Are you seeing double in the hallways at Ridgewood High School?
BY DIANA OLIVEIRA
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD – The senior class at Ridgewood High School is probably accustomed to seeing double. Or it should be, given that there are 17 sets of twins and one set of triplets roaming the halls.
“I feel like every class that I’m in there’s always another twin,” said Kelly Dwyer, who is one half of a pair. “So I could always look around and go, ‘She’s a twin, he’s a twin.’ They’re everywhere, they’re actually taking over.”
But the idea that there could be so many multiples in a single graduating class was never deemed unusual, at least not by these classmates who grew up together. Jess and Amy Schlicht have recognized over time that this is a unique situation.
“Growing up, I’ve been kind of used to it,” said Jess. “But then realizing that not a lot of schools have this, it’s pretty cool.”
“It’s something that separates us from other high schools,” added Amy.
Erin Dwyer is also taking pride in this distinction. At first, she found people’s disbelief over the number of twins in her grade surprising. Words like “crazy” and “insane” were often used, and she’d reply, “Oh, is it? I don’t really know the average number of twins per class.” Now, Erin shares the tale without registering the shock, having already embraced what she has learned to be an unconventional situation.
And while it isn’t conventional, the twins at Ridgewood High School are noticing quite a few advantages to having a sibling in the same grade. For one, there’s always a homework helper nearby.
“Last year, I was in a few classes with Jess,” said Amy. “It was nice because when I needed to do homework and needed help, she was right there sitting next to me.”
Applying to college can always be stressful, but it’s less so when there’s someone to endure the stress with.
“Everybody goes through the whole college process, but we went through the college process of writing the essays and sending other college apps in as the two of us, which was great,” said Erin.
https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/are-you-seeing-double-in-the-hallways-1.1510952
It’s called fertility drugs…
1:02 it is also called Nature
It actually is a case of fertility drugs. Woman, and particularly professional class women, are having babies later in life than they once did, and are using fertility drugs to manage their reduced fertility that occurs in their 30+ years. The results are a higher rate of multiples.
2:20. You do not know anything about these sets of twins. Don’t even pretend that you know all of the families and know the truth. You created your own “fact” when you say it was actually fertility drugs.
Many people have have twins without fertility drugs. I come from a large family and there are twins in among the singles. I really mean it when I say God only knows.
I think it has to be a record or something what ever the reasons
I made the 2.10 comment. I didn’t make the 1.02pm original comment. I was merely agreeing with him. I urge you to do a little research about the upsurge in multiple births
Get a clue, 3:23…1:02 and 2:20 must be right given the mathematical impossibility of having so many sets of twins the class of 2016. No sense in denying what is so plainly true.
Sadly, if a woman is inclined to use fertility drugs or ART, her doctor is likely to insist in advance that so-called “selective termination” take place if the treatment is found to result in multiple fertilized eggs successfully becoming implanted in the wall of the woman’s uterus.
Chances are that at most only a few of the sets twins in the RHS Class of 2016 occurred naturally.
BTW, are the triplets fraternal, or identical (as were the famous O’Reilly sisters, RHS class of 1986)?
——
Multiple Births
Author: Garth E Fletcher, MD; Chief Editor: Ted Rosenkrantz, MD more…
Updated: Jan 13, 2015
The term “multiple births” refers to the delivery of twins and higher-order multiples (ie, triplets, quadruplets, etc). Multiple births occur when multiple fetuses are carried during a pregnancy with the subsequent delivery of multiple neonates. Pregnancies complicated by multiple births are associated with a higher rate of neonatal morbidity and mortality, paralleling the increased risk of preterm delivery, low birth weight, and other associated high-risk morbidities. Maternal morbidity and mortality are also increased in pregnancies complicated by multiple gestations and multiple births.
Frequency
The incidence of monozygotic twins (identical twins) is constant worldwide, approximately four per 1000 births. The incidence of multiple zygotic pregnancies (e.g., fraternal twins) varies in relation to maternal age, the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART), and ethnicity.
The incidence of multiple births increased significantly in the late 20th century in the United States and worldwide.[2, 5] A combination of factors contributed to this, the two most prominent of these being the use of ART and advanced maternal age at the time of conception.[2, 6, 7, 8]
United States
As previously stated, the incidence of monozygotic twins is constant worldwide (approximately 4 per 1000 births). Approximately two thirds of twins are dizygotic. Birthrates of dizygotic twins vary by race (10-40 per 1000 births in blacks, 7-10 per 1000 births in whites, and approximately 3 per 1000 births in Asians) and maternal age (ie, the frequency has risen with increasing maternal age ≤40 years). Dizygotic-twin birthrates are also influenced by other factors, such as parity and mode of fertilization (ie, most artificially conceived twins are dizygotic; however, 6-10% are monozygotic).
Naturally occurring triplet births occur in approximately 1 per 7000-10,000 births; naturally occurring quadruplet births occur in approximately 1 per 600,000 births.
In the United States, a plateau in the prevalence of multiple births has been observed since 2004. Statistics from 2004–2010 showed that the prevalence of twin deliveries in the United States remained stable at approximately 32 per 1000 live births, compared with a decreasing prevalence of higher-order multiple deliveries.
4:42 – the triplets are fraternal . . . two girls, one boy. All adorable babies.
So, 4:42 are you a real doctor or just some clown using Google to make your point? Don’t we all sound like know-it-alls with the help,of Google?
You just forgot to cite the source of all,your “knowledge”.
4:42 Why is it so important for you to “prove” that you are correct about people’s personal lives! And to include your bulllshit about selective termination is reprehensible.
These are real people that you know nothing about. If you actually knew people or had friends you would know better. Enjoy your virtual life on the internet.
“4:42 Why is it so important for you to “prove” that you are correct about people’s personal lives! And to include your bulllshit about selective termination is reprehensible. These are real people that you know nothing about. If you actually knew people or had friends you would know better. Enjoy your virtual life on the internet.”
The original article discussed the unusual number of twins in the Class of 2016. As it is a newspaper article one might have expected the author to delve, however briefly, into the percentage prevelance of twins in the U.S., or perhaps in New Jersey, at least in order to set forth how far outside the norm the RHS Class of 2016 falls. Another question the author of such an article might anticipate arising in the minds of his or her readers is: How? How could such a statistical anomaly have come about? Commenters 1:02, 2:20, and 4:42 are doing nothing other than walking in the direction suggested by the original news article and yet for 11:06 and 11:14, this is an astonishing breach of etiquette causing pearls to be clutched all throughout Bergen County. Who died and made 11:06/11:14 the Polite Discussion Czar?