Fraternal or Identical ???

We get asked this question all the time.

And here's the answer...

we don't know!

When I was 8 weeks pregnant with them, they told me that they were fraternal.  The doctor explained that they knew that based on the lining of the amniotic sacs (they were each in their own sac).  We were also told that the best way to tell is early on in pregnancy because the further along you go, the more the babies push the layers of the sacs together and it makes it hard to distinguish.

But then when I was 21 weeks and had to start seeing a perinatologist, he said he wasn't so sure based on the shape of their sacs.  But, again, he said it was hard to tell being so far along.  We were told that after they were born they would send lab work on the placenta and we would be able to tell from that.

So, I had to wait until my 6-week postpartum check up to hear the results from the lab work. And my doctor read them over and over in front of us, and said she just couldn't tell!

She sent the results to the perinatologist to get his opinion.

She called me later and said that he said identical!

We were shocked to hear that because, to us, the girls favor, but look really different.  Especially their size.  

So I did what I always do... I googled "can identical twins look different".  And I found several articles that explain that just because they're "identical" they may not look identical.  It's kind of like splitting an apple in half, the two sides may not be exactly the same.

BUT, I'm still skeptical.  I asked the pediatrician what her thoughts were.  She explained to me that she has a hard time believing that with such a big difference in their sizes... 

Emma is 2 pounds and 2 inches bigger than Sophie!

{and Sophie has a round face, Emma's is more square

 and their skin-tone is slightly different.}

Her advice to me was to "go with my gut feeling".

And my gut feeling is that they're fraternal.

I may be wrong, but it's the easiest explanation to tell people.  (Much simpler than going through this long story each time!)  And, it really doesn't matter!  It's just something interesting to know.  Which we probably never will for sure.  The only way would be DNA testing and I don't see us doing that!