When Minnesota mom Megan Peoples went into labor, she was ready to get that baby out and meet her third child.
She had spent the summer carrying around what she thought was a very large baby.
“Meagan’s always had really large babies,” husband Connor Peoples told WCCO. “We were fully expecting that trend to continue, and have like a…13-pound baby.”
But that really large baby actually turned out to be two babies to the couple’s great surprise.
Instead of welcoming just their third child, they also welcomed their fourth.
Her babies had been lined up one in front of the other in the womb. Her midwives had felt the baby in the front.
Meagan never had an ultrasound because COVID-19 restrictions prevented anyone from coming with her.
Since all signs showed her baby was doing well, she decided to forgo the cost for imaging.
“It’s his baby, too,” Meagan said. “I’m not going to come without my partner.”
But even ultrasounds can fail to show a twin, according to Healthline.
“Because ultrasounds are sonographic images of what’s going on beneath the surface, you have to go into them leaving some room for error,” the website said. “The bigger and more developed your baby is, the less likely it is they could be hiding. At the same time, the earlier you are in your pregnancy, the more possible it is an additional baby is reluctant to make their ultrasound debut.”
The phenomenon is known as a “hidden twin,” and is considered rare in the case of an ultrasound. VeryWell Family reports that a “hidden twin” is more common when the fetuses share the same placenta and amniotic sac, which can make it harder to detect based on how they are positioned. Ultrasound photos could also not be clear and could be improperly interpreted. A second heartbeat could also be difficult to detect if they are in sync or near in sync.
Meagan gave birth to her first boy and third child, August, during a home birth. August was followed by their daughter Aria.
“There’s two midwives when we did our home birth…and the second one looked down and she was like, ‘Oh lord, there’s another [laughs]!’” Meagan said.
They were so shocked by the second baby, they checked for a third.
“There’s two,” Connor said. “And then a part of you is like, well, we weren’t expecting two, so is there a number three now?”
But to their relief, it was only the two. They already had to scramble to find baby gear for a second baby. Meagan was just happy that her babies were finally here.
“I’ve been at home for months, it feels like,” she said. “It made it really worth it when we ended up with two.”
The Peoples’ story was reported by WCCO CBS Minnesota and ended up going viral with more than 11,400 views on YouTube.
Learn more about the Peoples’ big surprise in the video below!
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