Early in this pregnancy I was experiencing some severe pain and it was decided to do an early ultrasound to rule out tubal pregnancy. The first ultrasound was too early and it was not possible to say that it was not tubal. We went back a week later with the hope of ruling out a tubal pregnancy. The doctor came in at the end of the ultrasound and told us the baby was gone. They could not detect any cardiac activity and we were told to go get a D&C.
By that evening we didn't "feel" right about the diagnosis. We talked to our GP and maternity doctor and they agreed to support us in "waiting" it out to see what happened.
What followed was the longest 10 days of my life. Daily blood work to test the hCG levels. In early pregnancy the hCG usually doubles every 48-72 hours and it should normally increase by at least 60% every two days. My levels were doubling as expected but there was a 2% chance that I was experiencing a "missed miscarriage". This is when your body has lost the baby, but still continues to produce the hormone and act pregnant, even though you are not. We were told continually that the results looked optimistic but we should be cautious and not get our hopes up. It really made it difficult to not question my mental sanity. I wondered how deep my grief was that I just couldn't let go.......fast forward to the Friday before Christmas......our third ultrasound was scheduled.
Jeff and I went to the appointment, more nervous and anxious then we had ever been for anything before. It was the worlds longest hour. The technician was lovely and amazing but not allowed to discuss with us what she was seeing until the doctor was able to come and review the findings.
The findings were: twins. One that was viable, and up until this point had not been seen, and one that was not. This condition is referred to as vanishing twin syndrome. (Vanishing twin syndrome was first recognized in 1945. Vanishing twin syndrome is when one of a set of twin/multiple fetuses disappears in the uterus during pregnancy. This is the result of a miscarriage of one twin/multiple. The fetal tissue is absorbed by the other twin/multiple, placenta or the mother. This gives the appearance of a “vanishing twin”). The sweet little babe that they had found first was being re-absorbed by my body. The sac was almost empty by this point. The second baby that was just discovered appeared to be healthy. We were told to wait another two weeks to make sure that the baby was developing as they expected before we got too excited but at this point everything looked very hopeful.
With the Christmas holiday we ended up waiting for 3 weeks for ultrasound number 4. During the ultrasound everything checked out. The second sac was still present but empty and our other baby was thriving.
By the time we got to our 18 week ultrasound we had a healthy and super active babe. The babe that was discovered first was now 100% gone. Had we not had early ultrasounds we would have never known that it had been there. Other then the initial pain there were no symptoms to suggest that this was happening within my body. For the remainder of the pregnancy I was grateful for the super active baby that remained. I had constant reassurance that she was there.
On July 31, 2014 our sweet Karis Hope was born.
Healthy. Beautiful. Real.
Great journey for you to tell your little Karis when she is older. When she thinks she wants to give up.... Love you all. Can't wait to meet her. Karolee and Kevin
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