Twins, no ultrasound- equal susprise?

[briome]

Hello. Thease days it is very rare to find someone who is (or had been) pregnant with twins that did not get an ultrasound or have obvious twin syptoms (like growing a lot, famished etc).

Have any of you, not had an ultrasound (or had it very late in 3rd trimester only).
and/or Only midly suspect twins but had no concreate evidence untill very late in pregnancy or birth. If you look back can you think of any sensations that might of tipped you off?

I LOVE having a very low intervention pregnancy but this third one is very different then the other two.

Ideas?

[Valerieg]

I didn't have any obvious twin symptoms until long after I found out it was twins. Granted, I got bigger faster, but I was passing that off as my third pregnancy. If I hadn't had an u/s at 20 weeks there's a good chance I wouldn't have caught on until recently, if then.

I didn't have any pregnancy symptoms at all (which is normal for me) and wasn't particularly uncomfortable. Even now I feel pretty good with the exception of PUPPP.

The only real telling thing is that I'm bigger. Otherwise, it'd be tough to say there are two in there without u/s. Maybe more movement????!

There is a local homebirth mama that gave birth to twins unexpectedly. So apparently you can make it all the way through without a clue.

[briome]

Hmmm, interesting!

[Gena 22]

I found out about my twins at the 19 week u/s. Otherwise, I would have no idea until the late 2nd or early 3rd trimester. The twins were my first pregnancy. I could clearly see two babes shrink wrapped inside me. It was amazingly clear, I even took pictures!

But otherwise, I could have gone until birth and been surprised.

Different people have different comfort levels, but if you really suspect twins, it may be worth getting a u/s.

Good luck!

[MamaChicken]

Other than measuring big? Not really.

[klocke]

I think if I would have opted out of the 20 weeks u/s I would not have know until delivery. Both of the twins placentas are fused together anteriorly so I barely feel movement at all much less what would feel like two babies. And even now at 23 weeks my daughter's (baby B up top) heartbeat cannot be picked up with a hand held Doppler. The Ob has to do a u/s every appointment now to be able to check her heart beat and my midwife has never been able to get hers. I figure that is due to the position of the placentas. So if I had not seen two babies on the screen at 20 weeks all of my other "signs" like measuring bigger and being sicker could have easily been explained away as it being my 4th pregnancy.

[briome]

I live in a very anti-midwife/hombirth area and have a CPM who does not have 'rights' to local hospitals/labs etc. She does have ways to get extra tests if something serious is supsected but being preggers with twins (or having a subtle suspicion of them!) would not be worth it for her (or I!)
I would also be worried about something measuring a little off and the whole ship and shebang of medical intervention overtakes my pregnancy!
So it is certainly not easy in anyway for me to get an ultrasound. I know that seems silly to those of you that have access often to them but I suspose I prefer complaining on websites about my curiosity problem then actually opening that can of worms!

My grandmother on my mother's side is a twin. Also my cousins are (my mother's older sister's two daughters). I am 35 and have had two previous children. I have A LOT of braxton hicks and I don't remember having ANY with my other two. A lot of early movement, movement all over the place. My measurements have been normal but I have some extra 'padding' if you know what I mean so it is very subjective how I am measured. I have gained little but am also nursing through this pregnancy. (unlike my other one)

I do try to palapate a little....I don't understand how this 26 week fetus can be all back head and butt and still manage to kick my pelvis floor. My belly is out there too!

Anyway. I feel like I am more tired and more unweildy and less mobile then the other two.

Thanks for your ideas ladies!

[annekh23]

I was a suspected twin that turned out to be a singleton, so the opposite way round! My mum hadn't had an ultrasound, I don't think they'd made it to her area and towards the end she was big and they thought they could feel two heads and made a joke about a very bony bottom, well, I have the bony bottom, but no twin.

I did hear a story of a mother somewhere in the southern USA who had a homebirth with 37 week triplets, they suspected twins, but didn't see it as a reason to change plans and it all worked out ok.

[Intertwined]

Until I really started to pop in a scary way at 21 weeks I would not have guessed. There were subtle signs that there were two but up until then I would have missed them. No way would I have gone to term not suspecting though. I got gigantic and was WAY worse off than when I had my singletons. Good luck!

