The research - first tentative results

I sent off the database for analysis last week and we will not hear anything for several weeks, probably until the conference on 19th November.  However, with my Stone Age, low-tech approach to Excel, I have managed, with some trepidation, to find some preliminary answers. (These will be validated, or not, by the professionals later on!)

In 2009 I wrote a blog about the various findings over the years. (read it here)  As a result of the July 2009 analysis, the eleven most popular statements made by people with evidence of their twin (and who agreed the most strongly to each) were found to be:

1.  All my life I have felt something is missing
2.  I fear rejection 
3. I know I am not realising my true potential 
4. I feel different from other people 
5. I have been searching for something all my life but I don’t know what it is
6. I fear abandonment
7.  Deep down, I feel alone, even when I am among friends 
8. I have a problem with expressing anger - either there is too much or too little 
9. I always feel in some way unsatisfied, but I don’t know why 
10. All my life I have carried deeply felt emotional pain that persists, despite all my efforts to heal myself. 
11. There are two sides to my character

The new list is:

Monozygotic (MZ) womb twin survivors: the physical signs

After many years of  browsing journal articles and so forth, I have been able to compile a list of some of the physical signs that  are to be found in the survivor  when a monozygotic twin dies.  The zygote is the huge original cell that results from the merging of the mothers egg with the fathers sperm.  The zygote is the first form taken by the new individual, who is genetically unique and has never been seen before.

The zygote divides into 2, those 2 divide again to make 4 and so on, to create a mass of cells that eventually developes into a fetus, a baby and an adult. The process of cell division continues today and keeps you alive, because as some of your cells inevitably die there are plenty more new ones to keep you going.

Now it can happen that, at some time between the first and the fifteenth day, the developing zygote divides, but the two halves separate into two separate individuals - this is mono zygotic twinning.  The two individuals develop into two babies - we call them Identical twins but they are quite distinct from each other in various subtle ways, and however alike they may look they are two different people with different lives.

Information for womb twin survivors : a psychological profile

By 2009 I had more than 500 completed questionnaires, ready for analysis by the University of Hertfordshire Statistical department. Once I had collected that all-important list of physical signs and symptoms of a twin pregnancy, I could sort out those people who definitely are womb twin survivors and those who may indeed think they are, but they have no proof.

In the data set used for analysis, only people with some  proof of a twin pregnancy were included, and of this answers made by this group only the questions that received the strongest answers were counted.  This gave us 250 people.