XP: IVF Ladies- Need your help/advice

Maddie753

Hi ladies!! This is a repost from SAIF

I know this question has been asked alot so I apologize in advance. We just came back from our IVF consult and we need to make a decision. I am so overwhelmed and dont know which way to go.

We have 2 options:

Put 2 in on day 3 and 1 in on day 5   

or

Put 2 in on day 3 and 2 in on day 5.

I am ok with twins but DH isnt sure what he wants to do. Can you guys share your experience and let me know what you did? Thank you so much

kthappy76

I'm not sure how/why you'd make this decision now, as it should depend on your history (if you had one), how many you have to work with, and how they are developing.  I've also never heard of having two transfers.  We were not comfortable transferring more than we wanted to have at one time.  So FWIW, we transferred two on day three.  Best of luck!

waitwhat

It's an oh-so-personal decision.  My RE only does 5 day transfers so we didn't even have a choice for a 3 day.  We chose to transfer two blasts and have been blessed with twins. 

It goes without saying, we are thrilled and can't wait to meet our babies.  But as a word of caution, I really didn't expect a twin pregnancy to be so much more challenging.  And now that the babies are close to being here, I'm really anxious about juggling two newborns.  We wouldn't change anything, but it is definitely worth thinking about whether you are both ready to handle a twin pregnancy and two babies.  Good luck to you.

lovemymonkey

My clinic was really conservative (multiples = failure in their opinion), so they prefer to do single embryo transfers, but because of my age during my IVFs (I did 5 cycles over the course of 2 1/2 years and I started when I was 35) they let me transfer 2 initially. After a few failed cycles, my RE agreed to transfer 3 and they only transferred 4 on my last cycle b/c of my history of failed cycles and the embies weren't of the highest quality.

Having said that, your clinic seems to be pretty aggressive. I'm not sure if I'd be comfortable with transferring 3 or 4 embryos for IVF #1. My answer could change though depending on how old you were and what quality of embryos you ended up having.

GL with your decision!

kkghotty

We went into our IVF saying that we would put two back if we had two make it to blast.  We were ok with twins from the get-go (we analyzed finances, talked about the effect of twins on our work schedules, talked to family members that may or may not be able to help out). 

On the day of our 5dt, we were given the option of only putting one back.  It was kind of sprung on us at the last minute.  We did not think it was much of an option since we had not talked about it much. We decided just to stick with the original game plan since that is what we had prepared ourselves for.  Turns out both took, so I am so glad that we had thoroughly discussed the "twin possibility" from the get-go. 

ETA:  I think I may have misunderstood your question...Is your clinic going to transfer 2 on day 3 AND 2 on day 5?  Or is it an either/or thing depending on quality and number of healthy embryos.  I would not have felt comfortable putting more than 2 back at any stage, especially on my first IVF.

Maddie753

kthappy76:

I'm not sure how/why you'd make this decision now, as it should depend on your history (if you had one), how many you have to work with, and how they are developing.  I've also never heard of having two transfers.  We were not comfortable transferring more than we wanted to have at one time.  So FWIW, we transferred two on day three.  Best of luck!

Hi Kthappy! No, its only 1 transfer. The RE makes the decision on which day to transfer based on how many I have/quality. He said if he thinks it will be a day 3 transfer then he puts in 2. He said if it looks like a 5 day transfer then he will put in 1. We have to decide these numbers now for some reason. I think its due to the consent forms we have to sign

Maddie753

kkghotty:

We went into our IVF saying that we would put two back if we had two make it to blast.  We were ok with twins from the get-go (we analyzed finances, talked about the effect of twins on our work schedules, talked to family members that may or may not be able to help out). 

On the day of our 5dt, we were given the option of only putting one back.  It was kind of sprung on us at the last minute.  We did not think it was much of an option since we had not talked about it much. We decided just to stick with the original game plan since that is what we had prepared ourselves for.  Turns out both took, so I am so glad that we had thoroughly discussed the "twin possibility" from the get-go. 

