I had my hCG levels taken for my twin pregnancy seven times to track hCG progression and that I was still having a viable pregnancy. This was thanks to an incredibly caring and supportive doctor who understood that I was nervous about slow-rising beta HCG levels following two previous miscarriages. I had my first HCG levels measured at 14 days post ovulation, which was 4 weeks pregnant, and my last at 31 DPO, which is almost 7 weeks pregnant. This means I started having my HCG levels regularly checked long before I knew that there were two babies in my belly.
I also had several ultrasounds too, meaning I can correlate what my beta levels were with what could be seen on both an external ultrasound and an internal (transvaginal) ultrasound. I’ve just uploaded these in case you want to see what early twin ultrasounds look like at 5 weeks pregnant, 6 weeks pregnant, and 7 (almost 8) weeks pregnant. See them here.
Twin HCG Levels Not Doubling Initially
An interesting thing to note is that my beta HCG levels did not double initially. They weren’t super high either, like everyone seems to assume – myself included. To be honest, when I got my first results back and saw that it hadn’t quite doubled, I naturally started fearing the worst and even shed a few tears – yep, the TTC trauma is very real if you’ve had a miscarriage (or several like me) in the past.
Even after my HCG levels evened out and did start doubling, they never got sky-high, even though all my early pregnancy symptoms felt like they were amplified tenfold. If you take anything away from reading this, please rest assured that even if your HCG levels aren’t doubling, or are doubling normally and aren’t extremely high, you could still be carrying twins, and your twins could be delivered at full term at big healthy weights with no NICU time – just like mine were. The body is a mysterious thing and we really can’t predict what it’s going to do sometimes, no matter how hard we want to have control over the situation.
The reason that we looked to see if my beta HCG levels were doubling is that HCG (which stands for human chorionic gonadotropin) is a very special hormone that is produced by the growing placenta that supports the production of other pregnancy-specific hormones to support and sustain a pregnancy. Studies have verified that the majority of healthy pregnancies feature hCG levels that double every 48-72 hours (yes, 72 hours is also fine!) up to the first 6 weeks of pregnancy. After that, doubling time tends to increase to every 3-4 days.
When HCG levels fail to double or stop rising, it can be a sign that something is wrong. That was definitely the case when I had my first miscarriage, maybe I’ll share that another time.
Twin HCG Levels: Results
Here were my personal twin HCG levels by days past ovulation:
- 14dpo – 300 (4 weeks)
- 16dpo – 560
- 21dpo – 2800 – ultrasound day
- 22dpo – 4900
- 24dpo – 8650 – ultrasound day
- 27dpo – 26300
- 31dpo – 70,700 – ultrasound day
My Twin HCG Levels vs Singleton HCG Levels
Out of interest, I looked back at my HCG results for my singleton baby – and they were not dissimilar. In fact, my singleton levels were higher for the dpo days! At the start, anyway. I had much fewer HCG tests completed, but the ones I did were that little bit elevated compared to the twin pregnancy. What’s more, my singleton HCG levels doubled from the get go, whereas my twin pregnancy beta levels rose more slowly at the beginning. Here were my levels for my singleton pregnancy:
- 14dpo – 330
- 16dpo – 690
- 18dpo – 1340
Twin Ultrasound Results By Week And DPO
I had to have a very early ultrasound for medical reasons (specifically a history of an ectopic pregnancy) so ended up having my very first ultrasound at 4+3 at the hospital as I’d started experiencing some one-sided discomfort and freaked out, to be honest. I was worried it could be happening again and my doctor referred me for an emergency scan. This was our very first indication that it could be twins!
My first scan showed two sacs with at least one fetal pole in one of them. The second one could have had a fetal pole or could have been empty. My next scan showed two sacs but no heartbeats yet, and my third early scan confirmed a viable twin pregnancy, heartbeats and all.
I’ll put all my ultrasound reports and the corresponding images into a new blog (once I dig them up) so you can see what twin ultrasounds in early pregnancy look like. But here’s a photo from my camera roll that I took shortly after the ultrasound was performed of my five-week ultrasound.
Can Twins Be Detected At Five Weeks?
Mine were, yes. But that comes with a caveat. There was no way to detect them with my HCG levels, but because my doctor ordered that emergency ultrasound to confirm my pregnancy was in the uterus and not in a fallopian tube again, it was the internal ultrasound that showed there were two distinct gestational sacs, and that at least one of them had a fetal pole inside which shows that a baby is starting to grow. If detecting twins at five weeks pregnant was just based on the HCG blood test alone, then I’d have to say no. Although I did have very severe twin pregnancy that I now see was a clear sign for me that I was having twins.
Does High HCG Mean Its Twins?
If you are not like me and you have high HCG levels from the get-go, then all the research I’ve done shows that you have a greater likelihood of carrying twins, but it does not guarantee twins, and you may just be having a very healthy and well-progressing singleton pregnancy. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from being part of the twin community, is that a viable ultrasound is the only way of truly confirming if you’re having twins or not. But as you know I’m a big dreamer and believer – so if you’re sitting here with high HCG levels, I’m right here cheering you on. Feel free to share them with me!
What Are Normal HCG Levels At Five Weeks?
I’ve just reached out to six of my twin mom friends to get their first HCG readings so I can give you a better answer than just my own HCG results, which was 2800 at 5+0. Their numbers were:
- 6750 at 5+0
- 3699 at 5+0
- 8700 at 4+4
- 1912 at 4+6
- 9050 at 5+1
- 24,300 at 5+3
As you can see – it can vary a lot. And mine seem like on the lower end compared to the others!
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