Forum 2nd trimester

Vanishing Twin

18 replies

Wendy
Hi everyone,

Has anyone had experience with a Vanishing Twin?

I’d always just thought I was pregnant with one baby. I just had an ultrasound (I’m 14.5 weeks pregnant) and they saw a membrane that goes with twins, but they only see one baby, so they’re saying I must have had twins but one has vanished.

Honestly, I’m not so convinced that one was lost. I haven’t had any bleeding or cramps, nothing that would point to a miscarriage of one of the babies.

Could they be wrong and could it turn out later that there are actually two babies, maybe one is hiding behind the other and they missed it?

I hope someone here has experience with this.

Best, Wendy

Replies

  1. Cis Guest #2

    I've heard of it before, but I have no experience with it.
    Wouldn't it be a good idea to request an extra ultrasound since you think you didn't have a miscarriage at 1 week and you'd like to be sure?

  2. kimmi #3

    Hi Wendy.
    I also had two sacs at first, but one was smaller than the other and there was no heartbeat. I didn't have any bleeding or anything like that either, but it really seems like there's only one.
    I'm almost 12 weeks pregnant now.

  3. Ziggy Guest #4

    Hi Wendy,
    I had this with my previous pregnancy. At the first ultrasound, we saw a healthy baby with a beating heart and a smaller gestational sac with a little bundle in it that had stopped developing. We were quite shocked, but by the 20-week scan, you couldn’t see anything of it anymore, and my son is now three and a half. Sometimes I think about twins and wonder if he could have had a twin

  4. Ziggy Guest #5

    I never had any cramps or bleeding or any sign that something was wrong.

  5. Serena #6

    Sometimes the body reabsorbs the deceased baby.

  6. MamaY Guest #7

    During my previous pregnancy, I also had a vanishing twin. At the first ultrasound, the midwife first saw a gestational sac with a beating heart, and then she found another gestational sac without a beating heart. The second sac was also much smaller. The midwife explained that it was a twin pregnancy, but one of the twins didn't make it. I might have had some bleeding, but it's also possible that my body absorbed the non-viable embryo, which is what happened to me. I didn't experience any discomfort. On subsequent ultrasounds, it was no longer visible. After giving birth to my healthy daughter, the placenta was thoroughly examined, and they found a second gestational sac, but there was no umbilical cord attached to it.

  7. Richard Guest #8

    Sounds like a very strong and unlikely story to me, anonymous. The psychological issues of your son are due to psychological factors, not the possibility of a vanishing twin during pregnancy. If there had been bleeding at 14 weeks with a second gestational sac being expelled, the sonographer and midwife would have told you. Help for your son is definitely not a bad idea in this case, but don't look for an unrealistic cause. Hopefully, he'll be okay and his negative feelings will fade.

  8. N. Guest #9

    I’ve been through this too. We had a long IVF journey. The first transfer resulted in pregnancy, but I had a miscarriage at 6 weeks. The second transfer didn’t take, and on the third transfer, I was pregnant again—at 2 weeks. We already had an ultrasound at 8 weeks because of the IVF process. We saw two gestational sacs and two beautiful, beating hearts.

    Two weeks later, we had another ultrasound to discuss everything since a twin pregnancy is quite different. But then it turned out one had died. We found that really heartbreaking because we had already seen two beating hearts. I’m now 10 weeks pregnant, and tomorrow we’re having another ultrasound to check if things are okay with this little one. Which we’re obviously hoping for!!! It seems to happen quite often, but usually, you don’t get an ultrasound until later in pregnancy, so by then the heart has already stopped or never started beating.

    Don’t stress too much. Good luck!

  9. ellis Guest #10

    Good day

    TAKE IT SERIOUSLY, IT IS
    VERY PAINFUL
    IT REALLY EXISTS.

    Greetings, Ellis

  10. Anoniem Guest #11

    Hi Richard,

    This is definitely possible. There are even several books written about it, for example 'The Drama in the Mother's Womb'. 20 years ago, very few ultrasounds were performed by GPs/midwives compared to now. So there's a good chance they never could have detected it.

    Have a lovely evening!

  11. Nanoeska Guest #12

    Hey ladies, I'm 6 weeks pregnant with twins, and I'm really scared that one might not make it. I find it pretty unsettling that you wouldn't even notice if one passed away.

  12. lisqnne Guest #13

    Hi,

    I had my first baby 3 years ago. After the birth, they checked my placenta and the midwife said there was an extra membrane in there that she’d never seen before with one baby, and that it might have been twins very early on, but we’d never know for sure.

    I had nightmares for months about a dead baby under the covers.. really disturbing, but after a while it stopped.

    A year ago, I went with my aunt to a spiritual fair with questions about my late mother, and when I sat with a medium, she suddenly started talking about my first baby and her deceased sister.. she said she was with my mother.. I hadn’t said anything or shown anything at that point.

    For me, it was a kind of confirmation, but unfortunately, we’ll never know for sure.

  13. Karin Guest #14

    Hi Richard and other readers, I get that it’s hard to believe a vanished twin could cause mental health issues later in life, but it really can. There’s growing research showing this, so keep an eye out for it as you get older. I’m usually pretty down-to-earth and value evidence, but since I learned through a psychologist that I’m part of a vanished twin, all the puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place. For the moms-to-be, don’t worry, but keep this in mind for the future. There are good books out there that describe this.

  14. T. Guest #15

    Good morning.

    Two weeks ago, I found out that one fetus stopped growing at 8 weeks and its heartbeat had stopped, while the other still has a nice, beating heart and is growing nicely. I'm certainly grateful that we're still pregnant, but I still have mixed feelings, which I can't quite wrap my head around yet.

    My question is, we're now two weeks further along and I haven't had any bleeding yet. Will my body still miscarry it? If not, can it cause any harm?

  15. Veraaa #16

    Hey T.
    With me, they saw this on an early scan, around 7 weeks. I was then sent to the hospital. The second fetus had been rejected. The midwife explained it as if that fetus had then petrified. That doesn't get expelled like in a miscarriage. That petrified thing stays inside... it might become smaller... it can even disappear... and it can also be found later during childbirth as a tiny petrified piece in the placenta.
    That's how I understood it at least.
    With me, it was so early that it wasn't visible anymore on the 20-week scan.
    Definitely ask about it... ask what to expect with you. I found it nice to get that explanation and know what's coming.
    Toitoi

  16. T. Guest #17

    Hi Veraaa,

    Thanks for your message and for sharing your experience. I'll definitely ask around about it.

    Best wishes

  17. Tinkerbel Guest #18

    Unfortunately,

    Pregnant with twins!
    2 beautiful ultrasounds (7 weeks and 8.5 weeks)
    2 beating hearts
    At the 8.5-week ultrasound, 2 moving fetuses.
    At the 12.3-week ultrasound... 1 baby passed away! I'm heartbroken!

  18. Esther Guest #19

    Hi Wendy.
    That’s definitely not weird at all.
    We were pregnant with twins. At 9.5 weeks we saw their little hearts beating, truly beautiful.
    Unfortunately, at the 12-week scan one had stopped.
    We were told we might have bleeding or that the body would naturally resolve it.
    To our surprise, on 26.7.21 our son was born, and I asked if they could see anything of the other baby since I hadn’t had any bleeding... And yes, indeed. It was in the placenta wall... not even 2 cm big but already clearly visible as a baby...
    It’s nice to think that I carried both of them for 9 months...
    Love, Mom of an angel and a little one

Add your reply

Share what helped you, or ask a question.

Sign in to join the conversation.

Continue with Google

Takes a moment. You’ll come straight back here to reply.