Anyone else’s clinic not catch that they were having twins??

[Anonymous]

We did a single embryo transfer at Dominion. Had two ultrasounds and was referred to an OB. Went to my OB and she got a funny look on her face and said, “I thought you said you transferred only one embryo...” I confirmed and then she showed me twins on the screen. Very shocking. I can not believe that my clinic didn’t see two babies in either ultrasound they had given me before I was referred to the OB. It’s been a surreal experience to say the least. This was my 6th round of IVF for my second ivf baby so a long road to get here. Anyone else have a similar situation? So much for trying to reduce the risks of a multiple pregnancy by only transferring one embryo!!

[Anonymous]

That is a crazy surprise! You still reduced your risk though. I have a friend who transferred 2 and ended up with triplets.

[Anonymous]

I’m guessing they saw one and called it a day. Chance of natural twins is small.

[Anonymous]

Identical twins are pretty rare.

[Anonymous]

OP, you seem to be implying that your clinic was somehow incompetent. It’s actually not that difficult to miss a twin with a very early

“In many cases, there is a good reason for the hidden twin. It happens more often because the babies are monochorionic, or contained in a single chorion (sac). This forces the two fetuses to be positioned so closely together that their shadowed position could not be detected in a quick scan.”

“For example, if your first ultrasound is taken prior to eight weeks of gestation it may clearly reveal one distinct embryo. Yet, women who have had a second ultrasound later in the first trimester or even into the second trimester have been surprised. Their ultrasound clearly revealed two heads, four arms, and four legs. Another baby did not simply materialize along the way.”

“Instead, the two-dimensional perspective of the first scan only caught a glimpse of one embryo. The other was shadowed—positioned directly behind the other—and not visible from the view of the ultrasound tool. It is a similar effect to what we see during an eclipse.”

[Anonymous]

Are they monoamniotic?

[Anonymous]

did you do ICSI? when i did a lab tour a couple of years ago the embryology doc mentioned that he had worked with a technician who had a high rate of twins with their fertilizations. something about needle technique made the embryos more likely to develop into twins.

[Anonymous]

Assisted hatching can increase the possibility of identical twins.

[Anonymous]

I'm in a group of 10 ladies that all did our first IVF cycles together and had kids. Out of the 10, 3 ended up with identicals!!! I asked my RE about it and if there was a higher chance of an embryo splitting with a frozen vs fresh (all those women happened to do a FET vs fresh) and she said there is an increased risked with IVF in general, but instead of being something like a 1% chance it's maybe 2-3% chance of identicals.

Crazy they didn't catch it, congrats!! What an awesome surprise!

[Anonymous]

My doc didn't catch my twins either. It wasn't until I went back four weeks later that he noticed them. I think he saw the sack and called it a day.

[Anonymous]

My clinic didn’t see twins, but I saw my regular OB at 7 weeks and they also didn’t catch it. Depending on the position of the sacs, you can’t always see twins until later.

[Anonymous]

OP I'm an ob nurse and mother of fraternal twins....they are easy to miss in the early stages especially if they are identical which is the case if you only had one embryo transferred.

[Anonymous]

I had a single embryo transferred at a different clinic after two unsuccessful transfers at Dominion, but I did my monitoring at Dominion. I had my 6.5 week US with Dr. Gordon (same doctor who unsuccessfully treated me previously.) He detected two heartbeats at that very US. Nearly gave me and my husband heart attacks with his casual “So, how do you feel about identical twins?” It probably depends on who was doing your US.

[Anonymous]

PP did you know Dr. Gordon only practices christian based medicine, he recommends prayer and timed intercourse. Luckily he moved to Knoxville TN where bigoted medicine is okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP did you know Dr. Gordon only practices christian based medicine, he recommends prayer and timed intercourse. Luckily he moved to Knoxville TN where bigoted medicine is okay.

Way to paint an entire region with a broad brush.