Calling all moms and moms-to-be of twins! We just had our ultrasound last week and found out we’re expecting one more baby than we thought.
When did you find out? Identical or fraternal? Gender?
[name]Hi[/name], congrats on twins! Get ready for the chaos!
We didn’t find out until quite late in the pregnancy. It was going to be a surprise but I was just too curious! We had two little boys, identical and still impossible to tell apart. [name]Do[/name] you have any ideas of genders for your two yet?
I had a feeling it was twins early on. I got really big, really fast. By the time I went in for my ultrasound at 20 weeks, the buttons were strained on the shirts I wore at 40 weeks with my dd. Sure enough, the ultrasound showed two little boys 
They’re fraternal - one blonde & blue-eyed, the other brunette and brown-eyed.
Congratulations! You might be a little sleep-deprived at first, but it’s so worth it!
If you are seeking normal prenatal care, you should find out at your very first appointment, at seven or so weeks. Two separate embryos with separate amniotic sacs (assuming they are draternal) can clearly be seen, and both heartbeats can be dopplered. By 12 weeks they should really be unmissable–when you undergo the first bit of bloodwork for the quad screen-- and to miss them at the anatomy scan, the full Level [name]One[/name] sono, would be tantamount to gross incompetence.
Anyone who says they found out “late in the pregnancy” is either a mother of fictitious twins (in which case you really, really shouldn’t be posting on this thread in response to real mothers seeking real medical advice) or did not receive normal prenatal care with a licensed provider (either MD or CNM).
As far as the identical v fraternal question: the only real, true, 100% accurate way to know is by genetic analysis. Fraternal twins can fuse placentas-- in fact, they frequently do-- and even amniotic sacs. If monoamniotic and monochorionic twins are seen at that very first visit, many providers feel comfortable telling the mother there is a very high likelihood of identical twins, but again it’s not 100%.
@blade No, I did not receive proper prenatal care because when I was pregnant with my twins we had just moved out to [name]Africa[/name] for DH’s job and I was also very ill for a large part of the first trimester. Out here it takes six hours to get to the nearest hospital so we decided to keep it as a surprise until the end, but the doctor recommended we have a scan after I was ill to see whether the baby was still with us. Thankfully they were. I did suspect it very early on but life was so busy with the illness and adjusting to living in the new neighbourhood that there wasn’t time to check. It’s not common here for mothers to have any care at all so it’s not a readily available service.
I found out I was having twins the first time I went to the doctor at about 6 or 7 weeks. At my 15 week ultrasound the nurse lady made the assessment that there was just one placenta (very likely identical) and that as far as she could tell, they “didn’t have outdoor plumbing”…so, little girls for us.
I found out in something like week 8 or 9 (it’s already becoming a bit of a blur!) at my first prenatal appointment. With current technology, I think it would be pretty hard to miss twins in an ultrasound.
Mine were in two sacs with two placentas, and we found out at 20 weeks that they were the same gender, so it wasn’t clear if they were identical or fraternal until after they were born. Although they looked identical at birth (and the pediatrician in the hospital ventured an early guess that they must be identical based on looks alone), we quickly discovered that they were fraternal when a test revealed that they do not share the same blood type.
We found out at 13 weeks during our first ultrasound scan. (In [name]EVERY[/name] subsequent scan- and we had a lot- they were always in this position. Righty was upside down and Lefty was rightside up.) Two sacs and likely fused placentas (they said it was hard to tell). They are definitely fraternal, although we have not had any genetic analysis.
I’m not trying to attack, just learn. Doesn’t two sacs and two placentas mean fraternal either way?
Almost always, but if they split very, very early-- like at the 8-cell stage-- then two separate everythings could develop. It’s a very safe bet that di/di twins are not identical, though.
According to my perinatologist, this is a common misconception, and actually about 1/4 or 1/3 of all id twins have different sacs and placentas. So if they’re the same gender, nothing’s for sure until after they’re born (and in some cases genetically tested).
This meant that in my case it was more likely they’d be fraternal, but still far from certain.
We found out at 10 or 11 weeks. Twins are very common on both sides of the family so it wasn’t completely unexpected. I had always wanted twins from when I was little so we were extremely excited! Our boys, [name]Caleb[/name] [name]James[/name] and [name]Noah[/name] [name]Alexander[/name] are identical.
A friend of mine was given an u/s at 11 weeks b/c she had HG, but it turned out to be just one baby. My mom kept suggesting I was having twins b/c they run in our family and b/c she thought I looked big for how far along I was. My first u/s was scheduled for 20 weeks, but the nurse at the hospital clinic did an unofficial u/s a couple weeks earlier specifically to confirm that it was just one baby. For the record, my mom was the only person that suspected I was having twins, as I was at my pre-pregnancy weight at my 24 week check-up and only gained after that. I know a mom of twins who told me she was showing and wearing maternity pants at 12 weeks.
My aunt has had two sets of fraternal twins. With the first set she knew they were twins very early in the pregnancy; with the second set she didn’t find out until 34 weeks. I have no idea what her early prenatal care was like, but I know she was going to the doctor regularly at least two months before the twins were born.
First set- ultrasound at 8 weeks because I had strange symptoms (eptopic-like) and my beta reading did not line up with where I thought I was (4 weeks pregnant). saw 2 sacs, 2 heartbeats and 2 8-week babies! Big shock because as I just mentioned, I thought I was only 4 weeks along (I had a light periodi the month before- when I would have been 4 weeks). Since they were same-gender, we were not sure if they were identical or fraternal. After birth, we discovered they have different blood types. Therefore, they are fraternal. I don’t think we would have done genetic testing if they had the same blood type right away, but I bet curiosity would have gotten to us at some point if they really looked alot alike! As it turns out, they have different hair color and they don’t look identical at all so it’s not a suprising result.
Second set- ultrasound at 6.5 weeks saw 3 sacs, 1 heartbeat and fetal poles in the other 2 sacs. 2 weeks later it was 2 sacs and 2 heartbeats. We do not know if they are fraternal or identical. Given that we have one set of fraternals and set #2 had their own placentas and sacs in the womb, it’s highly likely that they are fraternal too. They have the same blood type and (they are only 6 weeks old…) they look very very similar though.
I’m expecting twin boys! I asked not to know if they will be fraternal or identical.
@futuremom that’s great! Because you can’t know antenatally without invasive genetic testing. No obstetrician would offer it to you without a serious, potentially lethal, medical condition to worry about.