How many embryos did you transfer for IVF? how did you decide?

daydreamernyc

I posted this question on the infertility board as I'm really struggling with the decision of how many to transfer. My husband wants 1 but thinks we should go with whatever the dr says.  Dr says 2 is best but willing to do 1 if we prefer. So I definitely feel like it's primarily my decision. 

I'm worried about the ability to carry twins to term. There are so many potential complications at various stages. On the other hand I want this to be successful (and I'm not 25!). 

So, would love to hear how many you decided to move forward with?  Would you make the same decision if you could do it all over again?  How many IVF cycles did it take for you?  

chrissynena

The doctor recommended 2 for our fresh cycle, so that is what we transferred. We had a singleton. With our FET we only had 3 left frozen and he said we would thaw all 3 (eek!) but only 2 survived the thaw. I am now pregnant with twins (and one of those wasn't the best quality).

I have to say I always feel slight guilt when I say that we got pregnant on our only IVF cycle and our only FET. We have been very blessed.

Good luck!!

bayareagirl2011

It's a very personal decision, but for us it depended on the quality of the embryo, and the transfer day, along with what the doctor recommended. We ended up doing a 3 day transfer of "2 perfect 8-celled" and ended up with a singleton pregnancy. If we had done a day 5, and the blast was good quality, we would have just transferred 1, with the same school of thought as you have (potential of increased complications with twin pregnancies). We were definitely not opposed to twins, and a small part of me would have been really excited about just doing this one time, but if given a choice, "preferred" a singleton, so that's how we ultimately made our decision. We were very blessed to get the BFP on our first fresh cycle. Good luck and fingers crossed for you! 

beachy6

We transferred two for this successful cycle. We only had two left on day 5 and our RE said it made more sense to transfer both, as freezing just one was expensive and was risking thaw factors.

Both embryos implanted, but we lost one of them, most likely due to chromosomal issues.

It really is a personal choice. I always went into a transfer wanting to have no regrets. We'd already transferred one for our first fresh and it didn't work, so we just went for it this last time. We were very lucky!

absolutelymaybe

We transferred two high quality blastocysts (both took and I'm 24 weeks with twins -- so far a complication free pregnancy!)

In making our decision we basically asked ourselves how we would feel about only doing one and having it not work and how we felt about having twins.

We decided if we only did one and it didn't work, we would always be asking ourselves if we had done two would the other one would've taken. We also decided that we would be ok with twins if we did two.

xtina78

We transferred two and were very lucky to get pregnant with twins on that first fresh cycle. We really wanted to maximize our odds of having at least one baby and were aware and willing to take on the risks of a multiples pregnancy. I have been very lucky to have had a largely complication free pregnancy with twins (so far - I have a planned c/s on Saturday) except for bleeding due to placenta previa in second tri. 

Margritli

We went with our Dr.'s recommendation, which was two. After three failed transfers (each with two), I got prgenant on the fourth with twins. Our situation was a little different than most, though, because we were not allowed to wait until day 5 to transfer the best and had to transfer ca. day 2 and hope for the best.

Momarazzi007

We've done six cycles total, one was twins and lost one. We currently have another singleton. But that's 11 embryos transferred and only two have stuck. If we are able to in future for FET w 5 remaining I will push for three transfer and a two if that doesn't take any and that's it for us. I think it depends on a lot if factors- my doctor thought I was at risk for twins and we see that isn't neccessarily the case- but many women get KU w twins on first try. I wish I had more than "it's a gamble" but it really is and I wish you luck with whatever comes!!!

runawaylaurel

I was successful on the first go-round with 1 hatching 5 day blast. I chose not to transfer 2 since it's not recommended in my age group and my doctor is a huge proponent of SET. I also wasn't comfortable with the idea of twins. It is a personal decision though. 

dp21

We got pregnant on first IVF, I was 29 going on 30 during our cycle. 

My doctor recommended transferring two for 3 day transfer, transferring one for 5 day transfer. 

My clinic prefers to transfer one blast on day 5.  However, I am DOR, we only retrieved 3 eggs, only 2 fertilized, hence a 3 day transfer.  We transferred the only 2 we had and 1 stuck.  Now going on 19 weeks. 

