Vanishing twin

[nattergal]

I've just had my first scan (10+1) and they could see a second empty gestational sac which means there has been a vanishing twin. I was supposed to have the Harmony Test but I can't have it now as the twin that is gone could cause a false positive as the likelihood is it didn't survive because of a chromosome abnormality. Has anyone else also experienced this and do you know if there is any increased risk to the existing baby of issues along the line/chromosome problems? She said there wouldn't be so I'm hopeful it will all be ok! It's frustrating that I can't have the Harmony Test if the nuchal scan shows any risks

Hi, I’m not sure about the chromosome risk although from what I understand both babies are completely different eggs and sperm so essentially as different as siblings born years apart. I had a twin that died around 10 weeks and I’ve been told my body will absorb it and it will cause no problems to my baby at all

I have this at the moment. I’m 9 weeks with a second empty sac. mine was an identical twin as it was created by an embryo splitting (I had ivf with one embryo transferred). I don’t know if there are any increased risks. My sonographer just told me it was pretty common and not to worry.

I had this. It was a non-identical twin. It certainly increased my anxiety for the duration of the pregnancy. But it all went ok, the baby was fine and he's now upstairs fast asleep.

I was told afterwards that it is quite common. I didn't know it at the time.

Sending you .

Hi nattergal, this happened to me. Had an early scan around 7 weeks and there was no heartbeat on the 2nd twin. By 12 week scan it had completely gone, I had no bleeding so it was just reabsorded. I'm 20 weeks now and everything has been perfect with the other baby, no complications. I've been told that it's very common, most people just don't know because they don't have a scan before 12 weeks and when it happens this early on there are no risks to the other twin at all, especially if they were in two separate sacs. It's a tricky one emotionally though, I felt sad about the potential of what could have been but then guilty for feeling like that when I still had one healthy baby and like Hawkeye said I was definitely more anxious. But over time my feelings were just replaced with happiness and excitement and now I can feel her moving everyday it's very reassuring 🙂

I hope you're ok

It's an odd feeling isn't it? You grieve for a lost baby but then feel that you dont have the right and that you're luck to have the surviving twin. My surviving twin is a very healthy 3 year old. I don't think it made me more anxious for that pregnancy but definitely has for my current pregnancy. I'm sorry for your loss and hope you have a healthy pregnancy.

Thank you everyone, that does make me feel better. It's a very strange feeling really, as twins would have been cool and I do feel sad for what could have been, but I think it would have been a lot harder to deal with had I had an earlier scan and seen two in there only to lose one later on when I was fully expecting and mentally prepared for twins. My focus now is just on the health of the little one I could see jumping around on the scan. I've already been very anxious the whole pregnancy so far so this doesn't help matters but it certainly seems much more real now I have seen him/her

I think vanishing twin it quite common? I read on here a while back about left hand children being the other half of a vanishing twin but back in the day we didn’t have early scans so wondering myself as DS1 is left handed.

Albeit it’s still hard though if you know it’s the case
For you