Embryo Transfer

Hello everyone

Would love to know what advise others have had regarding Yes or No to multiple embryo transfer. What their feelings are or what sources they have had info from.

We are not funded so we have an option for eithe single or multiple transfer and we have made our decision (signed consent etc) but it's a point we had debated long and hard over and I know it's one we may yet change our minds on.

Anyway, would love to hear others experiences.

Hiya, we also were privately paying so had the choice.

On our first cycle we had Day 5 embryo's and they only wanted to transfer 1 (I'm 34), which we did. Apparently you have a much better chance of pregnancy with Day 5 embryo's.

We put the remaining 2 back in with the FET as we wanted to get onto a 2nd cycle ASAP if we didn't get PG as my FSH and AMH numbers were terrible (ovaries seem to be around 44). The specialists were against it, given they were Day 5, and managed to persuade us to only transfer 1 but then thawed them both!!!

We've never wanted to put more than 2 back. Apparently whether they 'stick' is individual, i.e. if you get a BFP with multiples transferred you don't necessarily get twins (if you tx'd 2).

Our thoughts are that we want to be blessed with a pregnancy, and that whilst we are only planning one child, twins would just be an added bonus and an instant play mate (but given our track record we doubted we'd be lucky enough to have both take)!

We have 2 embryo's on ice at the moment (day 3's). So we have also been debating whether to transfer one or two. Given our track record I initially said 2 (as did the specialist) but I've taken another approach this time. We don't qualify for public funding until probably Aug 11 (by the time we get on and they get through the waitlist). So that's over 12 months away ........

We have decided to only transfer 1 at a time for 2 reasons: 1 - it spreads out our 'trying' so it doesn't seem like a 1-hit wonder and we have 2 chances in the next year; and 2 - just maybe every cycle your uterus has a different environment so you get more chance?!

I don't really know, and it's a very personal decision - but I hope that some of these thoughts might be of interest to you.

Good luck minxynzl!!

We went for single embryo transfer based solely on the statistics for relationship breakups with multiple births. My marriage is paramount and we were not willing to put additional strain on it if we could help it.

Hey Minxy. We really wanted to have twins, so that our family would be complete and never have to go through the infertility nghtmare ever again! What bliss!
Our doctor said she would do it (private cycle) but unfortunately we only got one emby, which as you know was BFP only to miscarry.

For our next cycle, we are gunning again for twins!
If we don't have success with that one, we are onto our public ones, which means single transfer.

The chance of twins is one of the things keeping me going!! Each to their own though, it's such a very personal thing. xoxoxoxo

We only ever considered having one replaced, even if the quality wasn't so great (we were really lucky and had a day 5 blasty).

We don't have a lot of family support where we live, which I think I am going to miss even with only one, as most of our them live at least two hours away. I think that maybe if we did have some who lived closer we might have thought about it a bit harder.

Also, only having one means I can stay at home for longer before I have to go back to work, as the financial pressure won't be so bad.

But I think it is a very personal choice and I think you should do what your heart tells you.

I really hope you get your twins Elleroo!

Thanks Sarah - yes, increasing miscarriage risk is MY major worry too as I'm nearing 40.

Seems like there are enough odds stacked against us that I am terrified of placing more there. But on the other hand you worry you are losing a chance at a possible BFP if the embryo you transfer is NOT the one and if you had trabnsferred 2 it might have been diferent.
It's like trying to figure out which gamble is less risk.
In the end we have erred on side of conservatism. But who knows what decisions we might re think if we don't have sucess.

Thanks all :) Keep your comments coming, this is a realy helpful discussion.

I have read in the Fertility Associates handouts that the sucess rate for a BFP is no higher with multiple embryo transfer than single. So for me, that was the answer, and we went with single. Still no BFP after two tries though. But i figure if we had put both in, neither of them would have taken most likely. Such a tricky high stakes game!

minik8e wrote: I'm just lurking, but Carnelian your decision is so logical and true, especially re. your size. I am not quite 5'2, and I managed to carry the girls to 33w4d when my body decided it had had enough - I had nowhere for them to grow further, couldn't walk (not helped by SPD) and was measuring 45w pregnant the week before I had them. They were good sizes however, at 5lb1 and 4lb12, and were healthy as horses thankfully.

thanks :-)    Yes it was definitely the right decision for us. Liam was a 33 weeker and was 5lb 3oz which they said was massive for his gestational age. This one I'm carrying presently is in the 97% percentile and is measuring over 2 weeks ahead too!! I think we have BIG babies and I'm small so it's scary to think how early I would go with 2 in there.
You did great to get your girls to where you did and they were fantastic weights for their gest age and for the fact they were twins. And they are absolutely beautiful. I so had my heart set on a wee girl but I don't think it's meant to be.    
I dearly love my boys though and wouldn't change them for the world. :-)