ETA:  I think I may have misunderstood your question...Is your clinic going to transfer 2 on day 3 AND 2 on day 5?  Or is it an either/or thing depending on quality and number of healthy embryos.  I would not have felt comfortable putting more than 2 back at any stage, especially on my first IVF.

Hi! Im sorry I should have worded my question different. My RE only does 1 transfer each cycle. I guess he makes the decision based on the number and quality whether it is a 3day transfer or a 5 day transfer. He likes to know up front what it would be on either day. We have to sign consent forms and he wants to know now if we make it to day 5 what we will put back in. Sorry for any confusion. Thank you for responding

njohnson1972

Maddie753:

kthappy76:

I'm not sure how/why you'd make this decision now, as it should depend on your history (if you had one), how many you have to work with, and how they are developing.  I've also never heard of having two transfers.  We were not comfortable transferring more than we wanted to have at one time.  So FWIW, we transferred two on day three.  Best of luck!

Hi Kthappy! No, its only 2 transfer. The RE makes the decision on which day to transfer based on how many I have/quality. He said if he thinks it will be a day 3 transfer then he puts in 2. He said if it looks like a 5 day transfer then he will put in 1. We have to decide these numbers now for some reason. I think its due to the consent forms we have to sign

Thanks for clarifying.  I read it and didn't understand either.  

I think it is crazy to make a decision now not knowing the quality of the embies.  I transferred 3 back with my first attempt, but they weren't great quality.  With my other attempts, I made better embies and we only put 2 back.  I had other embies and we could have done 3, but the quality wasn't as good.

Maddie753

waitwhat:

It's an oh-so-personal decision.  My RE only does 5 day transfers so we didn't even have a choice for a 3 day.  We chose to transfer two blasts and have been blessed with twins. 

It goes without saying, we are thrilled and can't wait to meet our babies.  But as a word of caution, I really didn't expect a twin pregnancy to be so much more challenging.  And now that the babies are close to being here, I'm really anxious about juggling two newborns.  We wouldn't change anything, but it is definitely worth thinking about whether you are both ready to handle a twin pregnancy and two babies.  Good luck to you.

Congrats to you!! Thank you for responding. It is such a difficult decision and I dont know which way to turn. Although I say I am ok with the idea of twins, it scares me at the same time. I am 29yrs old so they dont think I should be putting 2 in. They only recommend 1.  Ugh, I just dont know what to do. Best of luck to you and thank you for your feedback

lovemymonkey

Maddie753:

Hi Kthappy! No, its only 2 transfer. The RE makes the decision on which day to transfer based on how many I have/quality. He said if he thinks it will be a day 3 transfer then he puts in 2. He said if it looks like a 5 day transfer then he will put in 1. We have to decide these numbers now for some reason. I think its due to the consent forms we have to sign

oh, ok. that makes sense then! I hadn't ever heard of doing two transfers either. My clinic does 3-day transfers if you don't have a lot of embies or if the quality of your embies aren't good enough to last until a 5-day transfer. In that case, I would be comfortable with transferring two embies on Day 3 since the quality of them are probably not the best.

For IVF #1, if you are younger than 35 and your embryo is graded highly, honestly, I'd still only transfer 1.

there are just so many more risks associated with multiples. It's not an easy road to take.

lovemymonkey

Maddie753:

Hi Kthappy! No, its only 2 transfer. The RE makes the decision on which day to transfer based on how many I have/quality. He said if he thinks it will be a day 3 transfer then he puts in 2. He said if it looks like a 5 day transfer then he will put in 1. We have to decide these numbers now for some reason. I think its due to the consent forms we have to sign

oh, ok. that makes sense then! I hadn't ever heard of doing two transfers either. My clinic does 3-day transfers if you don't have a lot of embies or if the quality of your embies aren't good enough to last until a 5-day transfer. In that case, I would be comfortable with transferring two embies on Day 3 since the quality of them are probably not the best.