Let me see if I can find their age recommendations.  Can't find it....  I think maybe 35 and above, they recommend transferring two blasts...but don't quote me.

But do what is comfortable for you!

tarala

It may really depend on how they look on transfer day. We were set on transferring one and both our doctor and the embryologist encouraged that following our retrieval. Fast forward 5 days and the embryologist came over with a pic of two. Our embryos started arresting after day 3 and we were only left with one morula and one very early blast. Two were transferred and one stuck. I would recommend having a plan in mind, but being flexible.

ccam

When TTC #1, our RE explained to us that with our unexplained diagnosis, transferring 2 would increase our chances of having twins, not our chances of getting pregnant.  We pretty much decided beforehand that if our embryos were any less than blasts, we would transfer 2.  But since they were good quality blasts, we transferred 1.  IVF one worked and resulted in DS.  Had that failed, we might have moved onto transferring 2 at some point.

When TTC #2, we went ahead with FETs.  Since we were not open to having twins at that point, we did two rounds of FET and only transferred one blast each time.  Both cycles failed. 

We also have excellent insurance so that played a big part in our decision.  We may have moved to 2 quicker if things were different.  Such a personal decision - good luck!!

mmhopeful

AS most previous posts have mentioned, it was a combination of embryo quality, wether it was a 3dt or a 5dt and age.  We have gone through 2 fresh cycles of IVF.  We did 5dt and transferred 3 embryos each time.  The 1st time, all 3 were morula stage.  We had a low positive and then were told it was negative.  2 weeks later, my HCG level rose significantly and we were told it was ectopic.  I was given methotrexate injection and benched for 3 months. 

The 2nd IVF, we did a 5dt of 3 embryos.  Only one was morula stage.  Age was the main issue.  I was turning 40 and it was our last try before insurance would not cover the procedures any longer.  We were blessed with twins.  My husband will be 46 when they are born and I will still be 40.  He jokes that he will fill out his AARP card prior to the twins' Kindergarten registration paperwork.  

Really though, it is a VERY personal decision.  We knew we were financially ready to handle multiples, but it has come with risk.  I have had to monitor my blood pressure and now have gestational diabetes that is being controlled by diet alone.  6 more weeks to go and so hopeful for a healthy delivery at 38 weeks.  We are 32 weeks today.  

Our RE and the embryologist knew our odds and said putting in 3 would hopefully get us 1 child.  We feel blessed that there are 2 and knew this was it as we planned for our family. This is my one and only pregnancy I'll ever have and I am so glad we moved forward after our loss.  

Good luck and know that the decision you make will be the right one for you.  

hopeby2015

We started off wanting to transfer 3. We had previously done a fresh cycle of DE IVF and had transferred 2. Of the 2, 1 stuck but no hb was detected at around 7wks. This was 4 years ago and it took us that long to get over it financially (we are 100% OOP) and emotionally. It was one of the hardest periods of our time. So when we did it again this time, I was pretty adamant about putting back 3. But this time it was with a different doc, frozen donor eggs and my dh's sperm had improved over time. We did our cycle in Europe and they have a tendency to dislike putting in more than 3 especially since the donor was young & healthy and dh and I were healthy. He strongly recommended putting back 2. He said that putting back 3 vs. 2 pretty much only ups the chances of multiples. We are more than okay with twins but anything more than that scared me. We ended up tx-ing 2 based on the doc recommendation and the idea of 3 scared the beejesus out of me. We definitely didn't want to put back only 1. We felt like we spent time & a lot of money on this that the 30% chance for a pregnancy with 1 tx-ed vs 65% with 2 tx-ed was well worth the risk of a twin pg. The 2 we tx-ed stuck but only 1 ended up with a hb.

It is definitely something you have to live with. Best of luck!

ksgsmu

We transferred 2 pgd tested beautiful blasts.  My RE  was on the fence at first.  He supported two but said due to pgd testing he thought our success rate with one was super high.   We choose to transfer two for several reasons...

1. We are older and want a big family.  We were 100% ok with twins. I was/and still am concerned about the risks/difficulty that twin pregnancy can cause.  I will be honest although I have had no issues but it is harder than a singleton pregnancy based on my experience thus far. I am 15 weeks and pretty miserable at times. 

