ivf - transfer 1 or 2 frozen embryos

tess-tc

Hi Ladies,

I'm considering to do 2 frozen embryos since my husband and I would love to have twins. Another reason is both of us is getting oder for this.

We have 2 frozen embryos that reached to day #5-blastocyst stage. Then they have been freezed to wait for the transfer date.

Our doctor recommends to do 1 embryo transfer due to the minor percentage of having triplets. He said the percentage would be minor, about 4% to have triplets, and 50% to have twins. Of course we want twins, but not triplets since it's dangerous for both mom and babies.
He said last year he had 2 patients who got triplets. One patient ended up at the hospital whole time, and one patient had miscarriage. If we make wrong decision, it will affect our babies, and we will regret for the whole life. I really dont know what we should decide yet.

I would love to listen to your stories.

Thank you in advance.
TC

ttc3y

Congratulations with having 2 healthy embryos to transfer! That is definitely something to celebrate about!

I think it’s important to do some research and consider the risks/ pros and cons to carrying multiples. Having an IVF pregnancy already comes with a high risk label and having multiples increases the risks with having multiple potential complications for the carrying mother and babies which adds another high risk label. If you are 35 and older, that will add another high risk label of being of advanced maternal age. The more high risk labels you have, the more likely providers will want to do interventions with labor and delivery and there will be a lot more monitoring throughout the pregnancy. For example, you are more likely to have c-section if you have twins or triplets. 

I chose to do a single embryo transfer and grateful that I did that. The aches and pains and discomforts that come with pregnancy with a singleton is challenging enough. I’m probably biased but I’m definitely in the singleton camp when it comes to IVF transfers. Carrying twins and then caring for twins afterwards is A LOT of work.

00kim00

I would definitely do one if that is what your doctor is recommending. Like @ttc3y said, even twins is high risk and will make both pregnancy and caring for the children difficult, in the best case scenario. Aside from intervention at birth, you're more likely to be put on bed rest, deliver the babies early (so they will be less developed/healthy when born and higher chance of a NICU stay), etc. As cute as twins are, you do really want a singleton for everyone's wellbeing.

I also did a lot of research on it, since I was able to get 4 embryos to freeze. Statistically, you have a greater chance of having a healthy baby born if you do two single transfers rather than one double transfer. For some reason, even one baby sticking is more likely if you only transfer one at a time. And I'm sure you want as great a chance as possible to have a healthy baby.

All that said, I did end up transferring 2 embryos. Given my age (41), it was protocol for the clinic to transfer 2. I could have insisted on one, but the doctor was really recommending 2. I ended up with one healthy baby from that transfer.