Advice on how many embryos to transfer?

[JerseyTouchDown]

Does anyone have advice on making the decision on how many to transfer?

My husband is scared of multiples and I'm afraid of using just one and it not taking and me blaming him for not letting two. He said that now he will do what ever I want but I'm seriously scared I will not know how to make this decision. I can't concentrate when I have to pee and they are not giving us details until we show up on Monday with a full bladder to meet before transfer. We don't yet have the details as to our embryos are doing other than they are good for going to day 5 makes which gives us confidence.

Any thoughts/stories? How many did you choose? How did you decide?
I'm 33 had high fish which led us to ivf.

Thanks
JTD

[angeinhull]

Hi

Its really a hard decision I think. I had no choice as legislation in the UK dictated that if you are under 35 and transferring a blast that you can only transfer one. My first cycle was BFN but my second resulted in my gorgeous son. I would have liked to have transferred 2 but am glad we didn't the way it worked out. I think you have to be happy that if you get a BFn you will not blame your decision, also are you prepared for the risks of multiples?

Sorry I can not give a definitive opinion but it is very personal

good luck

Angela

[SDtrying]

Advice about embryo transfer--

Well as most of use here understand, this is such a personal decision therefore I caution that any stories/advice I give might not make sense for you. I think it is really important that we all respect each other's decision making on this topic because really until you are in someone else's shoes exactly you never really know what choices you'd make. Heck, I didn't even think I'd ever be willing to do IVF...yet here I am (again).

Here were the factors that led me to choose single egg transfer for my first (and now planned FET with single embryo)
1. I need to work to afford IVF bills. All the people I've known who had twins were out for 4 months on bedrest during their pregnancies. I'm sure some are fine, but there is a very high number of women who can't work through their pregnancy.
2. I can't afford any more medical bills. Clearly we all have heard of the potential medical problems that can occur with pregnancy and/or preterm labor with multiples. My friends who have had twins had perfect babies, but one of them was really financially pressed by all the bills (she had a rough pregnancy).
3. After now having had one, I can't IMAGINE having two at once. My hats off to you ladies who do it!!
4. I'd feel really guilty if I had twins with medical problems and I could have prevented it. If I put one in and it spits, I wouldn't feel as responsible for that decision.

What would have changed my mind...
1. If I have more than two failed FET, I might reconsider my choice. Also if I'm still trying for #2 in my late 30's, I'd probably be much more willing to try 2. But I don't know, hard to say until I'm there.

My other 2 cents-
I usually hear of women who have been repeatedly unsuccessful transferring higher amounts. I really can imagine getting to the place where I didn't care about the risk and just wanted to have a family.

Good Luck in your own decision. Do what is right for you and your family. We've all been through too much here to judge each other's choices.

[Ghost]

Look at your clinic's success rates with frozen embryos. If they are pretty good, then that might give you more confidence in transferring just one. The others can be transferred later with a good chance of success.

[leorira11]

I really agree with SDTrying.

We transferred 2 in our first IVF and I got pregnant with b/g twins. We had complications at 22 weeks and lost them both.

Since then, we have really struggled with how many to transfer. For a while, we had our embryos as 3 day and frozen in pairs. Once we defrosted a pair and grew them to blasts and transferred the better one. The second FET, we transferred both at 3d.

With our new fresh cycle we grew all the embryos to blast. We had 3. We transferred one with our fresh cycle, but sadly that ended in miscarriage.

Now we have 2 blasts frozen, individually. We are hoping to do a FET cycle as soon as I finish recovery from the D&C.

We still have NO idea how many we will transfer. We are young (24 & 26), but this will be transfer #5 with no living children in our lives.

I completely understand the stress of deciding on transferring one or two. We can talk about this privately if you want to, as well.

All the best.