For IVF #1, if you are younger than 35 and your embryo is graded highly, honestly, I'd still only transfer 1 on Day 5.

there are just so many more risks associated with multiples. It's not an easy road to take.

Maddie753

Hi! I know I should have reworded my question better. I confused myself after I read it! haha. Thank you for responding.

Im starting to lean towards transfering the 1 on day 5 if it is of a good quality.

Thank you for your feedback

kthappy76

Maddie753:

kthappy76:

I'm not sure how/why you'd make this decision now, as it should depend on your history (if you had one), how many you have to work with, and how they are developing.  I've also never heard of having two transfers.  We were not comfortable transferring more than we wanted to have at one time.  So FWIW, we transferred two on day three.  Best of luck!

Hi Kthappy! No, its only 2 transfer. The RE makes the decision on which day to transfer based on how many I have/quality. He said if he thinks it will be a day 3 transfer then he puts in 2. He said if it looks like a 5 day transfer then he will put in 1. We have to decide these numbers now for some reason. I think its due to the consent forms we have to sign

Oh, that makes much more sense.  I think we discussed it w/our RE, but we didn't have to decide until the transfer.  If you are okay with twins, then I would say two, but you do definitely risk more complications.  We only had one shot, so we did two. Aren't all those forms fun?  GL!

Maddie753

kthappy76:

Maddie753:

kthappy76:

I'm not sure how/why you'd make this decision now, as it should depend on your history (if you had one), how many you have to work with, and how they are developing.  I've also never heard of having two transfers.  We were not comfortable transferring more than we wanted to have at one time.  So FWIW, we transferred two on day three.  Best of luck!

Hi Kthappy! No, its only 2 transfer. The RE makes the decision on which day to transfer based on how many I have/quality. He said if he thinks it will be a day 3 transfer then he puts in 2. He said if it looks like a 5 day transfer then he will put in 1. We have to decide these numbers now for some reason. I think its due to the consent forms we have to sign

Oh, that makes much more sense.  I think we discussed it w/our RE, but we didn't have to decide until the transfer.  If you are okay with twins, then I would say two, but you do definitely risk more complications.  We only had one shot, so we did two. Aren't all those forms fun?  GL!

Ugh, it is so overwhelming!!!! Congrats to you on your BFP!!!

September2007

This is a really personal decision...  With that said, when we met with our RE, we originally said, "we wanted it to work."  So we initially decided to do exactly what your first option says -- 2 on day 3 and 1 on day 5.  However, once we got into our IVF meds and process, we changed our minds and decided to do 2 on day 5.  We weren't initially comfortable with the idea of multiples because of risks/complications to both me and our future children, but after doing research and talking with 3 couple friends that have multiples, we decided to do 2 regardless of the day we transferred. 

We transferred 2 on day 5 this cycle, and got a BFP!  I can't tell you if it's one or two little beans yet, but part of me is thankful we did 2.  

I would really think about it, sleep on it for a few days, and then try to make your decision.  It was one that we made initially in the moment because of fear of complications/risks, but in reality, these same risks/complications could happen with a singleton, too.  (I was a 6-week early preemie, and I'm a singleton...) 

Good Luck with your decision, Maddie!!

brody8336

In my case, we were 100% OOP, so it never even crossed my mind to do one.  We ended up transferring 2 three times, and got our BFP on attempt #3 with twins.  Carrying twins is more risky than I realized, but I would not change my decision at all.  GL with your decision, its really a tough call!

schoolsoutbride

We did a SET for my fresh IVF cycle.  Reasoning here.

If you have coverage, I'd do SETs every single time.  Twin pregnancies are just scary (well, for me), and they're definitely more high-risk.  I've been a paranoid mess this whole PG and it has definitely been MUCH harder on my body than my singleton was (though some of that is probably being 5 years older, definitely not all of it.)

We put back 2 for my FET and wouldn't have if it wasn't our very last shot, money wise. 

chelfe22

We did 2 on day 5.