I drove over to sit in on the prenatal visit, and palpated her client's belly. I felt a posterior, vertex (head down) baby, which is what T told me she suspected, after I felt. We listened to the baby's heartbeat and joked with the dad about how there was definitely only one baby in there.
Fast forward a few weeks. The client is now 38 weeks pregnant and for some reason (not my client, I'm not sure why), she gets her first and only ultrasound today. She's having twins.
F@%#!
How the hell did I miss that!? I know I felt ONE baby in there. We all heard ONE heartbeat. She wasn't measuring unusually large. Yet we both missed twins.
I've heard about this happening to super experienced midwives who have been practicing for decades and just work with women who decline ultrasounds. The baby is born and, whoa, here comes another. The midwives are like, "yeah, it happens." I've heard the stories, but never thought it would happen to me!
I once missed a broken clavicle on a baby I didn't catch but did the newborn exam on. It still haunts me. The baby is fine but I felt so incompetent and I swore I would never miss another one. And I haven't. I make extra sure to check now. I'm also extra vigilant about checking for tongue ties and lip ties because I missed Olivia's.
Oh my goodness. I don't ever want to miss twins again. I can't even imagine what the family is going through knowing the babies will be born any moment and they were only expecting one!
I missed twins, oy.
UPDATE: The client went to 39 weeks with twins, planned a hospital birth per the new CA law that requires it for twins, arrived at the hospital nearly completely dilated. Baby A was born less than an hour after arriving at the hospital, Baby B soon after. Both born vaginally, unmedicated, no complications. Mom didn't even have an IV. And for the record, the doctor had trouble palpating twins and ordered the ultrasound, where it was still difficult to tell, as they were stacked on top of each other.
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