[angelaezra]

JerseyTouchDown – I understand your dilemma and I agree with the other posters that you have a hard decision to make. I know you said your DH is scared about multiples but what exactly is he scared about? Maybe, addressing his concerns might help the both of you make the best decision. Also, another question to consider is, is this your first IVF? The only reason I ask is because that might give you an idea of how many to transfer now. When I did my first IVF, I was exactly your age of 33 and we went along with the general recommendation to transfer two embryos for my age. It was successful and I became pregnant with twins! Unfortunately, I had a vanishing twin at 6 ½ weeks and my daughter Ashley was fine and I progressed to 20 weeks. When I went for my 20 week anatomy scan, I found out that she passed away. So, I had to deliver her at 21 weeks. My RE was convinced that getting pregnant with twins is what started my misfortune, so he insisted that he would only transfer one embryo at a time. When my DH and I discussed it, we were concerned that transferring only one embryo would reduce our chances of becoming pregnant again. But, we decided to push on anyway, so about 4 months later I had a FET and received a BFN. I then wanted to take a break so I waited about 8 months and did another fresh cycle using just one embryo and I got another BFP. But, I should add that my RE was so comfortable about only transferring one embryo at a time because when I originally transferred two both stuck and I became pregnant with twins so that is why I asked whether this is your first IVF or not. As I stated before, I know this is a very hard decision but you have to also consider some of the medical complications in your decision. For me, it is too dangerous to transfer more than one at a time but for others it might be just fine. I wish you good luck with your decision and I can’t wait to hear about your BFP.

Angela

[cristiecs]

Not an easy decision I agree. We transferred yesterday two day 5 embryos. I was very scared as we contemplated what to do. My hubby wanted twins from the beginning, but i feared this after being a single mom of two from my first marriage. I have watched two moms in our ward give birth to twins and they handle it well. They both say they would not trade it for anything. I prayed and did a lot of research. When asked yesterday how many to transfer, i said two without a doubt. Now we will wait to find out if we get a bfp on Oct 12.

[jenice]

I transferred 3 3day embryos. I was PRETTY NERVOUS about doing it. I am 38 and this was my 5th attempt of IVF. I had a failed fresh cycle transferring 2 blasts. Then I had an FET with 2 2day embies had a BFP then a miscarriage. It does really depend on if this is your first cycle or not, to see how your body takes to IVF. I thought I could probably get pregnant with IVF since I had 3 natural pregnancies before (2 ectopics and one DD ) . I am older and just by my age the quality of my eggs go down. I figured the more I put in the better chance of walking out with a baby. I am 18 W pregnant currently with a singleton. My RE was suspicious of a twin that I miscarried @ 7 weeks. Even though twin was never seen on US, I had a sub-chorionic bleed and that was thought to be the cause. The bleed almost took out my current pregnancy leaving a blood clot on the placenta. It is really a hard decision to make. I was counseled by my RE about multiples especially triplets since I transferred 3. I would not have minded twins but I have high blood pressure as it is, I would have been very fearful I would have lost the pregnancy. Even with one baby I am High risk and I was also with my DD. If you put 2 in, be ready for twins financially, emotionally and medically. You and DH need to be on the same page and know it is both your decision and be ready for your outcome. When I had my sub-chorionic bleed my RE said if it happened again I would go on bedrest. My bleed happened @ 2 months, can you imagine bedrest already that early. That scared the sh** out of me. I don't regret my decision for 3 but I know it was a risk . I am happy with a singleton pregnancy. Good luck on your decision

[fitzjr11]

Its a hard call, my 1st ivf we transferred 2 blastocysts and ended up w/ triplets and miscarring twins at 10 wks and the singleton at 12 wks, this time we transferred 1 and got a BFN I wish u luck

[JerseyTouchDown]

Went ahead with one by recommendation of RE and other Dr.
Now we are in the 2ww!

[karenthescorpio]

JerseyTouchDown- wishing you tons of positive energy for a BFP!!!

[angelaezra]

Went ahead with one by recommendation of RE and other Dr.
Now we are in the 2ww!

That is great news!

Angela