For moms of twins (or more)...

CageyMack

How did you (as LGBT parents) come to have twins?  I'm curious if it was natural luck, clomid, IVF, etc.  

I'm trying veerrry hard to remember that twins DO happen and happen a good deal more in this day and age. Just the thought that while I am worried about conceiving only ONE in a few months I could be graced with TWO (or more), is a startling reminder that once we choose to wander down this merry path, we are giving up a great deal of control.

Thanks in advance for sharing your story!

 CageyMack 

leapgirl8

IUI, frozen donor sperm, 50mg of Clomid. I mean sure, maybe she just dropped two eggs naturally, but I'm giving it to the Clomid. 

TaylorandMel

Ours were IVF.  If I was you, I wouldn't worry too much though, twins are really not that likely.  With IVF it's like a 30% chance, & most fert Meds used with IUI it's like a  10-20% chance.  The majority of the population doesn't have twins.  It's a "risk" to be considered with fert treatments, but probably not a high enough one to stress about. 

2mommiesinoh

I was put on Clomid and multiples was actually my big concern. My OB assured me that while that risk was there it was actually much slimmer than you would be led to believe. The farther along in the fertiltiy treatment process you get the more that chance increases.

mrsemily08

injectibles. DW has crappy ass ovaries

2brides

IUI with 75mg and Follistim (can't remember the dosing - but it was really low.) Was told there was a 2-3% chance of multiples. Should have played the lottery.

Kershnic

TaylorandMel:

Ours were IVF.  If I was you, I wouldn't worry too much though, twins are really not that likely.  With IVF it's like a 30% chance, & most fert Meds used with IUI it's like a  10-20% chance.  The majority of the population doesn't have twins.  It's a "risk" to be considered with fert treatments, but probably not a high enough one to stress about. 

You only need to look around this board to know these treatments raise your chances significantly.  Practically half the couples on this board have twins.  The number I have heard for Clomid is 10% chance (10x higher than the ~1% from natural ovulation).  Go higher for injectibles.  IVF depends a lot on your fertility, and hugely on how many embryos you transfer (I've seen anywhere from 1-8 on the bump.)   Also, most of this research is done with women who have established infertility by 12+ months of heterosexual sex.  There is certainly reason to believe that multiples rates will be higher when drugs like clomid are given to women with no proven infertility.  Also, increased age increases risk for multiples.  

kendylann

Ours are from IVF, but let me tell you what came before that...

4 unmedicated ICIs - all BFNs

7 unmedicated IUIs - all BFNs

2  IUIs with 50mg clomid - BFNs

1 IUI with 100mg clomid - BFN

Fresh IVF with smooth transfer of 2 "perfect" Day 5 blasts - 1 baby

Frozen Embryo Transfer of 2 "good" Day 6 blasts - chemical preg.

Fresh IVF with complicated transfer of 1 "so-so" Day 5 blast and 1 morula that was a day behind - twins

So yes, fertility treatments increase your chances of multiples, but they are far from a given. There is still a heck of a lot of chance involved. If you're nervous about twins, go slowly. Try some unmedicated IUIs first. Try a lot of them, if you want. Keep trying them until your desire for one baby outweighs your fear of more than one and it feels right to up the arsenal. Chances are you may get pregnant before you reach that point. Good luck!! 

thiswillbe

Ours are from and IUI with metformin and clomid (150 mg on our successful cycle; I have PCOS and lower doses didn't work). We triggered with one mature follie and one almost-mature one.

I think that people tend to overlook that a good portion of the risk of multiples is manageable in advance of treatment. It's just very important to have those conversations in advance, so you're not having to do it on the fly.

We were ACTIVELY trying to avoid multiples when I got pregnant with the twins. We had already decided that we would not do an IUI if I had three or more follicles, and would most likely cancel the cycle if I had two mature follicles at the last check. We hadn't really worked out what we'd do in the case of one mature (albeit on the small end of "mature") and one just below the maturity cut-off. In the end, obviously, we decided to go ahead with the IUI.

 

ETA: I feel like I need to add that even though we were actively trying to avoid multiples, we love our kids and twins has actually ended up being a good family configuration for us so far (no one is ever "hogging the baby," lol!). We wouldn't change things for the world, now.

mrsemily08

thiswillbe:

We were ACTIVELY trying to avoid multiples when I got pregnant with the twins. We had already decided that we would not do an IUI if I had three or more follicles, and would most likely cancel the cycle if I had two mature follicles at the last check. We hadn't really worked out what we'd do in the case of one mature (albeit on the small end of "mature") and one just below the maturity cut-off. In the end, obviously, we decided to go ahead with the IUI.

 

yea we had two mature follicles and were originally pregnant with triplets.  No WAY I'd do it with 3. gah.

pixie76

My reply is a little late, but it's been a crazy week;)

We started our journey with ICI's at home and ended with our success being achieved with an RE.  On our successful cycle with JT,  I was taking baby aspirin, extra 4mg of folic acid, omega's, extra B's and of course my prenatal, along with injectables (menopur) and a trigger shot.  We have an older DD, she was 11 at the time, so we were ok with twins, triplets scared us.  We decided that if I had anymore than 3 follicles we would cancel the cycle and move on.  We had 2 good follies and one that was a "maybe" so we went for it.  We got just the one baby.  We knew we wanted to have another, so when DS turned 1, we went back to our RE and followed the same protocol.  We had one great follie, and one that was barley 11mm at time of trigger.  We got lucky on our first IUI attempt for our 3rd DC.  My beta's looked great, progesterone was great, but at our first u/s, no baby in uterus.  We were all confused because my beta's where high enough that we should have seen at least a sac.  I was convinced it was going to be an eptopic, and will never forget the day we went back for a repeat u/s.  I layed on the table, trying to stay strong and mentally prepare myself to hear something was wrong when I hear "Ok, here we go.... This is baby A and over here is baby B.  It took me a full minute to process those words:) 

We felt pretty confident that we would only have 1 baby if we were lucky as our second follie didn't appear to be anywhere near ready, guess we were wrong;)  Like PP's mentioned, the more intervention you use in creating your family may raise your odds of having multiples.  DW and I had a very long talk (a few times) about multiples and our thoughts on higher order multiples.  I think for us it really sank in when our RE had the initial selective reduction conversation with us.  We respect other's decisions when it comes to this topic but for us it was not an option so we both had to be ready to accept a possible outcome of multiples and be mentally prepared.

Good luck on your journey!