Hospital’s Rash of Twins Ahead of the Odds

Only one out of every hundred pregnancies results in twins, but the nurses of St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank defied the odds with doubles by the half-dozen.

Of about 25 nurses who gave birth within the last year, six bore twins, astounding the hospital’s physicians.

“We should have had 600 pregnant nurses to have six sets of twins,” said Dr. Beverly Good-Anderson, a perinatal specialist at the hospital. “We don’t know why this happened.”

The six sets of twins, their parents, and the obstetricians and pediatricians involved in the births gathered at a Mother’s Day luncheon at the hospital Friday afternoon, the first meeting for the 12 children.

Five of the six are fraternal twins, Good-Anderson said.

Fraternal twins are the result of fertilization of two eggs, as opposed to identical twins, which grow from the same egg.

None of the mothers were taking fertility drugs or impregnated using in-vitro fertilization procedures, which increase the chance of multiple births, Good-Anderson said.

She said the hospital environment should not increase a woman’s chances of having twins either.

“There is nothing at the hospital that would promote that happening,” she said. “It’s just a real fluky thing . . . an amazing coincidence.”

The oldest twins celebrated their first birthday May 3. The youngest are 3 months old.

Although some of the mothers have other children, none have any other twins, Good-Anderson said.