DH says NO to more than one...

[krissymichaels]

he has two children and is against putting more than one embryo in at time of transfer. This is my first cycle so not sure what to do about this. Any suggestions?

[summit]

My husband and I only did 1 embryo transfer our first IVF cycle, because it only increased our chances by 5%... but my insurance covers 3 cycles so we knew that we could try again. My first cycle was not successful and my doctor recommended that we transfer 2 embryos this time, which we will are consenting to this time. Don't know if this helps, but good luck in making your decision!

[jeandawga]

Single embryo transfer (SET) has been shown to be just as successful as transferring more than one embryo in ultimately getting a person pregnant. However, it may take longer - essentially, doing single transfers fresh plus frozen from that cycle gets you pretty close to the pregnancy rate of implanting more than one for a fresh cycle. My husband and I already have a 3-yr old and really don't want twins, so did SET for our first fresh (chemical) and 2 FETs. With our 2nd fresh cycle, we just took a gamble and implanted 2 - I'm now pregnant and worrying about twins - can't wait for that ultrasound!

I'm all for just trying for one, but it depends on your insurance and your age, plus your and your husband's feelings, finances, how much support you may have from friends and family living locally, etc. My insurance covers 4 cycles, but only fresh cycles count - basically they count the egg retrievals (only done for a fresh cycle), not the number of transfers, so doing SETs doesn't really put me at a disadvantage insurance-wise.

Good luck!

[jenice]

I put in 3 embryos. I'm 38 years old and this was my third cycle. It increases your chance of getting pregnant but also of multiples. I was willing to take that gamble cause after a whole year of doing IVF, I just want a baby. I am pregnant with a singleton. I figure by just my age @ least half of my eggs are bad or more. So, I wanted to tip the odds back in my favor. The other 2 cycles transferred 2 embryos. Unless you don't mind repeating an IVF cycle then I would transfer one, but with transferring two you do risk having multiples. There is no easy answer in making any decision that involves IVF. Good luck with making your decision, let us know what you decide.

[Ghost]

he has two children and is against putting more than one embryo in at time of transfer. This is my first cycle so not sure what to do about this. Any suggestions?

I agree with your husband and with the other posters here, particularly the excellent point made by jeandawga. You can set side good embryos by freezing them and transfer them one at a time until you get the number of children you want. It's safer for the mother and children that way.

[angeinhull]

I transferred 1 embryo in each of my cycles. 1st was BFN and 2nd resulted in my beautiful son. Each time I transferred a blastocyslt. If I was to do another cycle I would be hesitant to transfer 2 because I am worried about multiples having met some twins that are not thriving as well as singletons and also wonder how I would manage with both lol!
However, I would talk to your RE and see what the difference is in the chances because until I met other twins and had my boy I would have put back 2 to increase my chances but my RE said it wouldn't and the guidelines in the UK meant that in my circumstances I could only transfer 1.

[krissymichaels]

Thank you for your replies! I didn't realize that putting two in only increases fertility by 5% good to know. My insurance covers 3 cycles so maybe one would be the best decison for us. My friend is preggo with twins (naturally) and her water broke this morning, she's only 29 weeks...this also reinforces why we should only do one. As far as I know neither my hubby or myself have fertility issues. He had a vasectomy 12 yrs ago, my insurance covers IVF so it made more sense financially to do MESA and freeze his sperm (we got 6 million). I suppose it also depends on what the embryologist suggest at time of transfer? We will see!

[leorira11]

thanks for your post (and everyone's responses)

I have retrieval tomorrow morning and I've been getting REALLY tempted to transfer two.

I transfered 2 in my first IVF - twins, who were born and died at 22 weeks when Baby A's water broke.

I transfered 1 blast - BFN
I transfered 2 3de - BFN

Now I have no more frozens and have to do fresh again. I know that doing one at a time more often is better than getting pregnant with twins, but I'm SO desperate to get pregnant again....

Oh well, I guess I'll go with DH (and my RE)'s advice and do 1 blast....

[Wondercat]

My clinic has a very conservative approach. Their motto is "helping you have as many children as you want, one at a time." They will only transfer up to 3 and that is only if you have signed a form agreeing to do a selective reduction if all three take. Selective reduction is always an option to ensure only having one at a time if you think that is something you would be able to do. Personally I couldn't do that, so I did not sign the form.

Because of my age at the time (27) and the fact that we have male factor infertility my RE decided to start with one. My first fresh cycle was a SET with a 5d blastocyst - BFN. We only ended up with 2 frosties from that cycle, and since there was no clear reason why the first try didn't work my RE suggested transferring both in my FET - also BFN. Next fresh cycle transferred 2 again and I ended up with one healthy baby boy. So my record is 1 baby out of 5 embryos transferred. We have 4 frosties from that cycle, and I plan on doing a 2 blastocyst FET at the end of this year. I know there is an increased risk of twins, but that is a risk in any pregnancy; my grandfather was a fraternal twin and they sure didn't have IVF back then!

This link has some good information on statistics related to SET vs. DET...

http://www.ivf1.com/multiple-births/

[missmangles]

I have to agree with your DH. My DH and I are "unexplained" and had no issues producing tons of eggs, sperm count was perfect, etc. Yet I failed 3 IUIs, 2 fresh IVFs, and 2 FETs. Transferred 2 each time and BFN each time. On my 3rd fresh IVF, we did a freeze-all due to OHSS and transferred 2 blasts about a month later. Incredibly, both took. I never wanted twins and thought that given my history of zero successes, the chances that both blasts would take were slim to none. Now I'm terrified of pre-term labor, late-term loss, developmental delays, etc. etc. I vote for SET all the way unless you are not at all opposed to having twins.

[angelaezra]

he has two children and is against putting more than one embryo in at time of transfer. This is my first cycle so not sure what to do about this. Any suggestions?

Krissymichaels – I understand your dilemma. My situation was totally different than yours but I struggled with transferring 1 or 2 embryos with this last cycle. I transferred two embryos in 2008 and became pregnant with twins on the first try. I lost a twin at 6 ½ weeks and then lost my daughter at 21 weeks. So when I went for my next fresh transfer earlier this year, my RE insisted he would only transfer one embryo no matter how much I asked, pleaded, begged, etc. He said I am afraid if I transfer two, you will get pregnant with twins. He also thought the fact that I lost the first twin and bled so much played a big role in the reasoning behind me losing my daughter so late in my pregnancy.

So as you can see by my ticker I am currently 18 weeks pregnant with another daughter and I only transferred 1 embryo.

I wish you all the luck in the world!

Angela

[krissymichaels]

Congrats Angela! I think at this point we are planning on one. My friend just delivered her twin boys this morn at 29 weeks...this and after reading your post reinforces one would be best for myself and baby. I am on day 7 of injections, estrogen 932 and have approx 40 follicles, so far so good! Now just staying preggo is the part I'm concerned about, I know it's in God's hands. Thanks so much for your post!

[fitzjr11]

I am only doing 1 transfer this time around- last time we did 2, both took and 1 split giving us triplets. Twins developed twin-twin transfusion syndrome and miscarried at 9-10 wks and lost singlton 2 wks later. I am petrified of this happening again and have the theory that if 2 took last time then 1 will take this time
Good luck!