Vanishing twin syndrome - can anyone help?

[Everhopeful35]

Hi, I'm hoping someone might be able to share their experiences to try and put my mind at ease during quite a worrying time. I'm currently 5.5 weeks pregnant through IVF and after some spotting yesterday my clinic did an US and discovered I was carrying twins. Unfortunately only one sac had a yolk sac and the other one was much smaller and appeared to have nothing in it. The doctor said there's a chance it will still catch up because it's early days but there's also a chance it's a case of 'vanishing twin syndrome', where the sac reduces and dies, and is eventually reabsorbed by the body. What's worrying me is that the brown spotting and cramps I had yesterday have continued today and the clinic say that my HCG is still rising but a little on the low side at 5,795 (it was 4,436 24 hours earlier). I'm so terrified I'm going to lose them both now. Has anyone else hone through this and can tell me whether the cramps and bleeding are normal if you're losing one twin?

I don't know about losing a twin but I bled with one of mine and all was fine. It can be a bad sign but not necessarily. 5weeks is early so time for the twin to develop. Keep in touch with the midwife and hopefully all will go well.

I also had two sacs but only one heartbeat, the second one just reabsorbed and that was it, perfect pregnancy with only one baby. However I never had any spotting, cramps (or even nausea) so I cannot advise on that, just be reassured that a second gestational sac needn't be a problem even if it never develops. And besides, as PP said, you're very early on, nothing is certain yet.

My mum had a vanishing twin pregnancy with my sister, my sister is now nearly 30. A vanishing twin pregnancy doesn't automatically mean you will lose both. It's early days try to stay as calm as you can. Good luck.

Thank you everyone! I really appreciate your replies. I got myself into a bit of a state this morning, so managed to get my doctor on the phone. She said that on the scan they were very pleased with the larger twin - it had a yolk sac and a 1mm fetal pole, which is right on track for where it should be at this point, and she said the other one could go either way but it's not unknown for the second one to be as much as a week behind. So, like some if you have said, it's early days and anything could happen. I think I'm just concerned about the spotting and the lower HCG. She said this could indicate the second one is failing but only time will tell. The spotting could also be down to the blood thinners I'm on (aspirin and Clexane). I'm a bundle of nerves because I've had repeat miscarriages and I've never got beyond six weeks!

Hi op this happened to me. We saw two sacs but one was misshapen. We had weekly scans and the second scan showed that the second baby had not progressed. I cramped and spotted a little. The cramps were quite bad and I worried about my baby but he was just fine he’s a little bundle of trouble now he’s 1! He grew perfectly and we could see the other sac slowly disappear at our weekly scans xx

Should also add that I suffered with repeated miscarriages for no known reason. I have a little girls and a little boy now. Stay positive xx

Similar to PP I had a second sac discovered at 8 week scan but no baby, the sonographer said it was nothing to be concerned about and I had a healthy pregnancy (this was after a mmc). I also had light bleeding in a previous pregnancy with no issues.

Good luck it’s such an anxious time x

Thanks everyone - I've really appreciated your replies and encouragement. Just an update (as I hate reading threads where you don't know what happened), I did sadly lose the smaller twin. Unfortunately is very much 50/50 whether the other will survive. It had a yolk sac and fetal pole measuring 1mm on Wednesday but today the doctor who scanned me says that the fetal pole hadn't grown beyond 1mm. I then had my bloods back this afternoon and the doc was surprised because the HCG is still rising (I'm now at 8,800). She was so downbeat about the pregnancy earlier, but when she rang with my HCG she said that the placenta is clearly still growing so perhaps it's just that it was too early for her to see and accurately measure the fetal pole. Don't know what to think now. Have been told to come back on Sunday for another HCG test and if the levels rise they will do another scan next week. Anyone else had a slow-growing foetus/pole at the beginning? I'm six weeks tomorrow.