to a restaurant to eat.

WOW, Gayle! You are so brave! I don't think I left the house at least until
the babies were 3 months old. I was afraid of everyone wanting to touch them
and getting sick in the fall season. You haven't had a problem with people
wanting to touch?


~Kimberly
Mommy to Alexis Iliana 07/17/99 and
Emma Elidia & Aislyn Gabriela 10/01/02
come see us...
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/aislynemma/

The other day my family (DH, Me, 1 month old
triplets, and my mom) and a friend of mines family (Her, husband and 9 month
old twin daughters) went to a restaurant to eat.

WOW, Gayle! You are so brave! I don't think I left the house at least until
the babies were 3 months old. I was afraid of everyone wanting to touch them
and getting sick in the fall season. You haven't had a problem with people
wanting to touch?


~Kimberly
Mommy to Alexis Iliana 07/17/99 and
Emma Elidia & Aislyn Gabriela 10/01/02
come see us...
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/aislynemma/

I went out to the food court at a local mall with a friend whose triplets
are only 3.5 months younger. So we had 6 two year olds in two triplet
strollers. Her dh was there, mine wasn't. When she and I were away from
the tables, someone asked him if all 6 were his, so he said "yes, but with
two different wives".

--Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
and Holly (4/4/01)


"The Huwe Family" wrote in message
.com...
Yes, I become pregnant by use of fertility pills and injections. We tried
to conceive for 3 1/2 yrs. I think the question bothers me the most
because
I DO feel inadequate. I am "broken" per se. But I personally feel that
it
is no ones business, especially not a complete stranger. A friend I don't
have a problem telling, but then, most of my friends already know. I've
tried to ward off the question with a simple "It was a surprise to
everyone"
and I have even answered the question with "Twins run in the family" even
though the strain ends with my great grandmothers sisters. Answering the
question without really answering. I have never gotten up the nerve to
respond in the way that Dear Abby says "Why do you want to know?"

Triplets are a bit common around here too. Naperville, IL has the highest
occurrences of triplets of anywhere in the country, so it is still
surprising to cause such a stir.

On a funny note though. The other day my family (DH, Me, 1 month old
triplets, and my mom) and a friend of mines family (Her, husband and 9
month
old twin daughters) went to a restaurant to eat. I got up to get the
food,
and a lady came over to my friend and asked if all the babies were hers.
She just laughed. We can't wait to go to a "fine" dining restaurant to
see
everyone sweat. 4 adults, 5 babies ;-).

Gayle

"Twinzmommie" wrote in message
...
Don't
recall any rude questions either, although there might have been a
couple that I just shrugged off. BRBR

Some of us who have posted about rude comments or questions have become
parents
of multiples through infertility methods. I am not sure if that is the
case
with you. However, questions like, "Do twins run in your family?, or
Did
you
use fertility drugs?" sometimes strike a nerve. It may possibly be that
our
backs are already up because before we were blessed with our children we
were
asked continually "Why don't you have kids yet, or When do you plan to
get
around to starting a family?" These sort of comments and questions
sting
quite
a bit when you are desperately wanting to become a parent but are unable
to
reach that goal without help.

As I said, I am not sure if fertility methods played a part in your
status
as a
parent of multiples and if it did maybe things just affect you
differently.

I do agree though that most often people are just being friendly, and
that
to
me is wonderful. It becomes not wonderful when their friendliness
included
touching my babies on the hands or the face or trying to get too close
where
they ended up waking one of both of them up after I had just gotten them
to
sleep.

Again those mentioned scenarios may not have been bothersome to you at
all, but
to some of us they were! We are all different aren't we?


Michelle
Mommy to Riley Claire & James Michael