Ultrasounds?

Hi I'm new to this forum, but I was just wondering how often is normal to have ultrasounds during a twin pregnancy? This is my first pregnancy and during our dating ultrasound we discovered we were 9 months pregnant with twins. I am now 16 weeks and my doctor said we will not schedule an ultrasound until I amd 20 weeks. I was a little dissappointed because I would like the reassurance that everything is going well.

 

Unless there are problems, you probably won't have many. A good friend of mine had twins and she had three her whole pregnancy...she had no complications. With my twins by 20 weeks I had already had three, and then had three or four more after that because of size concerns.

 

CONGRATULATIONS and welcome to TS!!!!

I had an ultrasound at every visit. Most of the time they were really quick just checking heart rates. At 12 weeks I was also referred to a maternal fetal medicine specialist who did very detailed ultrasounds at each visit. However I have heard of OBs that treat twin pregnancies more like singletons and only do a couple of ultrasounds.

 

WIth my boys I had a dating ultrasound at around 7 weeks. At 10 weeks I had anothe one due to bleeding and then my next one was at 20 weeks. I had one every 4 weeks after that until about 32 weeks where there was a size discordance and I had one every 14 days. It really depends on your OB and like the PP mentioned if there are complications.

 

I had a dating ultrasound at 11 weeks, then another ultrasound at 18 weeks (or so - I don't really remember). That's when they saw that my girls shared a placenta. After that, it was every two weeks. I was pretty ultrasounded out by the end of the pregnancy. I didn't really want any ultrasounds at all with this current pregnancy, but DH insisted - he wants an "official" head count. Fair enough. ardon:

Anyway, as others have said, how often you go for ultrasounds really depends on what's happening with your individual pregnancy, as well as your OB's personal preference. I would just ask next time what his policy is & why so you know what to expect.

 

Thank you everyone so much. This puts me at ease. My appointments have gone well and my doctor says everything is going well, I'm just a worrier. I'm excited for the 20 week ultrasound and to find out the genders!

 

Are you with a regular OB or with a high risk? This can sometimes make a difference in how often you'll have ultrasounds.

 

I have found with my friends the majority of people who have had a ton of ultrasounds are those who were with an RE. I had at least 10 or 11 ultrasounds by 15 weeks but I had many complications in the beginning. My high risk dr was happy with one u/s a month after that point.

 

Out of a practice of 7 OBs only 1 wouldn't do an u/s at every appmt. He bothered to get out the doppler and find both babies- which is why I chose him. I was being seen every month by a peri who did u/s at every appmt so after 20 weeks I got an u/s once a month, then at 30 weeks a couple of extra ones due to some complications.

 

I had 3. It wasn't until I joined TS that I saw mommies getting more than that. But if all is well, as was with me, you should be fine.

 

Saw this today and since it relates to your topic I thought I would share even though it has to do with changes to the Canadian guidelines. The article is pretty vague though...

U/S article

I had 5 U/S which I thought was VERY high but since coming here have found it is on the low side. My girls were di/di and for various reasons I was not considered "high risk". My primary care was provided by a midwife while I did see an OB a few times. I didn't have any complications so I required very little intervention. We ended up being lucky since my girls are ID but since they were di/di they didn't have any of the issues common to ID twin pregnancies.

So, I think every twin pregnancy is different and it's important to remember that just because there are 2 in there doesn't mean there are going to be problems . GL!

 

We ended up having u/s at every visit except the last one mainly because the midwife said it would be too hard for her to find heart beats with the doppler and be sure that she was getting each babies heart beat. But the regular OB doctor did our appointment last time and found both babies just fine on the doppler. But we started having extensive u/s at 24 weeks where they meassure everything. Head femer and look at the babies organs and then also at the babies ambilical cords as well and make sure fluid is good.

 

My regular ob was only going to do one u/s, at 20 wks. I had 2 early ultrasounds with my RE, one at almost 7 wks and one at about 8.5 wks. I wasn't comfortable with that, because I spent so much time with a specialist just to get pregnant, and then had 2 miscarriages, I wanted/needed the reassurance that my babies were doing fine. I asked for a referral to a perinatologist at 14 wks. I went to them every 6 wks for an u/s to check on everything, and continued to see my ob monthly, and then every 2 weeks for regular checks.

 

:welcome: to TS!


I think it depends if you are seeing a regular OB or a high risk OB. I saw both, I was only high risk due to being pregnant with twins. My regular OB only did the normal 20 week u/s (and that's all insurance would cover with them). My high risk OB did a growth u/s (and insurance covered it since it was a high risk OB) at every appt., which was once a month.

 

I was a little disappointed when I heard "every 4 weeks" too, and asked my peri about it. He told me every 4 weeks is a good thing, it meant everything's going along well. That there's reason to keep an eye out when u/s are more often.

And every month means greater growth, and a more exciting u/s every time. It feels a little long, but it's delayed gratification!

 

I have US every second week because I have identical twins.
Hugs,
Vesna

 

I have weekly ultrasounds and am pregnant with identical twins sharing a placenta. At 16 weeks I was told every two weeks they would do a fluid check and doppler readings but almost immediately they showed some negative signs and I've been fluctuating between weekly and every two weeks. Today the doc said, "I'm tempted to move you back to every two weeks, but not quite. Maybe next visit." So I'm still weekly.

While I love seeing my twins every week, I would prefer to see them less because it means they're doing better.

 

I had bi-weely ultrasounds starting at 18 weeks to monitor the possibility of TTS because my girls were mono/di. At 32 weeks we went to weekly u/s. My regular OB never did an ultrasound, he just found the heartbeats, but I also had to see a peri. I keep thinking that with the next baby I will feel like I never get to see him/her!