2. We were 100% OOP so money was a factor

It is your decision but only transfer the amount you are ok having!

Good luck!

brooklynesque

I used DE so the eggs were 29 years old and the embryos were excellent quality -- but I only transferred one and was successful.  I've seen too many twin pregnancies go heartbreakingly wrong here and elsewhere.  Even when twin pregnancies go right, they often don't go as "right" as singleton pregnancies.  Just giving the DE stats I'm aware of (so young eggs/good embryos), you have a 2/3 shot of having a baby/babies over 5.5 lbs and 37 weeks if you are pregnant with a singleton, while only 1/3 shot of same with twins.  The full impact of prematurity and low birthweight might not manifest itself until there are learning or behavioral disorders in a school age kid.  It wasn't worth the risk to me, even though I want 2-3 kids and thought twins would be great in concept.  I would only put back 2 in the face of obvious quality issues or multiple previous failures.

SPaceTwins55

We transfered 2 and I'm 12wks pregnant with twins!
Here's how we decided - 1. hubby (he's 33, I'm 32) was very apposed to a stash of frozen embryos for personal/ethical reasons. 2. We were both okay with having twins - two for the price of one (we are 100% OOP), if we were fertility superstars we would be on #2 by now anyways, I'm a teacher and have friends with multiples and feel we have the tools to handle double duty (although it won't always be easy), built in best friends, no only child syndrome, etc... 3. Like I said we're OOP and have male factor problems and transferring 2 would up our odds that at least 1 would stick.
What we did - low stimulation IVF with ICSI - this fit our needs so well, and it's worked out great; It's almost easy to forget all the agonizing over the choices, but it took a long time and we checked out several clinics.
The numbers - We ended up with 14 eggs (hubs freaked!) but only 4 were mature enough for ICSI. They made us 4 embryos - on day 3 we had 2 beautiful 8 cell embryos and 2 lagging embryos. We'd really been pushing for a 5 day transfer to weed out extra embryos, but suddenly didn't have very many (IVF is such a gamble, it's nerve racking!!). Everyone was onboard to transfer the 2 perfect embryos, and freeze the other 2 at day 6 for FETs later. Then I got the call that our other 2 embryos stopped dividing - no frozen embryos for us... Suddenly it was only the 2 we'd transfered and we really worried if we'd made the right decision. If it hadn't worked we'd be back at square 1 (my turn to freak!!). Waiting for betas is killer! But we did get BFPs!! Then at the 7wk ultrasound I just knew we'd see 2, I'd been soooo sick for a week! Sure enough there they were!!! Hubs nearly passed out! Couldn't believe we got exactly what we wanted - two babies and no frozen embryos. After trying for so long, I still can't believe it worked out this perfect.. Keeping fingers crossed for perfect babies in Feb. Now if I could just stop feeling nauseous... So far no complications beyond bad NVP (which my sister had with both her singletons, so I doubt I would've escaped...) Honestly the best part is knowing we're DONE with IVF. Got my babies, the next kiddos will be adopted or foster (been the plan since prefertility). As for advice, keep talking with your husband and the clinic (and a few other clinics, if you're OOP what's the harm in looking around? We didn't go with our original doc for a number of reasons and I loved him, but their program wasn't right for us). Eventually you will be ready to go forward with a plan. And from there comes the gambling and the waiting! The picture is our perfect set of bubbles (8 day embryos that are now thing 1 and thing 2).

daydreamernyc

You ladies are so awesome. I am so appreciative for all the comments. This is a lot to think about and consider. As many of you mentioned, there are a lot of variables, including quality. I think it will be best to have a plan for each scenario so we won't feel rushed during the wait between ER and the transfer. 

@absolutelymaybe that's exactly what's going on in my head too, if it's not successful would we be kicking ourselves. After all I just had so many failed IUIs where each one had optimal conditions. 

@xtrina78 good luck on Saturday. You must be so excited to finally get to meet them  (and i love Samoyeds, beautiful dogs)

@beachy6 that's a really good point regarding the freezing process. If you only have 2 total and not all survive the thawing process, does it make sense to freeze one. And he no regrets!

