Published: May 10, 2008 05:45 pm            

Teachers have two sets of identical twin boys

When Rene, 32, and Jeff Cox, 34, of Scottsburg, went in for their first ultrasound a little more than eight years ago, they were excited and nervous.

Then the doctors started counting feet.

“They just kept scanning and finding more and more feet. They said there’s one, two, three and I said there better be four,” said Jeff Cox, who teaches at Jeffersonville High School. “Then they got to four and I told them to make sure there aren’t five.”

They found out then that their first two children were identical twin boys.

Soon after Kaden and Trevor were born, Rene, who teaches at Scottsburg Middle School, found out she was pregnant again, but this time she knew something was different. She, who was hoping for a girl, thought that meant she was having one. However, doctors discovered something much different. It turns out she was pregnant with another set of identical twin boys, but this time the two were monoamniotic, something Rene said doctors called a one in a million chance.

Monoamniotic twins means the two don’t have a membrane separating them in the egg like other identical twins. That means they can get tangled in each others’ cords, even pinch off vital blood supply to one another.

So, Rene had to go to the doctor’s office about once a week to make sure the vital signs for the two were strong.

“It felt like a ticking time bomb,” Jeff said.

Then at 30 weeks pregnant, the twins’ heart rates started to drop. She had to deliver six weeks early, which is a health risk for the babies.

“It was very scary,” Rene said.

About 20 months after their first set of twins were born, Rene and Jeff welcomed another set of identical twin boys, Carson and Jaren, into the world. Carson and Jaren, who arrived just one minute apart, came in at a tiny 3 pounds, 2 ounces and 2 pounds, 7 ounces.

“We knew we wanted to have our kids close together,” Rene said. “But one minute is really extreme.”

The two parents, then 27 and 25 years old, had their hands full with four boys under the age of two. That meant four boys in diapers, four needing fed in high-chairs, four babies needing love and attention at all hours of the day and night.

“There was always something that needed to be done,” Jeff said. “I look back and there are two years that are just a blur.”

As they get older, Jeff and Rene said the children’s personalities really started to show.

Carson and Jaren, 6, who love to play together and share the same interests in maps, history and space, do have differing personality traits. Rene said Carson is very sensitive and is always trying to be “one of the big boys,” while Jaren is very opinionated and is not afraid to speak his mind.

The differences in personality are more obvious with the older two, who are 8 years old. Kaden loves all sports and is very competitive. Trevor is artistic and loves drawing and writing. Since the two are so different, they said they don’t like to play together. Jeff said that has often caused the two to clash.

“You remember when you called [Kaden] ugly?” Jeff asked Trevor, who turned red and ignored the question.

“Yea, we laughed real hard on that one!” Rene said with a laugh.

But with all differences aside, when each were asked who is his best friend, each pointed to his twin.

The younger two even plan to work together, building houses.

“I can’t build a whole house by myself!” Carson exclaimed, when asked why they would work together.

They even want to live together when they are adults, but with their mom too.

Even though each child’s personality is different, each resembles his twin almost perfectly.

A pound and a half an inch separate Trevor and Kaden. They both have hazel eyes and brown hair.

Three pounds and a fourth an inch separate Carson and Jaren. The two have blue eyes and light brown hair.

Those similarities have created hurdles in the past. Jeff admitted that he once fed the same baby twice and took the wrong one to the doctor. He realized his mistake when the doctor pointed out that the baby was not sick.

Trevor and Kaden even tried to fool their parents once. The noticeable difference between the two is a birthmark above Kaden’s eyebrow. So, Kaden put on a Band-Aid hiding the mole and Trevor got a marker and drew one on himself.

Rene said she wasn’t fooled.

“Nice try,” Rene said to the boys. “When they were babies I could even tell the difference in their cries.”

But from behind or far away, it can be hard to tell who is who. Jeff said he just asks.

“It would offend any other kid, but to them it’s normal,” he said.

When the group goes out in public, people often ask what it’s like having two sets of twins, but to Jeff this is normal.

“We don’t know what it’s like to have just one at a time,” Jeff said.

Something they have learned from having two sets of twins is to never buy just one of something. Rene said the children often want what the other has, so that means at least double of the same toy, sometimes four of them. The same goes for clothes, though none of them want to look alike.

Jeff said that concept gets a little scary when thinking about each boy’s first car and college tuition.

“I can’t think past today,” he said. “I just take it one day at a time.”

As for having any more children, Rene said she’s done trying for a girl.

“We’ve seen how that works,” she said, laughing. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”



What are Monoamniotic twins?

This means that both babies share the same living space. They don’t just share their house, they share a bedroom, bathroom, and playroom. Other identical twins have a membrane separating the two in the same egg. While it is still possible even for a singleton to become tangled in his or her own cord, monoamniotic twins have to worry about becoming tangled in their sibling's cord, too.

In order for entanglement to become dangerous, there must be cord compression (where it gets pinched).

Although some problems happen suddenly, many fatal cord accidents are gradual. To prevent those, doctors use ultrasounds, doppler imaging (a way of seeing actual blood flow through the cords) and fetal monitoring to detect problems early.

However, the only “treatment” doctors can offer is delivery, and the earlier delivery occurs, the higher chance that they may suffer from the complications of extreme prematurity.

— www.monoamniotic.org



SO YOU KNOW

• The Guinness Book of Records claims the honor of the most sets of twins in one school belongs to P.S. 276 in Brooklyn, N.Y., which had 29 sets of twins enrolled during the 1999-2000 school year.

—twinstuff.com



• Twins Days in Twinsburg, Ohio is billed as the largest gathering of twins and multiples in the world. It will be held Aug. 1-3.

—twinsworld.com



• In 1971, Dr .Gennaro Montanino from Rome claimed to have removed 15 fetuses from a 35-year-old woman after 4 months of pregnancy.

—twinsworld.com

        

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