How many Embryos to Transfer??

faith77 · Post by **faith77** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:11 am

My transfer is scheduled for 11:15am in the morning (5day)- we are waiting until in the morning to hear the quality of all before we decide on transfering # last report was 5 good embryos- hopefully they all hang in there and continue to progress into nice strong blastcysts! We are prepared to transfer 2- but ER said that sometimes if 1 looks super good they may feel comfortable transferring 1 depending on age- and health of female
***Anyone had BFP from 1 embryo?

**Thoughts from anyone who has already transferred? How did you decide?

lynniecat · Post by **lynniecat** » Tue May 12, 2009 6:04 am

On the first round of IVF, my best friend got a BFP and just delivered her baby boy at 40 weeks. She transferred one embryo at day 3. She had 4 grade 1 embryos (1 being best score). I was surprised at her decision I must say, but it was the right one for her! The safest pregnancy is a singleton pregnancy. She did not want to take the increase in risk that twins would give her. She froze the other embryos and will be doing an FET in the next 6 months if so for baby 2. She will do another single embryo transfer.

I think you decision has to be based on your finances (can you afford another round/ is insurance paying)? How are you health wise .. are you willing to take the risk for carrying twins or more if they split? Do you already have children? Do you want to have more than one and do you think you will be happy raising twins? If you they split or you put in more than 2 and get pg with triplets, are you willing to take that on? Would you reduce the pregnancy? A lot of these things are worth thinking about now.....

There is the pressure to put back more to get that BFP ... I know. I had low quality embyros and I put back 5 on day 3. Two took and I lost them both due to my lupus. I am now pregnant with a singleton and I am 26 weeks along. I put back 3 this last round.

I never had enough embryos to even get to day 5!

Anyway, good luck with your decision. BFNs suck, but if you can afford it, I suggesting putting back one excellent quality embyro...

Ghost · Post by **Ghost** » Tue May 12, 2009 1:52 pm

You might want to stick to ASRM guidelines. For blast transfers, they recommend 1 blastocyst* if you are under 35, up to 2 if you are 35-40, and up to 3 if you are over 40.

* This can be increased to 2 if you have a poor prognosis (lousy embryos, history of implantation failure, etc.).

statsgoddess · Post by **statsgoddess** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:04 pm

When we went in for ET, we had one super good looking Grade A and two good looking B's and several more still growing in culture. They asked if we wanted to just put one back because the one was really great, which until that point, we hadn't even considered since we had always discussed two with the doctors. In the end, we decided to put two back anyway, because we are paying out of pocket and wanted a better chance of at least one taking. If it should happen, we would be thrilled with twins and could handle them financially, and at the state where they are hatching already (as ours were) they are less likely to further split anyway. I think depends a lot on what you think is the right decision for you.

faith77 · Post by **faith77** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:43 pm

Thanks all for the advice- we transfered 2 early blastocystes this morning-we only had 4 make it to day 5 the 2 strongest were the ones we transferred and the other 2 will be watched until day 6 to determine if they are strong enough to freeze. The higher chances of having no embryos for a future FET played a role in our choice of transfering 2 also although the 2 we trasferred looked good they were not in the excellent category so the option of 1 was not ideal or recommended by RE and Embryologist. We will be patiently waiting and hope for a BFP May 22nd!

lynniecat · Post by **lynniecat** » Wed May 13, 2009 12:19 am

Good luck!

statsgoddess · Post by **statsgoddess** » Wed May 13, 2009 12:48 pm

Good luck and welcome to the 2ww!!!

Melinda37 · Post by **Melinda37** » Thu May 14, 2009 10:47 pm

Faith77 - I am curious to know if either of your other 2 were able to be frozen? We just did our first transfer (using donor eggs) on 5/12. We had 3 pretty good blastos, 1 still "compacted" but not a real blasto, and 6 morulas. So we transferred all 3 blastocysts. We found out the next day that none of the other 7 were able to be frozen. So this is it. It's heartbreaking to know there is no second chance for us - but we've got 3 good ones in there and it only has to happen once! Good luck to you! Our test is the 22nd also!

faith77 · Post by **faith77** » Sun May 17, 2009 1:06 pm

Melinda37- In the end we only had 1 that qualified to be frozen.

