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Bereavement

Find bereavement help and support from other Mumsnetters. See also your choices after baby loss.

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Original poster

twin pregnancy - now only one heartbeat

27 replies

worriedmother · 13/07/2005 18:50

A 6 week scan showed twins. Yesterday at 9 weeks only one heartbeat was found, the other twin had died about a week or so before.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Did the surviving baby make it? The hospital just said to wait and see and come in for another scan at 12 weeks as nothing could be done anyway. They said it was quite common but I've never heard of this happening.

I just feel a bit in limbo

OP posts:

Flamesparrow · 13/07/2005 18:51

Oh honey.

Not been through it, just really sending you all my love.

xxxx

Nemo1977 · 13/07/2005 18:53

aww hun i have heard of it happening but i dont know what course of action is in regards to the twin who has died as in normal circumstances u would go for rescan then a d+c. I am soo sorry hun as it must be a nightmare hugs to u

spidermama · 13/07/2005 18:55

I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well.

This is very common. Just think, had it not been for scans you'd probably never have known about the twins anyway.

Sometimes I think all these unecessary interventions are damaging to our sense of wellbeing.

nutcracker · 13/07/2005 18:56

Sorry to hear about this Worriedmother.

I lost a discovered I was pregnant with twins, only when I started to bleed and had a scan. By that time the twin had already died. I think i was about 8 or 9 weeks.

I had no other probs at all during the pregnancy and the surviving twin is now my 7 year old Dd1

Wishing you lots of love and luck with your pregnancy.

nutcracker · 13/07/2005 18:57

Sorry, first bit should read 'I discovered I was pregnant with twins'

sorrel · 13/07/2005 18:58

Mamatoto · 13/07/2005 18:58

Thinking of you - i would talk to midwife as I know nothing about this!! HUGS!!!

Katemum · 13/07/2005 19:03

My friend was pregnant with twins and lost one early on, the surviving baby is now a happy and energetic 17 month old. Very sorry for your loss, hope everything goes well for the rest of your pregnancy.

daisy1999 · 13/07/2005 19:26

I think this is more common than you might imagine. Most people who lose a twin this early on will never know.
So sorry for your loss.
Try to enjoy the rest of the pregnancy (easier said than done). I have twins and for the whole of the pregnancy I worried something was going to go wrong. I look back and wish I'd just enjoyed it more.

Christie · 13/07/2005 20:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tribpot · 13/07/2005 20:06

Yes, just to echo the other posters, a friend of mine had the same experience, she lost one of twins at an early stage. So very sorry to hear your news, but hopefully all will be well for the surviving twin.

MarsLady · 13/07/2005 20:07

I'm sorry for you loss. I hope that the rest of your pregnancy is good and safe.

Yes it's common, and whilst I know that that doesn't make your loss any better it should give you hope for the surviving twin.

angelp · 13/07/2005 20:10

Apparently this is very common and most people don't even know there were ever twins as it often happens before the first scan. When I gave birth the midwife examined the placenta and umbilical cord and said it looked like it had been a twin pregnancy at the start. I had had no idea.
Please don't worry for the other twin, I am sure it will continue to thrive as normal

mancmum · 13/07/2005 20:19

it happened to me... had lots of bleeding from 6-12 weeks and was scanned weekly then one day had a huge huge bleed scan showed my baby had died... devestated does not come close as all the following scans showed my baby slowly getting smaller... his twin survived and is now a very boisterous and beautiful 2 year old... she is very very special -- I do think about her twin often and planted a tree to remember him the day before I gave birth...

Original poster

worriedmother · 14/07/2005 19:28

thanks for all your messages, I don't know if I expected anyone to have any experience of this, but there are several very sad stories here.

I think I am just worried that I didn't have any symptons that the first one had died, so I don't know if the second one is still ok.

I just about got over the shock of twins (after the shock of an unplanned pregnancy), and feel bad as I was worried how we would cope.

thanks for your messages

OP posts:

bubble99 · 15/07/2005 21:09

This is called a 'Disappearing Twin' and is very common (not that I expect that to make you feel better )I know of two women who had early miscarriages and were scanned and told that one twin had survived.

biglips · 15/07/2005 21:13

big hugs to you {{{{{{{{{{Hugs}}}}}}}}}}}}

RnB · 15/07/2005 21:13

Message withdrawn

socks3 · 05/08/2005 18:32

We have just found out today that our 7 week old is one of twins. When I found out I was pregnant I felt soon after it was twins. I bled at 6 weeks and was told it was a m/c. Other things didn't add up to that but I won't bore you with all that. 5 weeks later I bled again and this was felt to be a period. 5 weeks later a positive pregnancy test. All through I felt further on than I was and some things didn't add up. He is my third child. We thought he was born 10 days early. We took him to an osteopath today and he felt he was one of twins before I had even said I'd had a m/c. He felt he is actually a 45 week old and that makes lots of things fall in to place. He will be absolutely fine. The hospital are unaware of any of this and completely missed everything. Was told it was a twin by a healthcare worker as casual as you like and then denied by the sonographer.
So it can work out okay and I really hope it does for you. x

Original poster

worriedmother · 09/08/2005 21:25

thanks for all your kind messages, just a quick update to say that I've had another scan and still got one good heartbeat. Hopefully now I've got to 12 weeks I can relax a bit more, as if anything was going to happen it would have by now (?)

OP posts:

tanya06 · 02/10/2006 15:56

i have a similar story. i thought i was pregnant and started bleeding about 5 weeks into it but the bleeding stopped after about 20 minutes. then about a week later i started bleeding and had pains and went to the hospital. they told me for sure i was pregnant. i was excited. when we went into the sonogram room there were clearly 2 sacs but one was empty. they told me i had lost one, but i was 6 weeks and 6 days pregnant. i was sad. then about a week and a half later i started bleeding and was in an incredible amount of pain. no one told me i would loose the sac of the baby i lost. so i thought for sure this was a miscarridge. luckily the other baby was still there moving and doin ok. now the doctors have no idea how far along i am. it is frustrating but i am so scared of the idea that something might be wrong. i didnt know this happens to alot of people. i hope that i can share my story again one day with my baby in my arms.

Monkeytrousers · 04/10/2006 19:41

My SIL has just lost one twin at 10 weeks today. These messages are very reassuring.

PretendFriend · 04/10/2006 19:54

babycentre on early twin scans.

I once read somewhere (but can't find it now) that all pg's start out as 2 embryos but generally one doesn't make it. Obviously finding out v v early means that the loss of that one becomes significant and sad, but it doesn't signify any risk to the second, as far as I can see.

Sorry for your loss and that you can't yet be reassured, wm Hoping you will have a healthy baby at the end of this pregnancy

PretendFriend · 04/10/2006 19:55

Oh lord, have just noticed that worriedmum was posting in Jul/Aug last year - are you still with us?

mumtimestwo · 08/11/2006 13:16

hello
yes still here, but under another name - nolonger worried mother! The rest of the pregnancy went smoothly and I had a healthy baby in January.

Not sure how I would have coped with two, but still feel a bit sad sometimes. nothing actually "happened" although the hospital did warn that I might miscarry - so if I hadn't had any early scans I might never have known.

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