IVF risk of identicals and birth defects "Ghost"

[supertwinpower]

Hello

My husband and I went thru an IVF cycle 4 yrs ago, which resulted in faternal twins, then a week later they found a third baby. I had a set of identicals twins and a faternal baby. My pregnancy was extremely high risk with many complications and I miscarried the faternal baby (Gabriel) at 19wks. I delivered my girls at 24 wks gestation each weighing a little over a pound. One baby is fine but my other little one is disabled. She started having seizures this year. We found out she has brain malformations, diagnosed with SOD(septo optic dysplasia) and is blind due to ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). The neurologist stated IVF babies are very likely to have brain malformations and at higher risk for disabilities. My girls are identical twins, which ruled out any genetic or chromosonal defect, since the other baby is perfectly fine. My husband and I would like to have more kids but are terrified to end up with multiples. I was 30yrs old when I went thru the IVF cycle and was told my eggs were low quality. The quality of them was that of a 34-36yr old. Now I'm 34yrs old, so does this mean my eggs are that of a 40yr old?? The doctor believes this is why one of the embryos split and may have also caused my daughter's birth defect. I was wondering what are the rates of eggs splitting (identical twins) in women with low quality eggs??? How common are brain malformations in IVF babies both singletons and multiples? Is there proven documentation that IVF drugs cause fetal defects? I was told by the neurologist, that my daughter's condition happened within the first 10 weeks of life...and would have been undetectable thru ultrasounds. I believe something went wrong when the egg split...Is it possible for the egg to have split late causing the midline defect??
thanks and info will be greatly appreciated
sandra

[baylorbear33]

I am so very interested to hear the answer that you get to your question. I was actually carrying identical triplets, so I had one embryo split twice. One of my babies was not viable from around 7 weeks, and I lost the other two at 19 weeks due to pre-term labor. I am 33 years old currently with 3 frozen embies and wonder if the embies are at risk for splitting as well. Thank you so much for posting your question.

[Ghost]

Hello

My husband and I went thru an IVF cycle 4 yrs ago, which resulted in faternal twins, then a week later they found a third baby. I had a set of identicals twins and a faternal baby. My pregnancy was extremely high risk with many complications and I miscarried the faternal baby (Gabriel) at 19wks. I delivered my girls at 24 wks gestation each weighing a little over a pound. One baby is fine but my other little one is disabled. She started having seizures this year. We found out she has brain malformations, diagnosed with SOD(septo optic dysplasia) and is blind due to ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). The neurologist stated IVF babies are very likely to have brain malformations and at higher risk for disabilities.

I'm very sorry to hear this. I did not use IVF myself, but my second child had a major problem at birth, and I know what you are feeling. Fortunately, my daughter survived and her condition was corrected with surgery over the following few years. But I remember the fear, anger, frustration, sorrow, etc.

My girls are identical twins, which ruled out any genetic or chromosonal defect, since the other baby is perfectly fine. My husband and I would like to have more kids but are terrified to end up with multiples. I was 30yrs old when I went thru the IVF cycle and was told my eggs were low quality. The quality of them was that of a 34-36yr old. Now I'm 34yrs old, so does this mean my eggs are that of a 40yr old??

Perhaps, but that's only a wild guess. Your doctor would need to run more lab work to decide that one.

The doctor believes this is why one of the embryos split and may have also caused my daughter's birth defect.

He's only guessing.

I was wondering what are the rates of eggs splitting (identical twins) in women with low quality eggs???

We get somewhere around 1% monozygotic twinning in our fresh cycles. I'm not sure what the national average is.

How common are brain malformations in IVF babies both singletons and multiples?

There are multiple studies on IVF babies. They have increased risk of many fetal anomalies, although I don't recall hearing of any specific case like yours before. One of the biggest causes of the increased rate of fetal anomalies is the increased frequency of twins and triplets (mostly fraternal). Keep in mind that the loss of one early in the pregnancy still does not make the pregnancy as safe as if that extra one had never been there in the first place. Another big reason why IVF is associated with more problems is because the patient population we are treating is infertile or subfertile, and often older than typical mothers. It's also possible that IVF itself might contribute to the problems, but this is difficult to test for. Far fewer cycles are run on fertile patients.

Is there proven documentation that IVF drugs cause fetal defects?

I've never heard that specific claim. Most of the drugs are naturally occurring hormones (estradiol, progesterone, FSH, LH, hCG). The main exceptions would be the GnRH agonists and antagonists. These are similar to natural GnRH, but not exactly the same. If IVF does contribute to the fetal anomaly rate, and I don't know if it does, then that could be from ovarian stimulation, retrieval, insemination, culture in artificial media, embryo transfer, or perhaps the disturbed uterine environment.

I was told by the neurologist, that my daughter's condition happened within the first 10 weeks of life...and would have been undetectable thru ultrasounds. I believe something went wrong when the egg split...Is it possible for the egg to have split late causing the midline defect??
thanks and info will be greatly appreciated
sandra

No clue here.