The Vanished Twin

Twin connections are fascinating. Honestly, I've secretly wished (not so secretly anymore) that I had a twin myself.

But I may have had a twin after all! As many as 1 in 8 people may have been conceived with a twin at some point--and never have known.

Dr. C.E. Boklage writes in the book Multiple Pregnancy, "Most human pregnancies never reach term.... The same is true for twin pregnancies.... Projections also indicate that more than one pregnancy in eight begins as twins, and that, for every liveborn twin pair, 10-12 twin pregnancies result in single births. Using these estimates, 12-15% of all live births are products of twin embryogenesis."

It's called VTS, Vanishing Twin Syndrome. In most cases, no one knows that the other twin ever existed. The fetus is usually absorbed by the mother or the other twin.