The origin of the three twins.
In a pregnancy with triplets or more, your babies could be all identical, all fraternal or a mixture of both. This can happen if your body releases multiple eggs and more than one is fertilized. In a case where you have both identical and fraternal multiples, more than one egg was fertilized and then at least one of those eggs also split after fertilization.
The Tringwood reality:
While Anita was completing some last minute notes in the nurses office area she was holding one of her twins, ready to take home. She had given up waiting for Christopher but had instructed him to dress the twins in clean new clothes so they matched as they left the hospital.
At this time the CCTV cameras went down and a timid 15 year old girl holding a bundle of white blankets, entered the maternity floor then gingerly walked down the corridor and into the nursery. Here she spied an empty cot and kissed the pile of blankets placing them down in the empty cot.
She looked down, then looked around before furtively leaving the bundle within the nursery in that empty cot.
She crept out along the corridor her eyes filling up with tears before disappearing through a door, not to be seen again.
In the meantime, Christopher arrived with Tina in the nursery and dressed the two babies the cots marked Tringwood One and Tringwood Two. He passed one dressed in white with a white blanket swaddling him to Tina then carried out the other Twin dressed exactly the same with bags full of baby clothes, nappies and Anita’s personal items. Tina walked on ahead carefully carrying her charge and looking down at the sleeping baby, proud to be holding one of her brothers.
With the ward still in a state of flux as the CCTV tried to flicker back to life, Tina passed through the doors out of the maternity ward as her father had instructed her, promising to be very, very careful with her new born brother. Christopher stopped to offer advice on the computer and CCTV malfunction.At this time Anita came out of the nurses’ station and joined Christopher who looked surprised but assumed Tina had lost her charge to Anita. Christopher and Anita walked down the ward and out of hospital saying a thankful goodbye to all.
Meanwhile Tina arrived at the family car. It was not parked far away. Junior had been waiting as instructed, so opened the door and saw Tina held one of the twins. He told Tina to get into the car but to very carefully pass her baby to him in the back as she clambered in.
Tina sat next to Junior who had passed his baby brother to Number 2. The three children waited excitedly for their parents, cooing over the sleeping baby in Number Two’s arms.
It started to rain very hard. Anita suddenly opened the passenger door to pass the baby she was holding to Tina. With the rain lashing down, Anita quickly jumped into the front of the car. She looked back and checked Tina was passing the baby to her brother next to her. So One and Two were each holding a baby. Christopher still holding baby number three, struggled as he opened the back of the car to place in the back the bags of clothes and Anita’s general items. He then came alongside the car to open the passenger door. He quickly pushed the baby he was holding into the arms of a bewildered Tina. Christopher knocked on Anita’s door and told her he had put two bags in the back and asked if there was anything else. There was a flash of lightning as the storm gathered pace. Anita replied sharply and Christopher dripping wet closed the door to come round to his side, climbed in and instantly started the engine.
“Seat belts on!” He called to the children in the back. Number One secured Tina’s seat belt for her before securing his.
Number Two, Junior and Tina were all in the back of the car each holding a baby. Anita and Christopher were both sat in the front talking about the CCTV going down as they drove away.
As they drove off a confused Tina asked that fateful question.
“Mummy, I thought twins were two babies .Why have we got three? “
She wasn’t heard as Anita and Christopher discussed the CCTV failure and the storm . Mother looked back, but in her line of sight she could only see the two babies the boys were holding. She did not notice Tina with a third. When father tuned round to check the children were all secure he didn’t notice Number Two held a baby as he was out of his line of sight.
They drive off into the night’s storm each child cuddling a baby brother. It wasn’t until the rain lessened that Tina asked her question again.
“Mummy, I don’t understand why we have three babies. “
The Twins 7 years on
Nobody dared to tell Anita that one of the twins did not belong. Over the seven years she loved each and every one of her children and that included all three of the twins.
Christopher had tried to find out what happened but it seemed chaos had reigned in the maternity ward as the CCTV and the computers had all mysteriously gone down and returned again equally as mysteriously. They waited to hear of an anxious mother desperately looking for her child. But that never happened and records did not show the birth of the additional child. The hospital did not want any publicity over a missing or additional child so Anita and Christopher decided that they would look after the third Twin until such time as his mother came forward. At that point Anita would agree to a DNA test on all three to work out who was not her biological son.
Seven years have now passed and the Twins had grown up together sharing everything. Anita initially couldn’t tell them apart. She thought she knew and regularly tested herself but as they grew older it was becoming more and more obvious one of the Twins was not as the other two. Hence, Christopher explained the rare cases of two eggs being fertilised, making two babies but one of the embryos dividing to make identical twins. This was their explanation for the difference: not for why Anita only gave birth to two babies.
Someone, somewhere knew the truth and while Christopher had initially tried to find out what happened there was in fact no proof other than DNA
No, it had to be explained away or one of the Twins would be a ward of the court.
It was much better to be a third twin!
And besides after seven years Anita would fight tooth and nail to keep her precious sons together. No one was going to take one of her children away from her. No one!