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For me, it was a blood test. After a positive home pregnancy test, I made an appointment a week later to see my OB/GYN. She promptly gave me a blood test to confirm that I was indeed pregnant. Two days later the phone rang. The nurse said my hCG (a pregnancy hormone) level was “elevated” and she wanted me to come in for an ultrasound. Panicked, I asked if I should worry. “Oh, no,” she said. “We just need to see if you miscalculated the date of your last period or if you’re pregnant with twins.”
I was lucky and found out early through that ultrasound that I was indeed pregnant with twins. Yet every woman is different. Some moms-to-be may not have any unusual symptoms during their first trimester indicating multiples while others have several. Below are the top signs and symptoms of a twin pregnancy. Do you have any?
 Rapid weight gain during first trimester. Due to increased blood volume and uterine size, some women carrying twins have a higher than average weight gain during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy than women carrying singletons.
Measuring large for gestational age. If on a routine prenatal visit, your fundal height (tip of the uterus to the pelvic bone) seems unusually large for your week of pregnancy (you think you’re six weeks pregnant but the fundal height indicates Week 8 or 10), a doctor may order an ultrasound to confirm or rule out multiples.
More than one heartbeat. Somewhere between Week 10 to 12, an experienced doctor or midwife can pick up the sound of a second heartbeat.
Abnormal AFP results. The alphafetoprotein blood test (AFP) used to screen for certain birth defects is routinely given sometime during the second trimester. When the results of the test come back “high,” it could mean a neural tube defect or a multiple pregnancy. (Don’t panic if you have a high result but are not pregnant with twins. This test notoriously has “false positive” results.)
Heightened pregnancy symptoms. Due to the increased production of hormones during a twin pregnancy, you may experience extreme fatigue or constant morning sickness, breast tenderness, a voracious appetite, and even anemia (low iron).
An intuitive feeling. Some women report that they “just knew” that they were pregnant with twins.
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