[hergrace]

FWIW, one of my best friends is a twin and neither her mother nor the doctor suspected twins until a doctor other than her usual doctor examined her at 39 weeks and palpated two babies.

[MacKinnon]

I'm not a mom of twins, but a mom in my mother's group had a close friend with surprise twins. She had intended to home birth, and never had an ultrasound. Apparently there was no reason to suspect twins, they hadn't found a second heartbeat, or palpated anything different. She ended up a home birth transfer, I'm not sure what initially prompted the transfer, but she ended up having two babies! They had not suspected twins at all! Everyone was shocked

[boheime]

We have twins on both sides of my family, but I've never been in a position to discuss it with them. I have discussed my GMIL's twin pregnancy with her. Her doctor kept telling her she was just bigger because it was her second pregnancy. At 8 months, she asked him if he was sure there couldn't be two, because she kept getting kicked all over. He decided to humor her and did x-rays (this was back in the 40s/50s) and was surprised to clearly see two babies.

[lexbeach]

My best friend had surprise twins at 41 weeks, 3 days gestation. She learned of the second baby's existence as he crowned (five minutes after his MZ brother). My friend did sort of suspect twins, but never mentioned it to her midwife. I remember her saying things like, "OK, so this is the baby, " while she palpated the right side of her belly, "but then what's this over here?" while feeling a bump on the left side.

She never measured especially big. Maybe by a couple of centimeters at the very end. But she did sort of LOOK like she was having twins. Her midwife was expecting a 10+ pound baby.

Her twins were born at home (which would not have happened if the twins had been confirmed prior to the birth).

Good luck!

Lex

[Spring Lily]

I had a lot of symptoms of a twin pregnancy, which is partly why I found out so early. The hormone levels were so much higher than with my singleton that it gave me a ton of symptoms, in addition to measuring big and the all the movement. I think I definitely would have known even without an ultrasound.

However, I'm extremely glad I got one because it saved my baby's life. There are several pregnancy conditions that are common with twins and rare or nonexistent with singletons, so if you truly suspect twins, I really suggest an ultrasound to make sure they are both doing alright. Without it, I would have lost one of my babies.

[Okapi]

My brothers were surprise twins. The only difference my mom noticed was that she was a little larger, but not so much that she suspected anything (just figured it was b/c it was the second baby). Even in retrospect, it wasn't a large enough difference to make her think, "oh, I should have known." They were born 4 days before their due date. She had the first one, and said, "something's not right, there's something still there." The mw tried to assure her it was just the placenta, but mom insisted it just didn't feel right, so they checked and were like, "oh, actually, it's a foot." She was glad she didn't know, though, because she wouldn't have been able to have them at the birth center with the midwife if they had known.

[karmab]

Ha! i know i'm a bit late on this thread, but i got to reply to this one. i am really hanging out on the ttc forum here at mdc, but i have really enjoyed checking in on the multiples forum- it has brought back so many memories of my twins as babies! Today, Baby A was accepted at Emory Law School. I do promise you, as hard as it is, time really does fly.

i found out i was having twins at 28+ weeks, with an u/s. i never suspected it at all- no twins ever in either side of the family, and it just wasnt even on my radar. my AFP was normal (i think now they do quad screens instead, but this was in the old days!) and i measured on target. at 25 weeks i had preterm labor, and was hospitalized and treated with tocolytics and never had an u/s. now, today, this would be considered malpractice, but this was 1988. i had started doing kick counts, and while the books were saying, "you should have at least 10 kicks and hour" i was counting 300ish. i said to the nurse in the hospital, it's either twins or an octopus, and she said, oh, it's not twins, just an active baby. and at that time, i thought that you heard 2 heartbeats simultaneously with a doppler or monitor if you had twins, what did i know? at my 28 week check, for the first time, my midwife said i was a little big, and suggested an u/s. bingo.

the weirdest thing is, if i hadnt had that u/s that day i WOULD have figured it out the NEXT DAY, because they for the first time got the hiccups at the same time!