# what is meant by "surprise" twins?



## moodymaximus (Nov 13, 2007)

in other words, can their positioning be such as to render the fundal height within the "normal" range; to "hide" their bodies so that only one is felt during palpation exams?

are there no signs, or the signs are missed / misintepreted?

assuming one doesn't do an ultrasound.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

My friend was one and her mom did have an ultrasound. She'd been pushed up into her mom's ribs by her sister so other than really bad heartburn there were no signs until her mom's uterus didn't go down as expected after her sister was delivered.

In her case, her heartbeat was so close to her mom's heart that it was drowned out. Plus, she was higher up than they usually check things.


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## accountclosed3 (Jun 13, 2006)

i think that it varies. there are those of us who don't do any sort of measuring as a form of "prenatal care." no ultrasounds or diagnostic tests, no weighing, no measuring fundal height, etc.

one of the other "signs" i've read about is if it looks like "two circles" in the belly rather than one; but to be honest, i couldn't tell the differnce in the pictures to demonstrate, so i doubt i could tell if i looked at myself in the mirror, you know?

and so, they are not looking for any 'signs' of whether or not they have a singleton or twins, and their may be no history of any sort of twins in the family, and so there is no expectation to have twins.

and yet, twins!


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## luckymamato2 (Jun 3, 2006)

I suppose you could *think* you might be having twins but are unsure. You could tell yourself that maybe the baby is just going to be big. Maybe you don't measure, weigh yourself, go for an u/s, etc. I suppose the babies could hide inside your torso and make you believe that there is just one.









I am not incredibly in touch with my body and if I had a UP/UC, I could see alot of strange things happening to me that I had no idea would happen, such as twins, breech, alien birth, placenta previa, severely malformed baby or any other number of things. I have been pregnant (for real) once - I had I think two early early losses. I had no idea where her head was, what extremities she was using to poke me with, or anything. I was just confused and bewildered by the whole process. I suppose it may have been because she was a surprise pg, and we had ttc for so long that we gave up on pg. I was also really sick the whole time with hyperemesis - I guess I was preoccupied with being able to eat and keep my meals down! I sincerely wondered if she was not a real baby; that she was an alien or something. Maybe next time, if there is a next time, I'll be more in tune with my body and the baby. I have been leaning more and more towards UP/UC lately, but we really don't know if we want another baby yet and if we did want another, if I could get pg.


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## Quinalla (May 23, 2005)

Well, I had an Aunt who did have at least one ultrasound (possibly more) and had surprise twins. And the kids are in their teens now, so it wasn't that long ago. They were expecting the placenta and instead got a foot! Supposedly, the doctor's words were "How many feet does that baby have?" though I don't know if I quite believe that part of it


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## tanyalynn (Jun 5, 2005)

Both of my midwives (one attended each of my two kids' births, I mean) have attended surprise twin births. I don't think either mom had an ultrasound, but other than that, they did the normal visits, measure fundal height, some sort of listening (don't know if it was doppler or fetascope)... but all that is to say, it _is_ possible. I had lunch with one of them just a few weeks afterwards and she was still shaken. She was just stunned. It was the first time in her, roughly, 15 years of midwifery experience.


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## paphia (Jun 22, 2007)

It's really easy to wonder when you're doing your own prenatal care. I have been measuring about a month ahead the whole time, but I was charting so I know when I got pregnant. Sometimes there are weird movements that are "most likely" just one baby... but how can I tell for sure? I'm not having an US. I only have a cheapy stethoscope so it's not like I can pick up any sounds that aren't really loud and right at the surface. I'm feeling huge and uncomfortable but what pregnant woman doesn't in the last month or two?

From everything I've read about "surprise" twins, you can be at a normal fundal height, you can even get an US and the tech just doesn't do any deeper looking once they find the first baby, their heartbeats can be synchronized, one can be tucked behind the other so you can only palpate one, etc. It's a very interesting phenomenon and let me tell you the curiosity is hard to wait through! I hate waiting to open my presents, too. I also like knowing the endings to movies before I see them so I'm not shocked. UP has definitely been an exercise in patience, that's for sure!


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## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

An hbac mama here had surprise twins. She'd done her own prenatal care but had a midwife in attendance for the birth as a backup. The midwife said "that's not a placenta!" when mama said something about the birth being over. I think her twins are around 6 or 7 now? She was a bit fluffy before her pregnancy and although she gained some weight it wasn't a huge amount. And as far as she recalls there wasn't anything "odd" about her pregnancy (and this was her third time birthing). It just sort of happened.


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## dex_millie (Oct 19, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *moodymaximus* 
in other words, can their positioning be such as to render the fundal height within the "normal" range; to "hide" their bodies so that only one is felt during palpation exams?

are there no signs, or the signs are missed / misintepreted?

assuming one doesn't do an ultrasound.

My coworker who has a identical twin said their mother and doctor did not know and they did ultrasounds! One of the twins was directly behind the other. When one was born and the mother taught the delivery was over the doctor said 'there seems to be a next one'. It seem they didn't have much signs or they was overlooked.


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## sewathomemama (Mar 14, 2008)

my dh was THE surprise twin of the two. his mom, a RN, had her "baby" at the hospital. she had a girl, then the doc said, "wait a minute..." & he was born 4 minutes later. she had no idea she was expecting twins & this was in 1981, during the advent of the U/S, which she opted not to have.


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## Jane (May 15, 2002)

Some people just don't have huge fundal heights with twins. Other people grow little twins - two 4# twins can fit in the same space as one 8# baby. A lot of it is where the fetal poles are - if you can feel 3 hard lumpy things, it's (hopefully) not one baby, but 2 babies with one butt hiding.

But if one baby is head down, way down in the pelvis, and baby two has their head on the pelvic brim...you'd only feel one head.

There are also plenty of women with 44 cm fundal heights at term and only one 8.5# baby in there.

I've certainly tried to do leoponds on a few women and had sooo much trouble identifying the baby's parts - even at term. When breech is a concern, you can always do a vaginal exam to check, but if one of those women had twins? It's a combo of strong abdominals, belly fat, and perhaps an anterior placenta...

I've felt lots of singletons, and one set of twins. These twins were obvious - segregated, one on the right, one on the left, both head down - showing their head and butt, each - so, 4 very palpable fetal parts.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

My grandfather was a family practice Dr. As such he did quite a few deliveries (way before u/s







)

He prided himself on never having *surprise* twins. He always figured it out ahead of time. Apparently he was quite unusual in that regard....

-Angela


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