By Jill Fennema –

In the United States, the birth rate for twins has risen significantly for the past 40 years. In 1980, the average rate for having twins was 18.9 per 1,000 live births. In 2018, that number had increased to 32.6 twins per 1,000 live births. It is believed that the increase is tied to an increase in the use of various forms of reproductive technologies.

In the Edgerton area, it seems like there is a disproportionate number of twins. That could just be because everyone knows everyone else, but whether there is actually an abnormal number of twins here or not, no one really knows.

Identical twins result from the fertilization of a single egg with a single sperm. And as those cells divide and multiply, at some point very early in embryonic growth, they split into two individuals. The genetics of two identical twins matches – their DNA is identical.

The contrast to this would be fraternal twins, which are the result of fertilization of two different eggs, and thus can be different genders, look different, and have completely different physical characteristics.

A set of identical twins was just born to Pastor Scott and Rebecca Muilenburg of Edgerton. He is the pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church in Edgerton. Charlie Isaac and Owen Timothy were born on Tuesday, March 9. The Muilenburgs have three other children: a 6.5 year old, a 4 year old (turning 5 in May), and a 2 year old. Needless to say, they are a very busy family these days!

The older siblings are adjusting to life with babies in the house and love to hold and snuggle the babies. So do Mom and Dad. But finding time to sleep and keep up with everything else that needs to happen in a home, is a daunting task! Pastor Muilenburg added that they are also trying to make sure that the other children don’t feel overlooked because of all the business.

Because they have such a young family, finding a way to fit all the car seats and booster seats in their family vehicle was one of the challenges in preparing for the twins to be born. “We needed more diapers, clothes, and car seats in preparing for the twins,” he said. “Friends, family, and church family were very generous in giving us many of these things.”

Some families are not only blessed with one set of twins, but two! That is the case for Rodney and Heather (De Kam) Bleyenberg of Edgerton. They have two sets of identical twin boys. Tyson and Logan were born on June 18, 2006. Tyson was 4 pounds and Logan was 4 pounds and 6 ounces. They were seven and a half weeks early and spent 23 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Four years later, Heather found out she was pregnant with twins again. Heather said that while Rodney had been more nervous before the birth of their first set of twins, she had more apprehension over the second set – because she knew how much work there was ahead of them! Carter and Parker were born on September 19, 2010. Carter was five pounds and twelve ounces, while Parker was only four pounds and eight ounces. They were born three and a half weeks early and spent 13 days in the NICU.

“Carter was stealing from Parker,” Heather said. They had Twin Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). This happens when there is an imbalance of the blood flow between identical twins who share one placenta but have separate amniotic sacs. When the placenta is shared, blood vessels within it connect the twins blood supply, allowing the blood to flow between them. If the blood flow becomes unequal, the twins will grow at different rates with the smaller twin pumping blood to the larger twin.

Since both sets were born early they all had feeding tubes when they were first born. Heather started breast pumping in the hospital and then they fed them breastmilk through their feeding tubes. As they got stronger, they transitioned them to bottles with breast milk. Sometimes preemies need to learn the breathing, sucking, and swallowing process, so starting them on bottles helped with that. Even when they came home, Heather just continued with pumping and bottling.

“At night one of us would get babies changed, the other get bottles warmed. We would each feed one, and put them back to bed. Then I pumped for the next feeding and would freeze extra breast milk for when they got bigger and required more milk,” Heather recalls. “During the day I would just hold both of them in the chair with their bottles when I was home alone. Thankfully grandparents and aunts were close and just a phone call away.”