How are you doing during the 2 ww I didn't realize we are the same schedule. I cannot wait until the 22nd! But, at the same time- I am scared AF will come before then- each time I had a pregnancy test scheduled after my IUI's AF always came and I would tell my nurse and they would always say come in anyway for BW just to be sure. I hated it- I woud sit there getting my blood drawn knowing it would be a BFN, but still have a sliver of hope since they were making me get tested to "be sure" what a head game- after all we have been through I can't beleive I am still sane. Are you experiencing any symptoms? The cramping and breast tenderness (that I connect to progesterone) are getting less and less each day... Each morning I am waking up feeling more like myself prior to IVF, which makes me nervous- does this mean I didn't implant? Wow- the rollercoaster never stops!
Good Luck with you for the upcoming days- may you find peace.

Melinda37 · Post by **Melinda37** » Sun May 17, 2009 1:35 pm

FAITH77-
Hi! I have experienced about the same thing that you have as far as symptoms go.. . . I had some cramping in the first few days after transfer. Felt like menstrual cramps. Yesterday and today (Sunday) they have mostly subsided, but I don't think that's anything to be afraid of. It sounds similar to what other people have experienced.
I know exactly what you mean about the roller coaster - it's awful! Frankly, I'm almost happy that we didn't have any left to freeze, because I don't think I could go through this again! My mom went through menopause at 38 so at 33, and still single, I decided to start trying on my own with a sperm donor. 6 IUIs and no success. One failed IVF attempt, but with FSH of 21, wasn't responding to meds. Then I met my husband! So now I have the sperm (LOL) but needed an egg donor.
We got 22 eggs from the donor, 15 mature, 14 fertilized, 3 blastos.
Every stat I see tells us that if we transferred blastos on Day 5 we have a very high chance of pregnancy. THIS WILL HAPPEN! And we have less than a week to go. Hang in there!
Melinda

angeinhull · Post by **angeinhull** » Sun May 17, 2009 3:53 pm

Hi

Good luck to both of you. I hope it is positive on the 22nd.

I was just curious about the choice you have to transfer number of embryos. My ER (in UK) said we were only allowed to transfer one on the last cycle. I asked him if there was a chance of putting 2 back next time and he said guidelines prevent this especially if we transfer a blasto.

Does anyone know if this is true or if there is any flexibility?

Ange

Melinda37 · Post by **Melinda37** » Sun May 17, 2009 4:09 pm

Angeinhull:
Hello - I know that here, there are guidelines set forth by the ASRM (American Society of Reproductive Medicine), but the ultimate choice is yours as to how many embryos or blastocysts to transfer. Most of the things I've seen recommend no more than 2 blastos transferred, so I was very lucky to be able to have 3 transferred (one of which was in its very early stages and my Dr. gave it a 50/50 chance of making it to the freezing stage), so we went with it. I also hear that many facilities may allow the transfer of more than 2 blastos especially if you've had many failed attempts. So there is flexibility over here.
So many people get successful though with one blastocyst transferred because of the much better chance of development and implantation - so let's hope that is the case with you!

GOOD LUCK!

hjw · Post by **hjw** » Mon May 18, 2009 8:43 am

Ange, I'm not sure exactly what the UK position is but I was told that if you are having NHS funded IVF, you are limited to transferring one embryo for the first two cycles and can then do two on the final cycle (but I think the law changed at the beginning of April so that the entitlement to treatment is now different, so the number of embryos you can transfer may now also have changed). I know that the general government policy is to try and limit multiple births, but if you are self-funding I think that is guidance but not binding. My understanding is that if you are under 40 and paying privately, you can choose to transfer two embryos, and if you are over 40 you are allowed to do three.

I would ask your clinic to clarify though, because whether you are self-funding or having funded treatment, you are entitled to know precisely what your options are.

angeinhull · Post by **angeinhull** » Mon May 18, 2009 5:39 pm

Hi

Thanks for your responses. We are about to do our second NHS funded cycle. It is a real post code lottery and so we only get two funded cycles while others get three. We are lucky though as 40 miles from us there is no funding at all!

I will ask them to clarify as I would really like to transfer two to increase chances. I am not worried about twins and I would like to increase the chances of one baby.

If this cycle does not work we will be self funding so I am quite worried about how many cycles we will have as I am sure everyone is.

Ange

How many Embryos to Transfer??

How many Embryos to Transfer??

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