Vanishing Twin

[Sam91TRS15]

So I had my 8 week scan today, everything was fine with baby, lovely heartbeat - such a relief.
However, I noticed the sonographer spent a good deal of time looking at what I can only assume was an empty sac. He didn't mention anything about it, and at the time I was too busy waiting to see the sac with the baby in it to see if the HB was there or not.
This was a private scan, so I am not sure if there was an empty sac they would have to say or not. The only thing he asked was if I had pain on my left side, which I guess at the time I did and I have had a constant dull ache all over since my BFP, but I also had a VERY full bladder so I was just uncomfortable overall.

Should I be concerned about this? Is there any chance (being 8+2) this empty sac may actually have a baby in there too, just hiding? Of course I am happy with just one healthy baby, after having had a recent mmc, I just feel like I am still waiting for my next scan for answers..

[leighdinglady]

Did it look like an empty sac? Bit difficult to tell from your info. Could you have a cyst he was looking at? (Harmless)

[Sam91TRS15]

It looked not much smaller than the sac baby was in, I don't know what a cyst would look like in comparison? The sonographer didn't tell me anything about it, but spent a good few minutes looking at it at every angle, and asked near the end after looking at the sac with the baby if I had any pain on the left side. The pics don't show the area I mean otherwise I would have posted it.

I guess I won't know anything until another scan if it is there or not

[Fannyfannakerpants]

I had a vanishing twin. It got picked up at my 12 week scan. Other than it being sad, nothing to worry about. I was told however, that the blood test thay they do at 12 weeks would be invalid as they wouldn't know which baby any abnormalities would relate to.

[Bluebell93]

Sounds like a ovarian cyst to me. I had a scan at 8 weeks and the baby measured 1.65cm but I also had a cyst on my right ovary which was 4.7cm! Our sonographer said they are very common (usually 2-9cm in size) and should disappear over the next few weeks, but to ask about it at my 12 week scan. From my googling they are called corpus luteum and are a swelling from the ovary you ovulated from.

On the scan it look a lot like a sac, and it's hard to tell scale as she zoomed in and out a lot on mine. She did press down and ask if it hurt where she was scanning and if I'd previously had pain there - they can be quite painful for some people especially if they're big.

I mentioned it to my midwife and she said if it's still there at 12 weeks I might get referred to a consultant.

[TeaandHobnobs]

Also sounds like a corpus luteum to me - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_luteum
They form on the side you ovulated from, and sustain the fertilised egg with hormones until the placenta takes over. I've had them in both my successful pregnancies - first one was an absolute whopper (and caused excruciating pain at 6 weeks); second one was not that much smaller, but didn't hurt.
They disappear by 20 weeks usually.

What the sonographer was doing and asking sounds very much like that to me.

[Sam91TRS15]

Thank you all so much for the info! That has really helped, and definitely sounds like it! I have a midwife appointment on Monday so I will mention it then, so they hopefully keep an eye on it. It makes sense why I have had such a dull ache all this time! I didn't have this with either my successful first pregnancy or my mmc.

[abigailgabble]

i had a corpus luteum cyst and had a dull pain that lasted for weeeekkss.