Can they miss a twin on an early ultrasound?

Hi guys, I started cramping and spotting today and they brought me in for bloodwork. My beta went from 1290 to 2792 in 3 days. I was a nervous wreck all day. They did an ultrasound and my ovary is still HUGE (13cmx9cm). But I was pleasantly surprised to see a gestational sac- small but there. I had no idea they could see anything so early. According to my egg retrieval, I would be 5 weeks exactly today. The sac measured 5w3d. *whew* I had myself ALL worked up!

I had been thinking since I got my early BFP, that maybe there were twins in there, just because when you transfer two, there is always that chance.  My question is this. Could they have missed a twin? it looked pretty obvious that there was only one... the picture was just gray with a nice black circle. I am probably just in denial, but I had a 'feeling' the past two days that there were twins in there. I know with identical twins it easier to miss so early because you only see one sac, and ID twins share a sac sometimes. But with IVF? what are the chances. Also, can a morula split into an identical twin? I assumed it would happen earlier rather than later?

Not gonna lie, I had myself all prepared for the possibility of twins and even though I was scared by that possibility, I had grown accustomed to the thought of having two and then our family would be complete.

So, am I in denial? I'd think it would be easier to miss twins the later on you get. But at 5 weeks, there are not many places a sac can hide, right? Any thoughts???

(-:

wish4hamburgersign:

at 5 weeks, there are not many places a sac can hide, right? Any thoughts???

The earlier you have an u/s the more chance they can miss a twin.  I've heard of twins sometimes being missed all the way until 7-8 wk.

I don't remember how far along my friend was, but when she went in the first time there was one, the second u/s showed 2.  GL!

When I was 5 weeks they only saw one sac, they said maybe two, but definately one.  At 6 weeks 1 day we saw three beating hearts in three sacs after transferring two.

It is way to early to rule out twins!  Your right!  I had two babies early on, then one, then three, then two.  Seriously...I would wait and see what happens at the heartbeat u/s around seven weeks.  Congrats!

wow really?  the past few days I just felt in my gut that there were two in there. So I felt a little deflated to only see one, as awful as that sounds. I could not control how I felt, even though twins would scare me to death. They didn't give me a picture or even zoom in on the sac they saw, so maybe there was one hiding right behind the first one. But I found a picture online of exactly what the U/S looked like today. Did your sac look like this???? Or were there questionable areas? I wish she would have zoomed in. Could a sac look like this and still maybe have another one hiding behind it? as always, I am obsessing about soemthing I cannot do anything about. *sigh*

Let me know what you think of this picture!

I had u/s at 6 and 9 weeks and they only saw one baby, at which point I assumed it was confirmed beyond any doubt that there was one baby. 

Imagine my surprise at my 20 week u/s.

Maureen:

I had u/s at 6 and 9 weeks and they only saw one baby

At 9 weeks?? Seriously, was it a real u/s tech? I have NO idea how you could miss a second babe at 9 wks. None. At 5-6 wks, yes, I can understand that it could be missed (albeit rare), but after 6 wks, that 2nd heartbeat is pretty hard to not see.

Wow. Just wow.

Yes, morulas can split into identical twins. The split generally happens anywhere from 3- 10 days after conception. Of course the later the split the higher risk(siamese or MoMo twins). My ID twins were not seen by RE at 5w1d in fact, it was clearly just one sac. Much to our surprise at 6w3d, the ultrasound tech at OB's office saw them very clearly :) Still a very real possibility, I would say. Hang in there and hope everything continues to go well for you.

Hey Charliecats, I see you are an ultrasound tech! I really think I was just in denial about yesterday's ultrasound results. The tech I had was very good and thorough, so the chances of her missing another sac is probably very low. When I saw my RE for my first pregnancy, the RE himself did the ultrasounds, so I can see where he might have missed something 'big'...like an extra baby. LOL. Anyway, I could not shake the feeling that there might be twins in there. I just wanted to know either way. I feel relieved today, even though yesterday my reaction seemed much different. 

I can't imagine what a roller coaster it was for you girls who had disapearing and reappearing embies! But your outcomes all seemed to be ok, right? 

Thanks everyone for your support!

