Is it possible for a woman carrying twins to miscarry one twin only in the last few weeks of pregnancy?

R.J.

It is more common for a woman to lose one twin early in pregnancy, and then carry the other twin to full term without any problems. With the ability to do early ultrasounds, we have learned that many pregnancies start out with two babies, but one is lost in the first few weeks. The loss is so early that even the woman does not know about it; without ultrasound, we would never have known this was happening.

Miscarriage, technically, means loss of a baby before 20 weeks of pregnancy. After 20 weeks, loss of a baby is considered a stillbirth; if the baby is born alive but too early, it is called preterm birth. Sometimes, one of a set of twins dies, but is not delivered for several weeks or months, when both babies are delivered -- the baby that died may be tiny and shriveled by then.

Occasionally, a woman carrying more than one baby will go into early labor and deliver one child. Her labor may then be stopped, keeping the other baby (or babies) in for a few more days or even weeks. In this case the twins would have different birthdays!