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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask if it's possible for a scan to miss a twin?

67 replies

Carlalala101 · 25/02/2017 23:16

I had my first scan last week and my pregnancy was dated at 9 weeks 4 days. The sonographer performed the ultrasound for only around 3-4 minutes and didn't seem thorough at all.

This is my third pregnancy, my other DC are four and two years old. This time, I knew I was pregnant before I tested. The line was immediate and dark despite being several days before my missed period. I feel nauseous all day every day and cannot bend over without retching. I'm so extremely tired that I fell asleep playing on the floor with the DC midday today and headbutted the floor Blush I can barely eat and have had lots of stretching and cramping pains. Perhaps most significantly of all, I think I look around 4/5 months pregnant already.

I suspected before my scan that twins could be a possibility and was hoping to have my mind put at rest but the speed of the ultrasound and my continuing growth and symptoms makes me wonder if it's possible for a twin to be missed at an early scan. I hadn't heard of it before but having Googled it, it seems it is possible though I'm sure it's very rare.

AIBU to ask if you, or anyone you know, had a twin pregnancy that wasn't detected at an early scan? And am I being unreasonable if I book a private scan to investigate more thoroughly?

OP posts:
bigearsthethird · 26/02/2017 00:31

Unlikely tbh. 3rd pregnancy you'll most likely be bigger. Most people I know were with 3rd. I was like you after 2 dcs , no stretch marks flat tummy and then third pregnancy I knew immediately. And like you was huge really quick! This was a boy though, first 2 were girls. Don't know if that's relevant.

Don't worry though was still back in bikini after number 3 albeit with a few lower belly stretch marks Number 4 though. Bloody hell. Put it this way, I no longer own a bikini!

Thefiveseas · 26/02/2017 00:43

This did happen to me, had 12 week scan, all over very quick, checked for a heartbeat, dated me and that was it. I paid for the scan pic which clearly shows one baby and one heartbeat. 21 weeks scan, it was very quiet for a very long time as they kept going from the screen back to my notes, then back to the screen until finally I sat up and begged them to tell me what was wrong. She said did you know you were having twins haha and the rest is history... they are 10 now. But the signs had been there, morning sickness was a lot worse and I started to show much earlier. I had a 3 year old and a 1 year old at the time, so 4 under 4 it was hard!!!

Namesarehard · 26/02/2017 00:55

Don't count on it. I also knew I was pregnant immediately. I had two previous children who are much older (teenagers). When I took a test at 4 weeks there was a very dark line. I was a size 6 and had a six pack so a very strong core. By the time I was 8 weeks I had to wear maternity jeans and had a bigger bump than I had at 6 months with the others. It was very visible and just kept getting bigger. I didn't think I'd get past 32 weeks in the end it was so big anf uncomfortable (I went full term).
It was one baby. Every pregnancy is different.

scoobyloobyloo · 26/02/2017 01:12

It happened to me.

I had lots of scans.

Two sacs at 5w & 6w

One baby at 8w and 10w (and they were looking for a second because of previous scans)

Two babies seen at 11w

Baby 2 was very poorly though and much smaller and didn't make it to birth.

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 26/02/2017 01:13

I have twins. We went for the first scan at about 6 weeks and there were very clearly two sacks. After that we had ultrasounds every two weeks (double the babies means a billion more scans) and they never had any problem at all finding both. It's something they would check for as standard. Did you mention to the sonographer you were thinking it might be twins?

SandyY2K · 26/02/2017 01:56

It's possible to miss, but they also listen for the heartbeat and can detect more than one heartbeat.

With the second, third, etc pregnancies, your stomach muscles have already been stretched, so you can look bigger earlier.

Congratulations to you anyway, be it a singleton or twins!

angeldelightedme · 26/02/2017 03:48

I have to say all pregnancies are different

Tabby206 · 31/01/2020 01:49

@Lynnm63 when did they finally find her on ultrasound?

PercythePile · 31/01/2020 07:54

My mum found out she was having twins (me and sis) less than two weeks before we were born. Nearly forty years ago now so i'm assuming the scans are more accurate these days. However I'm proof that it can happen!

ShiveringCoyote · 31/01/2020 08:05

I think the fact that you can barely eat is contributing to your tiredness and bloating.

Mushypeasandchipstogo · 31/01/2020 08:24

Everyone I know who has had twins, six friends in all, knew that they were having twins from their first, early scans. Finding the sex of each of the twins was a bit more difficult though.

