IVF NHS Twins Question

[RonRon1]

Hello
So my husband and I have been adviced we are unlikely to get pregnant naturally and have an appointment with the fertility clinic and apparently the issues we are having it will be IVF we need. I know I’ll get the answer to my question when we have our appointment but in the mean time wondered if anyone can help me .. as you will know it’s sucj an uncertain time all you want is answers.

My husband and I wonder since you only get one go of ivf on NHS is it possible to ask for them to try make it so you have twins ?

Just wondered if anyone knew or had any thoughts on this as I also read it can be riskier having twins !

Any info / experiences could be greatfully recieved :)

[Lauren83]

The HFEA target clinics to keep multiple births to a minimum so they only usually transfer 2 if the woman is older, has a history of failed treatment or the embryos are low grade. You can request 2 and they will make a note of it but the final decision will be made once they have the embryos. They discourage two as the miscarriage rate is higher as is premature birth and pregnancy complications etc, a double transfer usually ends in a singleton pregnancy more often than not but some do go on to be twins

[GemmeFatale]

As above, but...

If you are lucky enough to get more than one viable embryo to day five they will pop them in the freezer for you (I think it’s standard to get a year of storage pretty much everywhere, if not storage is generally in the £250-500 a year range). While you will probably have to pay for additional rounds FET (frozen embryo transfer) is significantly cheaper then a fresh cycle as a huge portion of the cost is in the stim drugs, egg collection procedure and embryologist costs.

[ginandtonicformeplease]

We had a successful transfer then a MMC, then a BFN, and now for our third transfer they asked if we want to transfer two - our clinic will only do this after two failures.

If you're lucky enough to get some embryos to freeze, you might find that your one go includes these transfers - so one egg collection, but then transfers for any embryos you get. My CCG no longer does any IVF, but that's what they used to do.

[Lauren83]

I would also rather do a fresh SET (single embryo transfer) followed by a frozen SET if treatment failed (or for a sibling if it worked) your chance of having a live birth is higher with 2 SETs rather than 1 DET, you can still self fund any frozen if your cycle works so you may still get a sibling. I have always had DET but my embryos have always been poor quality

[ellesbellesxxx]

We were told all along it would only be a single embryo transfer (due to being under 35 and the fact they try and keep multiple births low) however on day 5, the four embryos still going were all behind and weren’t yet blastocysts.
They transferred two early blastocysts (on the understanding that it was to give me 35% of being pregnant, 25% with twins) and kept the other two going to day 6 but they weren’t suitable for freezing.
We were so so lucky that both embryos made it and are fast asleep upstairs now.
So you can ask but The above posters have summed it up in a nutshell
Good luck! X

[RonRon1]

Thanks everyone! That’s really helpful. Ellesbelles I love ur story 😊. Such a hard time as you just always imagine falling pregnant would happen normally! X ps I need to learn all these acronyms hehe

[ellesbellesxxx]

Oh I hear you. I assumed it would take months not years!
Just to say though that I do understand why they urge caution with multiple pregnancies.. Twins are automatically classed as a high risk pregnancy.. that said they take great care of you. My friends and I have mixed experiences in that lots of us went to 36/37 weeks but about half had preemie twins which obv comes with more complications.
Previous posters have mentioned more issues too.
However if we could go back two years, I would still want two put back 😊

[Crazyeyes3]

I’m pregnant from an NHS cycle and we were told that we would only be allowed one embryo put back in. I’m under 35.

[hoping2018]

You should only have one put back in cycle 1 (depending on your age/quality of embryo) andchance of success.

The stats for twins are that 1 in 12 either have a twin die or serious life changing disability. Although twins sounds lovely (and I'm sure it is) it has huge complications associated with it which is why the guidelines are only 1.

Also putting two embryos in does not double your chances of success - it only puts it up by about 10% and that's because there are other factors other than embryo quality which effect whether you get pregnant e.g endometrial lining etc.

Therefor having one put in is much safer and if you have spare embryos keeping them frozen for another time, overall increases your chance of success.

We had poor quality embryos on cycle 1 and were offered 2 embryos to be transferred - we had one put in due to the risks associated and because I was 31 NICE guidelines were just 1. This meant our other embryo went to waste as it wasn't good enough quality to freeze.

Second time round we had the same again and given our past experience and that the embryos weren't good enough to freeze (so would just go to waste again) we risked it and had two put back - I was terrified of twins! But fortunately pregnant with one healthy baby!