How many to transfer

[mikkyr]

Please help me. Due to transfer on Saturday. We should have at least 5 embryos available. Doctor says to transfer 2 but I really really really (I mean really!) don’t want twins.

Do we transfer 1 or go with drs advice?

Transferring 2 doesn't double your chances of a baby, there is quite a lot of research.
Will the other embryos be freezable? That would affect my decision.

Yes other embryos would be frozen for transfer later if needed.

My clinic advised to make the decision on the quality of the embryos. If it's top quality only transfer 1, if lower transfer 2

They showed me statistics that transferring 2 doesn't actually increases your chances of it working.

I transferred 1 top quality blast (2 further frozen) and am now 13 weeks pregnant

Good luck!

If you make it to day 5 (blastocyst) then I’d only transfer one at a time, unless you’ve done multiple previous rounds or are over 40.

Some evidence that frozen transfers more successful anyway. Also that a poor embryo can make a good embryo fail to implant.

If you are over 40, transferring one at a time is a waste of time and money because your chances for any birth let alone a multiple one is a lot lower hence why they allow double transfers from the age of 38 and triple transfers from 40. I did a double because I didn’t want to waste time (might need to do another egg collection around the age of 39/40) and I got my BFP with one embryo.

If you are under 30 with no problems then by all means do it one embryo at a time, but my guess is if the clinic recommended it they probably don’t believe you will get twins

I’m 40 but this is my first transfer. My husband has had a vasectomy so we are doing ICSI. If I’d had a failed cycle already I’d probably be open to transferring more than 1.

UK clinics don’t tend to recommend double transfers unless they feel you won’t get a multiple. So from my experience (3 failed transfers, 2 egg collections at the age of 38) I would say their advice is spot on.

All of the advice regarding multiples only applies to women under the age of 35-38; for the rest of us it’s more cost effective to do multiple transfers as our chances of a pregnancy are reduced (the a average probability of a live birth at 40-42 is only 14-19 percent.

Your clinic might have access to the original article referenced in the paper below. Suggest you speak to your consultant and follow their advice because the Standard multiples advice only works for the under 35s. www.manchesterfertility.com/learning-centre/blog/post/ivf-and-over-40-new-study-reveals-multiple-pregnancy-risk-is-lower/

Strongly suggest

I was going to suggest visiting the hfea website and researching outcomes for your specific age group. Even if the fertility issue is currently with your husband it doesn’t mean you don’t have any issues - egg quality does reduce as we age. In many cases clinics only refer for further testing once you have 3 failed cycles (ie 3 completely failed egg collections).

Thanks for all your help ladies x

We transferred 2, we now have one 6 year old!

Personally I’d transfer 2 if I was you based on the doctors advice. There is a lot of info out there that says transferring 2 doesn’t necessarily double the chance. Just increases it. Also if you did end up with twins, the love is the one thing that would be doubled : )

I’m 38. Had two hatching blasts transferred.

I love the idea that love doubles... my husband not so much. In fact this whole baby thing has put a real strain on our marriage.

I was 36 when we put 2 back and ended up with 1 baby (now 6).

The following year we put 1 frozen embryo back (frozen from the round we got my 6 year old from) and had my now 4 year old.

I'm really pleased we put two back the first time but wasn't so keen to risk twins once we had an 11 month old!

We were really lucky though.

Wishing you all the best for Saturday. I remember how nerve racking it was.

I think your decision depends on you weighing up how much you don’t want twins versus how much you don’t want the cycle to fail. No one can answer that for you as it’s a very personal decision, but by reducing the risk of having twins (ie transferring only one embryo), you’re increasing the risk of the cycle failing. And vice versa if you transfer 2.

Sorry to sound pessimistic, but whether you transfer one or 2 embryos, statistically your cycle is more likely to fail than it is to succeed. If you do only transfer one and the cycle fails, will you regret having not transferred 2? Having 2 transferred will increase your chance of success, but will also increase your chance of having twins.

Although transferring 2 is statistically the best thing to do, ultimately you need to be comfortable with whatever decision you make. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

No real help but my friend had 2 transferred and has just given birth to triplets!! Identical twins and a singleton so you could end up with twins even if you only transfer one. Good luck x

We transferred 2, spur of the moment aye fuck it why not... I’ll never forget my husbands face when they found two heart beats at our first scan. First year was totally traumatic with both having reflux and not sleeping, now they’re four they’re best friends and I couldn’t face any more treatment stater the journey we went on to get a positive. So happy now but really struggled with the pregnancy and new born stage.hirses for courses though. I know plenty of twin families that breezed the first year actual envy!
Good luck!

The first 3 months was totally grim, the first year very hard. But it gets easier after that. Now at 10 I think twins might be easier than a single dc and nicer for them in lots of ways.

I agonised over this, wouldn't mind twins but worried about twin complications...I have just had my 1st failed IVF cycle (I have blocked tubes) at 35. I was really surprised the Dr gave us the option of transferring 2 on 1st go but the embryos were a little slow developing. One was an early blastocyst and the other a compacting morula. Transferred 2 because we had none to freeze and due to the quality. All that worrying and got a bfn.

We ve opted to transfer two on our next frozen transfer - I'm now 36 - they are average quality which is perhaps why the clinic were ok with it. Also financially it would be another £1250 to do another transfer if we only did one this time and to be honest we would rather spent the money trying another full ivf ICSI cycle to see if we get better quality

(A friend of a friend transferred they're last single frozen embryo and got triplets by the way! 🤣)

OMG...triplets from 1, that is nuts! 😆

When we were debating 1 or 2, we googled octomum out if curiosity. She had a ridiculous amount of embryos implanted. I do think, if she had 8 babies, surely 2 should be a breeze. 😙

What is worse. Twins or failing and no baby

That’s what our consultant said - well ours said triplets as had 3 from
Cycle but not good enough to freeze

Both df and I said together triplets

All 3 failed. That was 2nd cycle

As I got older we decided to have one put back for cycle 3&4

Both failed - dithered a lot about 2 back on 5th cycle - as was then heading up to 44 giving birth

We decided one. And said if failed then 6th atenor wohid be 2 back

Luckily 5th worked

Its occurred to me during my time on this forum that IVF is such a complex issue. There are so many things to consider and some many things that differ from one person to the next:
Age - Im 40 never had kids before and OBGYN considers that I would have no issue falling pregnant naturally given the chance.
Husband - Also fertile as he has had 3 kids of his own. But has had a vasectomy so no male factor infertility due to health reasons.
Personal limits and desires - We do not want to spend too much of our lives and energy focussing on this process. We just wanted to add a little person to our already existing family if we could. We havent spent years battling infertility so Im not about to consent to putting back 3 embryos just for sake of the cycle not failing. I know that neither my husband nor I have the slightest inclination to do more then 3 seperate ETs and then we will call it a day with the knowledge that this was just a ship we never sailed on.

Clinic - All clinics have different rules and protocols.

Neither my husband nor I are interested in the slightest in having twins so this was a very hard decision for us. You look at the stats and you see the chance of 1 fresh embryo being successful is less than 20% in the first cycle and put your hopes on the fact that those people dont have the same circumstances as you.

In the UK legally you can only have a max of 2 put back. I didn't make the decision until I knew the quality of the blasts. Our clinic was happy to take it day by day. Don't feel pressured to put more back if you only feel comfortable with 1