Member984815 · 31/01/2020 08:40

The only person I know that this happened to was back when scans were not the norm in Ireland , she found out when she gave birth that's 30 years ago . The sonographer would have spotted it

Undercoverworker06 · 31/01/2020 09:27

I knew something wasn't right when I was pregnant second time, had an early scan due to blood loss and yep, 2 of them! I felt so sick, I couldn't wear my jeans after 8 weeks, not because the waist didn't fit but my legs didn't fit in them, very strange?
However a lady I know didn't know she was having twins until she came round from her cs, and found her husband holding 2 babies. One had been hiding behind the other at her scan and the doctors hadn't thought there was any problem with her being quite big, as she was a big girl to start with. This was 30 years ago, they're all grown up now.

Lynnm63 · 31/01/2020 13:46

@tabby206 they found her on the first scan at 6 weeks. They didn't see a heartbeat. They saw the heartbeat at 8 wks. When she used to 'hide' was from the foetal heart trace they did twice a day when I was in hospital. She could never hide from a sonogram.

Rainbowbabies · 09/07/2021 14:37

MAYBE HIDDEN TWIN..So I had a 16 weeks gender scan (now23 weeks) and they say it's only one but when look though my video 8 weeks later I see our little girl then under neath her is a pair of legs like when they are looking for the gender bum ,legs ect that's what I see .
Going though this video 8 mins of it and I see 3 fingers and what looks like a spine,
I also used q doppler in house just to see what was going on at bottom of my belly I had a sound of a race horse heart beat the right up by my ribs i had the same , had a scan yesterday that I paided for and I told her what I though , and she went straight to the top of my belly by ribs and said just one baby and yes still a girl didn't go to the bottom of belly then that was it , I'm still confused as I'm always tried , go shopping and I'm knacked walking around a few isles
I eat and hungry and hour later , now i have to wait till I'm 28 weeks to find out again its

Qnd I also had kicking above my private parts and by my ribs bo way can she be that long already

TwinsAndTrifle · 09/07/2021 14:50

It's hugely unlikely that a twin has been missed. Nothing is impossible. But not in this day and age. You'd be one in probably 10,000. But yes, there's a miniscule chance you're that 1.

What I would say, is the size of you is not related to twins. I was smaller all the way through with them than DS. What is more common, is the fact that you don't think you're pregnant, you think you're dying Grin I can laugh now. It was genuinely how I felt and told my doctor, who at 7 weeks, before any scans, asked if I'd considered it could be a multiple birth. The fact you're not like this, plus the scan didn't pick twins up, would be the answer to me.

You're not a bit more tired, you're not a bit more sick. It's beyond description. This doesn't happen to everyone. In my pre-natal twin group, it had happened to 9 out of the 10 of us.

Women who carry triplets should be given some form of medal Grin

TheYearOfSmallThings · 09/07/2021 14:55

No, they won't have missed a twin. The belly just appears earlier on a third pregnancy - it's very common to notice this and wonder, but it will just be the one baby.

ShowOfHands · 09/07/2021 15:08

It's been 4 years. I suspect, it's probably clear whether there's a hidden twin by now...

azimuth299 · 09/07/2021 15:14

I had a scan at 5 weeks and the two sacs were very obvious. I would say that it's possible but very unlikely.

GoldenBlue · 09/07/2021 15:14

I know someone that had this happen

Scan 1 = 1 baby
Scan 2 = twins
Scan 3 = triplets

All healthy, just not spotted in earlier scans

However I showed similar to you very early on with my babies. So much so that an acquaintance congratulated me on my pregnancy at 10 weeks. I don't know about you but I like to be really sure its pregnancy not just fat before congratulating, and really there was no doubt it was a pregnancy bump. A healthy single baby, big but not unusually so.

TwinsAndTrifle · 09/07/2021 15:14

LOL! What is with all the zombie threads being resurrected today?

ClaireEclair · 09/07/2021 15:18

Yes. When I went for my first scan at the EPU (I had pain and they suspected ectopic) they just found one. They called my back in the next day as my hcg was apparently very high! They found the second and then I had one last scan at the EPU when I found out they had sadly stopped growing and they discovered it was actually triplets. Like you the first test I had done came up very quickly! So quickly I thought it was a fault and did it three more times. Hope all works out for you x

LookItsMeAgain · 09/07/2021 15:25

Well as the OP posted this thread in 2017, I think she would know if she had twins or not.

Hey @Carlalala101 - any chance you could come back and let us know if you did have twins or not??

BeachPicture · 09/07/2021 15:25

I know this is a zombie thread, but I want to know!

LookItsMeAgain · 09/07/2021 15:26

@TwinsAndTrifle

LOL! What is with all the zombie threads being resurrected today?
It's a Friday thing...loads of zombie threads get resurrected of a Friday.