Surprise, Surprise! These Mums Didn’t Know They’d Give Birth To Twins

Imagine this…after a long, hard labour, you finally have the sweet reward of your baby in your arms… ahhh, bliss.

But the contractions don’t stop, and instead of a placenta arriving… it’s another baby!

A mum in the US had absolutely no idea she was expecting twins throughout her whole pregnancy. And the look of surprise on her face as she gave birth is utterly priceless.

You would think a surprise twin birth would be quite rare.

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But that is not the case at all. People have shared their own stories of how it happened to someone in their family and we were shocked to know that it really isn’t that uncommon.

Surprise twin birth

The mother captured in these stunning images shared on her Facebook page:

“I had my first baby with two pushes, I remember my first words were “IT’S SO TINY!!”.

Then I had another huge contraction, one nurse said “Oh it’s probably the placenta already coming.”

But another one said “Oh it’s a water bag! I’ve never seen that before” and in my head I’m screaming “it’s ANOTHER ring of fire!!!”.

My second twin came less than two minutes after my first with another two pushes and she was born ENCAUL.

I was just in shock, the staff were shocked and I wish I had someone taking pictures of my husband because I’m blind and couldn’t see his expression.”

“I think I got a visit from every staff member during my stay, I don’t think people believed it actually happened and had to see for themselves.

How does a surprise twin birth occur?

While it’s difficult to find actual figures on the amount of surprise twin births occurring, it may be because the ultrasound is misleading or misinterpreted or because some women do not get prenatal care.

A hidden twin on ultrasound commonly occurs in the first trimester of pregnancy. Because the embryo is smaller and it can be difficult to both see the baby and hear its heartbeat.

Also, if babies are monochorionic or are both inside a single sac (chorion), the environment would force the fetuses to be so closely positioned that makes it tricky to be detected in an ultrasound scan.

Other surprise twin experiences

One Facebook used shared, “Mum used to tell us basically the same as this woman only one heart beat was heard, and her scans only showed one baby. The day she had us my mum’s mother ( my grandmother) was here from overseas. Mum said that when I was born she was lifting her leg up to get on the bed and I was born grabbing hold of her thigh and then all off a sudden when the nurses left the room mum felt another push and my grandmother had to call the nurses back over. Everyone was in so much shock.  We were the first twins born that year in the hospital.”

One mum actually discovered she was having twins on the day she went into labour after doctors performed an Xray on her. What a surprise she was given!

Another also shared, “This happened to my Mum 40 years ago! I’m twin number 2! The nearest scan was an hour away and not a big thing back then, same re heart beats ( must’ve been in sync) when the Dr listened! Born at 34 weeks, 3lbs 11oz & 3lbs 12 oz in a country hospital! Mum birthed one baby (my sister Alexandra Maloney) then next minute they see little toes, me!”

Melbourne mother, Brooke King, also welcomed surprise twins that sparked quite the controversy.

Brooke shares, “My darling surprise twins came into this world in such a hurry, with just 1 hour of active labour and birthed gracefully into our bath at home. We expected a placenta and instead were blessed with a twin. Both midwives were suspended, controversy was ignited and the story circulated all over the world, with over 1.5 million views, comments and likes.”

You can read more of Brooke’s story here. 

Were you a surprise twin? We would love to hear your story!