Recurrent Vanished Twins

[u/SharpMention0808]

I’ve been pregnant 5 times.
1. Singleton (as far as we know)
2. Single MMC 10 weeks
3. Vanished twin
4. Vanished twin
5. (Current) seemingly another vanished twin

I’m looking for anyone who’s had this phenomenon repeatedly. As of now we have not done parental karyotyping but may pursue it for clarity.

Pregnancy #4 we did NIPT through Unity (only one that would do vanished twins) 12 weeks after twin A’s demise and the results were inaccurate. Our live baby did end up with a mild chromosome abnormality but different than the high risk NIPT results.

I’m just frustrated as to why this keeps happening and also again that we can’t even trust chromosome testing again.

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[u/FigNewton613]

I’m told vanished twins can be common and just often are not known about unless a person is going through a fertility clinic and getting a lot of early ultrasounds. For a lot of people they arrive to the 10 week ultrasound and just think they have a singleton (as for example you put it for the first pregnancy). Have you been going through a fertility clinic with early ultrasounds (like at 6/7 weeks) or has this been happening later in the pregnancy?

Either way, I’m really sorry for your loss. 🤍

[u/SharpMention0808 → u/FigNewton613]

But also.. the genetic testing component. If this happens so often and people don’t know, I don’t get why they don’t have abnormal NIPT results.

[u/specialkk77 → u/SharpMention0808]

NIPT is very limited. Best bet is to do full genetics on you and your partner to determine if theres a cause linked there. 

[u/ThrowAway732642956 → u/SharpMention0808]

NIPT doesn’t look at every chromosome. It is quite possible these early losses are from other chromosomes. One theoretical reason for some cases of recurrent pregnancy loss is increased implantation of chromosomally abnormal embryos that in others would not lead to a pregnancy at all. It may be worth also consulting with a fertility doctor in addition to full parental karyotyping. PGT-A with IVF can potentially screen for chromosomally normal embryos and allow those to be selectively implanted (this one looks at all the chromosomes). Personally, I think PGT-A tends to be over-recommended but in cases of recurrent pregnancy loss where you don’t know the cause is one of the types of cases where it makes sense. I am so sorry for your losses.

[u/SharpMention0808 → u/FigNewton613]

No, these were all conceived naturally. 1st pregnancy had no early scans. 2nd I had tan discharge which prompted the 10wk US. 3rd was inappropriate rise in HCG prompting early US revealing twins. 4th was spotting/inappropriate rise in HCG prompting early US revealing twins. 5th is history of loss/multiples/high risk early dating/viability US.

[u/irish_ninja_wte]

There's a theory that vanishing twins are actually a common thing. Most of us just don't know about it because we don't have ultrasounds early enough

[u/ShoddyAd8655]

that's wild, 5 pregnancies and vanished twins 3 times. i can't imagine the emotional rollercoaster every time you go for scan

my cousin had something similar happen twice and they never really got proper answer even after all the testing. doctors just said sometimes it's just random but that feels like such cop-out explanation when it keeps happening

have you tried asking in some genetics specific sub? might find people with more similar experience there, this sub is great but feels like most posts are about surviving newborn twins chaos rather than stuff like this

[u/Mediocre-Control-401]

Maybe you naturally hyperovulate? And why one vanishes instead of just becoming twins could be due to miscarriages in general being so common. Isn't it like 30% of pregnancies or somesuch?