@mmhopeful wow, what a journey. So sorry for you ectopic. Having gone through that myself, I know how tough it is 

@dp21. Yes, they recommend 2 for my age

@ducky719 it's so important for  DH to be comfortable with what ever decision we go with. We had another long chat about it tonight just to ensure he was definitely sharing his full viewpoint 

@happy_yahoo congrats on such a healthy pregnancy. We are also not ok with reduction. 

@brooklynesque that's exactly part of the concern I have with twins is the risk of other complications such as learning and behavioral. 

cls78

We did a freeze all cycle and transferred two frosties. I was in a double blinded IVF study which required a double embryo transfer. (I pretty much got my IVF cycle for free) My clinic pushes for single embryo transfers and my RE really wanted me to think about it since the chance for multiples was high especially if I was put in the study group.

My first cycle worked and I am pregnant with twins. I just entered 2nd tri and so far so good. I am considered high risk and see a MFM along with my OB. I just hope everything continues to go well.

Viasatalyte

We struggled with this too.  We went with the doctor's recomenedation and the clinic really pushes for SETs if you are a good candidiate. Meaning...under the age of 37 and have atleast 3-4 high quality 5-day blasts. Luckily I meet the criteria. So I qualified for a program that would pay for two subsequent FETs if the first fresh single transfer was unsucessful.  I got pregnant on the last free FET.  So it took three transfers to get me here all over a 9 month period.  It took a lot of patience, and tears but I am so happy with the outcome. I am now 19 weeks with a singleton.  Good luck with your decision.

tilelady85

Like @cls78 I was in the same study which required a double embryo transfer. Before entering the study I was 100% sold on only transferring 1. Since we were OOP, participating in the study basically gave us free ivf/fet. 

We got "lucky" and one took on the first try, but those first few weeks were terrifying for me as I really did not want a twin pregnancy. The complications worry me much more than the actual twin babies. I would never consider a reduction, but a medically induced twin pregnancy was just a hard pill to swallow for me. 

Most women who struggle with if would welcome multiples, but it is such a personal choice. You have to be ok with the outcome regardless of what it may be. 

Saintelizabeth

We had three embryos after fertilization and had wanted to transfer two and freeze the third, but our RE suggested we transfer all three. Due to the average/poor quality of the embryos my RE didn’t think any of the embryos would survive the freeze and thaw. DH and I reluctantly agreed, but I’ll admit transferring all three was really scary. Of course I didn’t want to be pregnant with triplets (that sounds even more scary!), but I wanted to give all three embryos the chance to survive so we decided to trust our RE. I’m currently pregnant with a singleton  

swyatt2014

@Viasatalyte what clinic did you go to? That sounds like an EXCELLENT policy of the 2 additional transfers without cost!

Viasatalyte

 

@swyatt2014  I went with Kaiser who is also my HMO.  Most of the patients at the clinic are Kaiser members.  Because most patients are members, they don't want to encourage health plan members to increase the risk of twins because twin pregnanacies are very expensive for the health plan.  So yes, it is a really good programs in terms of cost savings for all involved parties.  

GemLei

We took the dr's recommendation and transferred (2) 5 days, 3rd attempt. Singleton :-).

mrsherr22

My RE suggested transferring 2. We talked about the high possibility of both sticking since we're young, good health, and have unexplained IF. We ended up transferring 2 embryos and both took. I'm currently 14 weeks and 4 days. My RE & OB have both talked about the risk of early delivery, a Cesarian, and the likelihood of bed rest. All things I've researched and am aware of. I would say trust your instinct whatever you feel is best. Good luck! Wishing the best IVF cycle outcome to you.

KDR1979

We got pregnant with twins on our 5th embryo transfer.

Fresh IVF #1 -2 perfect blasts transferred=chemical pregnancy

Frozen IVF-all 3 blasts survived thaw and were transferred=5.5week twin loss (2 sacs)

Fresh IVF #2-2 blasts transferred, BFN

Fresh IVF # 3-Meds messed up, two 2 day embryos transferred

Fresh IVF # 4 3 day transfer of 3 embryos with assisted hatching-2/3 stuck. Carried twins to 36 weeks

We had 1 frozen embryo from IVF #4. It survived thaw and we had it transferred on 7/28, it looks like it worked! My ultrasound is next week!

Good luck!