(-: 

Anything's possible.  Good Luck!!!

charliecats:

Maureen:

I had u/s at 6 and 9 weeks and they only saw one baby

 

At 9 weeks?? Seriously, was it a real u/s tech? I have NO idea how you could miss a second babe at 9 wks. None. At 5-6 wks, yes, I can understand that it could be missed (albeit rare), but after 6 wks, that 2nd heartbeat is pretty hard to not see.

Wow. Just wow.

CC, it was just a quick peek in the doctor's office, and it was just the regular nurse doing it.  She looked for one baby, she found one baby, and quit looking.

The funny thing is, here is what happened at 6 weeks.  We see the blob, and I'm all yay, thank God, there's the baby, the world lifts on my shoulders, and she moves the wand, and suddenly there are FOUR BLOBS.   Stuck together like 4 pips on a die, like this:

* *
* *

And I am no u/s tech, but I am seeing FOUR things that look just like what she just told me was one baby.  (I wish I had this picture to show you.)   I said, "Oh my God, is that.... is that..."  and she gives me this big fakey smile and, "Oh, ha ha, that's nothing! Let me just go get the doctor!"    Which takes 12 hours or so for her to get him; maybe it was just a few minutes but plenty of time for me to stare at this and think, I know I only had 2 follicles, is this two sets of identical twins? Identical triplets plus one? Identical quads? Conjoined twins? Tumors? Burst appendix? Alien?

Finally he comes charging in and he goes, "HOW MANY DID THEY PUT IN THERE?" which is not reassuring in any way, a) because I have to remind him it was an IUI and I only had 2 follicles and b) obviously he thinks there's something going on too.  He then tells me this is nothing but some debris left in my uterus from my last AF.  Come back in three weeks and we'll check it.  Do I have to tell you what that 3 weeks was like?  My DH was out of town most of that time and I didn't tell him about it!

So 3 eternal weeks later, I go back, and voila, one baby.  I kept asking her, "are you sure?" but in retrospect it was just a different person doing it who didn't bother to look very hard becasue she didn't see the first time, even though I tried to tell her.  I think her job was mostly just assuring worried moms that there was still a h/b, and when she found a h/b she thought her job was done.

Anyway at that point I thought it was confirmed that there was one baby, my betas were dead center normal, and later those other tests that come back wonky if you have twins and don't know it (AFP? gestational diabetes?) those were normal too.  So I had absolutely no doubt it was one baby.  

At my 20 wk scan, I went out of town to a different u/s tech who is a friend of the family and a  local legend.  When she said it was twins, I literally thought she was playing a joke on me, I thought, she is playing back someone else's tape instead of recording my tape.  At the time it seemed more reasonable that she would spend 30 minutes of her time playing a hoax on me, than that I was actually having twins!  (She had scathing things to say about missing it at 9wks too.)

(sorry to hijack the thread!) 

Maureen:

is this two sets of identical twins? Identical triplets plus one? Identical quads? Conjoined twins? Tumors? Burst appendix? Alien?

LOL!!!

Maureen:

The funny thing is, here is what happened at 6 weeks.  We see the blob, and I'm all yay, thank God, there's the baby, the world lifts on my shoulders, and she moves the wand, and suddenly there are FOUR BLOBS.   Stuck together like 4 pips on a die, like this:

* *
* *

Ahhh--an  infamous "mirror image artifact". I have seen those a few time--when the ultrasound wave hits a strong reflector, it can act as a mirror. You get that occasionally on tranvag's, and I will often pull out and re-insert if I am suspecting that. Or get mom to pee, or push on the uterus. But then again, I am a goddess with my magic wand.

Maureen:

the regular nurse doing it.

Thank goodness it was a nurse!! (who legally in Canada are not allowed to scan patients--FYI--unless they have their Nurse Practitioner Status or have additional qualifications like RDMS behind their name).

Maureen:

playing a joke on me

I have done this to a few dads (along with the mom's permission). Especially if it is an oops 4th or 5th baby. It is quite comical to watch the dads.

charliecats:

Ahhh--an  infamous "mirror image artifact".

So, you think we were seeing both twins plus a "mirror image" of each??  

charliecats:

I am a goddess with my magic wand.

Or without.  But you're going to hell for that joke.