Signs and Symptoms of a Multiple (Gestation) Pregnancy. With current technology, diagnosing a multiple pregnancy can occur earlier than was possible in the past. A multiple pregnancy may be discovered in several ways:
• During an ultrasound, your doctor or a technician can see more than one baby. Today, most multiple births are discovered in this way.
• The measurement of your uterus is larger than usual for the number of weeks you have been pregnant. OB providers refer to this circumstance as “size greater than dates.” Your predicted fundal height – the measurement from your pubic bone to the top of the uterus, or the fundus – is greater than it should be. If your measurements are larger than expected, you may be having a large baby or you may be carrying more than one baby.
• Your doctor or midwife, using a Doppler or fetoscope, hears more than one fetal heartbeat. It is very difficult to detect two or more distinct and different heartbeats. Prior to the use of ultrasound, detecting more than one heartbeat was the only method available. As you can imagine, many multiples went undetected.
• The results of an alpha fetoprotein (AFP) screen or triple screen are abnormal. Results from this routine prenatal screening test for neural tube defect are based on a presumed singleton pregnancy, your age, and the number of weeks into the pregnancy. If you’re carrying undiagnosed multiples, the test results are usually abnormal. This requires that you undergo additional evaluation, including an advanced ultrasound that can confirm your pregnancy with multiples.
Tag:pregnancy| pregnancy signs
