[sunshinewoman]

Our sitution is a little bit frustrating lately, but only regrding the hospital we have been dealing with. My husband and I have a Surrogate carrying our baby and she is 14 weeks pregnant as of yesterday. We have a routine checkup on the 24th of this month and are supposed to go in for our first official ultrasound middle of January. Our situation has been that due to the fertility treatments she underwent and the amount of insaminated eggs implanted we have a high possibility of multiples. She has also carried two twin pregnancies of her own, so she is likely by herself as well. Also she has already grown so fast, and has really popped out after week 9. We have contacted the hospital to try and get an out of routine not emergency ultrasound but they won't accommodate us outside of our scheduled checkups. They say as long as it's not an emergency they won't see us. And we are not the kinds of people to just make up an emergency so we can get what we want.

So since the hospital won't accommodate an early ultrasound, is there anyway outside of that logical step to presume that it's twins or more? WOuld there be certain signs? Does anyone know what we could be looking for to even determine early if there's multiples or not?
(I realize this would be pure guestimation, but it's better than nothing. And all together, we'd just really like to know what to prepare ourselves for you know?)

Any help is appreciated! :)

[J_9]

I certainly understand your dilemma. However, don't be upset with the hospital. I work in a L&D unit and can attest that we are not allowed to do an ultrasound simply to check for multiple gestation or sex of the fetus. As a hospital, an ultrasound is performed for emergent reasons only. Such as: position of baby during labor if Leopold's Manuvers suggest that baby is not head down; absence of heartbeat, etc. Also understand that your insurance will not cover an ultrasound by the hospital unless it is an emergent condition.

Now, to your question. There are not any outward signs that point to multiple gestation. If this is a subsequent pregnancy for your surrogate this would explain why she is "showing" earlier than expected. Also, the tilt of her uterus will either make her look bigger or smaller, depending on how the uterus is tilted.

I am very surprised that the fertility clinic is not doing frequent ultrasounds due to the risk of multiple gestation due to the number of eggs implanted and her own medical history of multiples. You need to ask them WHY they are not doing more frequent ultrasounds due to the inherent risks of in vitro fertilization.

[LearningAsIGo]

(Sorry, J, have to spread some love)

J-9's response is excellent and I agree 100%.

My current pregnancy started as twins (only 1 survived) and before the first ultrasound there was no reason to suspect it was a multiple gestation. Women react differently to each pregnancy. She may "pop" early or her beta levels may be high, but that doesn't necessarily mean more than 1 baby is present. My first pregnancy was a singleton and all of my lab values were higher than with the twin pregnancy - you just never know until that first routine ultrasound.

I can understand your concern, but as long as she is feeling fine just stick with the doctor recommended schedule for now and call the clinic with any questions. :)