I've always wondered what it's like having an identical twin.
Must be pretty cool "looking in a mirror", without actually looking in a mirror. Imagine all the cool pranks you could pull on unsuspecting teachers and other grown-ups!
But also imagine the poor mother who needs to carry double the weight, and twice the worry.
If you're a twin, or are expecting twins, you might want to catch National Geographic Channel's offering this week that delves into the world of twins, triplets and quadruplets. "In the Womb: Twins, Triplets, and Quads" takes you on a journey with some super-mums who deliver, what else, but twins, triplets and quadruplets.
Just last weekend, AsiaOne met up with one Singaporean mother who did just that, and more.
Mrs Dorothy Chin, is the mother of our country's first recorded set of quintuplets.
Yes, we're talking about five babies living inside of one regular-sized woman. She carried Alicia, Adriel, Andre, Annabelle and Amanda Chin in her very crowded womb for a total of 32 weeks. Suddenly a couple of weeks of reservist training doesn't seem all that bad.
Other than multiple headaches (figuratively, and literally), Mrs Chin seemed to brush off my preconceived (no pun intended) nightmares that raising five children all at once would bring. Maybe it's her work experience in the Navy that brings some calm and order to what must at times be chaos in the Chin household.
Just to give you some sense of the odds of conceiving quintuplets, it's something in the range of 1 in 65,610,000 births. I'm no mathematician, but I'm pretty sure striking 4D should be a cinch compared to the 'big sweep' of having quintuplets.
But not all of us are that lucky. Some of us just get a boring old twin, which is about 1 in 90 chance.
The odds are more remote though, if you're talking about having twins that are as hot as Asian celebs May and Choy. The vivacious MTV duo is known to double-team male artistes with a double dose of flirtatiousness during interviews, turning hunks into quivering lumps of jello.
The tables got turned on the twins though, as May apparently got all mushy and told Choy that she "couldn't imagine life without her" after catching the premiere of this National Geographic special at GV Grand last Friday.
This says a bit about the quality of the programme, given how May is known to be the "harder" half of the duo.
Rendered with 4D (4-Dimensional, not the Singapore Pools version) ultrasounds and Computer Generated Images (CGI), eerily lifelike fetuses are brought to life on screen, kicking, kissing, and pushing each other. And for those with weak constitutions, be warned, because some of the images are quite graphic and bloody.
Twins: Double Trouble, or Twice the Fun?
AsiaOne asks May & Choy to list the pros and cons, and it's pretty obvious that they are perfectly happy being twins.
Pros
- Eternal best friend!
- Sharing almost everything, except men!
- Saved money buying textbooks in university - we just share one.
- Sharing a quiet understanding between one another.
- Family and friends get double the love, hugs and kisses.
- Double the humour! (Beware of us on a full moon!)
Cons
- As kids, if one twin got in trouble, both would get punished! No sparing for the innocent twin!
- As artiste, only one twin may get booked for a job because it???s too expensive to have two! (This happens once in a while)
- Expensive phone bills! If one twin is away, constant phone calls up the wall!
Choy perhaps summed it up best, saying, "There is so much more you can do as two then as one. ;)"
Parts 1 & 2 of "In the Womb: Twins, Triplets, and Quads" airs on the National Geographic Channel (Channel 11 on Starhub Cable) on 28 and 29 June at 9.00pm
