365 Days of Twinipedia - Day 58

Day Fifty-eight of Twinipedia:

Fact #58

Today is Valentine's Day.  Known as the day of love and for celebrating those that make your heart skip-a-beat. 

Because it is this special holiday, we thought we'd celebrate by focusing on the heartbeats of twins on this "heart-filled" day.

When twin babies are In Utero, the sound of their 2 heart beats can be the first sign to an Obgyn that there are 2 babies developing. But this diagnostic test is not always accurate. Many woman do not find out they are having twins until they are farther along in their pregnancies than they thought they would be to then find out that they were having twins.  Ultrasounds tend to be the least invasive and most used "twin-finding" test.

Heart beats for Baby A and Baby B via Ultrasound

There are many reasons why 2 heartbeats are not always heard. Here are some:

• Sometimes the twins' heartbeats can be so in unison that they sound like one heart beating and the doctor can not detect the second, separate heartbeat.  That Twin bond already kickin' in:):):)
• Sometimes the doctor will hear both heart beats but one heartbeat just sounds more like an echo to the first one and they don't know if they are detecting the same one each time or two different ones.
• Also, how the babies are positioned can effect if the 2 beats can be detected, especially early on in a pregnancy . Sometimes early on, one baby is simply closer to the monitor system and is heard loudly while the other heartbeat is tucked cozy tight in the mom's uterus.

But some mom's of twins have said they did get to hear their babies two heart beats early on in their pregnancy and that this was how they found out they were having twins.  One mom talked about how excited she was to hear her twins' hear beats for the first time while finding out that she was having twins. She described her twin's heartbeats as sounding like galloping horses clip-clopping along, side by side, making music together. I love picturing that mother's exciting moment. Just wonderful!

Happy Valentine's Day from Our Families to Yours!