Thoughts on transferring 1 vs. 2 (s/paifw)

Kuleama

DH and I are going back and forth about transferring 1 or 2 embies (I'm 27, he's 29). We've read articles and talked a lot about it, but just can't make a solid decision. I'm just wondering what other peoples deciding factor was.

sb78

I am almost certain we will only transfer 1,but we have one child already and would prefer to avoid multiples if at all possible and only want 2 children in all.

 If it was our first child, we would almost certaintly transfer 2.

vanessagorc

If we get 2 embies to transfer...we plan to do 2. Here's how we arrived at it.

Our RE suggested 1 or 2, but said he would do 2 if it was his decision.  RE does not see any reason why I could not support a twin pregnancy (obviously it is higher risk).

We can afford twins, if we got them.  And finally...we would be more than happy to have twins, and close the book on this crappy IF journey.

ladyprof

We did two because of the better odds of getting pregnant and the expense of IVF. We were perfectly happy if we got twins or just one though.

mrslovebug

We transferred two at the recommendation of my nurse...she actually said they "don't" transfer one at a time, though I find that hard to believe.  I have always wanted twins and wasn't sure I would want to go through IVF more than one time (if transferring two gave me a better chance of getting pregnant).  Of course I would do it again if it didn't work and honestly with the complications this pregnancy, I don't know if I ever will be pregnant again, so provided my twins are born healthy and hang in there, I am happy with our decision.

JakesBride07

Our game plan was 2 if a 3dt and 1 if a 5dt...however we were back and forth on the topic. Our deciding factor was when it looked like only two embies were going to make it to transfer. DH and I both agreed at that point to put both back regardless because there was no gaurantee that 1 would survive freeze and thaw...plus the cost of doing so was not worth it to us for us one embro given the same senerio.

k-mart

We did 2 based on our RE's suggestion and the fact that we are ok with twins. We also understand that it could be more than two - and are ok with that. Also, we're now in our mid thirties and would like more than one.

I think you have to be comfortable with all the possible outcomes - not just the best or worst.

MrsRich0226

We haven't been in that position but based on our conversations, we would probably do 2, but we are older than you are so don't have as much time.

Good luck with whatever you decide, it will be the right choice for you!

Yellow_Daisy

We are transferring 2 at the suggestion of our RE.  We are fine with twins, understand that there would be risks and will probably not go through any further IF treatment once we have done this IVF.  If we should be successful and have frosties we aren't even sure we would do future FET(s) although I really can't say for certain.  Transferring 1 was never even a consideration for us, it doesn't make sense in our situation given this is the only IVF we can afford without taking another lengthy savings break and we aren't getting any younger.

LnR70707

Assuming we do a 5 day transfer we will probably only transfer one.  My clinic strongly recommends single transfers, and transferring 2 only increases pregnancy rates by 5%.  Since both DH and the RE are pushing one, we'll do one, but a piece of me feels like we'd have more hope with two embies.

etoyama

We transferred 2 because we were fine with having twins. We'll do 2 again for our FET. I think 2 is the "typical" number. GL with your decision!

SweetDahlia

We had always planned to do 2. DH is 37 and I will be 32. We actually only had two make it to day 3, so I am glad we did both. If we had twins we could be done. I would be happy to not have to do IVF again.

Faith722

I don't think there has ever been any question that we will transfer 2 (assuming we have 2 to transfer).  Even though the higher risks associated with a twin pregnancy are scary, I think it would be ok.  Honestly, I'd be thrilled with twins.  And if it meant not having to ever do this again, I'd be even more thrilled.

esperanza123

Right now, we're not ready for twins. I also may have a weak cervix due to a procedure I had a few years ago that my obgyn will be watching carefully. I also fear other complications/issues that may accompany a twin pregnancy and birth. With that said, we would have transferred 2 for this cycle if we hadn't had one perfect blast (that was our plan ever since we had our IVF consult). Turns out we had a perfect blast so that is what we transferred. Like pp, my clinic has a very good pregnancy rate for eSET (there's only a 1% difference in the success rate of transferring 1 blast vs. 2). If this cycle doesn't work and if we don't have any frosties, we will probably transfer 2 next time.

MarriedaSportsNut

Our egg donor's 5 cycles have always transferred a single embryo. Out of 5 cycles, 4 were successful (one failed due to lining issues). In other words, our donor has stellar stats and proven egg quality, making a single transfer a good bet. I'll be curious to see if our RE advises transferring only 1. I'm going to push for 2 given my age, history, and willingness to carry twins.

chuckansarah

For both of our fresh cycles we transferred 1 5 day blast and both were successful. Our clinic will only do SET if you have a good or excellent quality blast and are under the age of 35, so we didn't have a choice. For our FET we transferred 2, but neither had made it to the blast stage and neither stuck.

SASSY1JA

We had decided on two unless the doc ended up recommending one after we saw our results.  We had a hard time deciding on this but ultimately decided if it increased our chances even a little bit it was worth it.  We'd rather have two than zero and really can't afford another round of IVF.

OrangeSmoke

Depends on what your feelings are about twins.

I always secretly wanted twins.  And now that they are here, I'm so glad I was lucky enough to have two.  It's a lot of work but it's totally manageable (and we are lucky enough that money isn't an issue).

I've always transferred 2 perfect looking embryos every time until my last cycle.  I was so desperate that I begged my RE to do 3.  I do have to say though, the idea of triplets freak me out!  I think that would be so much harder than twins.

But when we do go back (and I think we will), I think we'll only do 1 at a time.  I don't think we can handle 2 sets of twins.

njohnson1972

I think it depends on the quality of the embryos and the number you have.

I am AMA and we transferred 3 with our 1st IVF attempt and 2 with our 2nd IVF attempt.  The 3 with our 1st weren't the best quality.  The 2 were better quality on our 2nd try.

We can afford twins and I would really like to be done with IF treatments due to my age.

Sunflower0908

I agree totally with pp that it depends on quality and number of embryos. You may find that the decision kind of gets made for you based on this.

We went back and forth on this issue and didn't fully decide until day of ET. There we found out we had some good quality embryos and so decided to transfer 1 and freeze others. Had the quality not been so good, or if it looked like we would not have any to freeze, that would have changed our decision to 2.

For this upcoming FET we will likely transfer 2.