One egg or two??

[AnnieMac123]

Hi just wondering if u guys feel it's best to transfer 2donor eggs at a time or stick to just the one? Just embarking on my ivf journey...so have not yet have confirmation of how many eggs etc and Unfortunately donor eggs are our only option as endo has destroyed by chances of having my own. Know there is higher chance of twins but to b honest after everything I can't see that being a bad thing!!

[Cinderella5]

I'm doing DE and have always opted to transfer 2 at a time. As you say I can't see twins being anything but a blessing, however there are more risks of miscarriage and problems with twins. My clinic also feel a that it ups your chance is success. Personal decision really. Good luck with what you decide!!xx

[Debrakay1704 in reply to Cinderella5]

I agree and my clinic are the same. x

[MissSaoPaulo]

This is always a tough question. I'd wait and see how many embies you get and the quality, and see what your Dr says. If you are in good health yourself before potential twin pregnancy is also something to think about. I had 2 embryos transferred (my own - 1 good and 1 intermediate quality), which Dr and embryologist actually suggested - I'm 39 and in very good health, which were both factors in this decision.

There's a lot of talk about complications with twin pregnancy, and while this shouldn't be played down, many of these complications arise from things like shared placenta, which wouldn't be the case from 2 embryos. As a perfectly healthy twin myself (just under 5lb and my brother was over 6lb!!! our poor mother!!!), maybe I have a biased view of this!

We got a positive, and with a very high hCG level there was a good chance it was twins and I must admit we did panic a bit - where are we going to put them?!?!? We can't afford this!! But our 6 week scan showed only 1, which was, quite honestly, a bit of a relief. So, only put 2 in if you're really prepared to get 2 out

Best of luck with it all and with reaching a decision xxx

[sandra81 in reply to MissSaoPaulo]

Not to scare you we also had a very high hcg 6 week scan showed one baby. At 8 weeks closer to 9 the second baby showed on the scan. It was a joyful moment. Lots of complications but worked out in the end

[MissSaoPaulo in reply to sandra81]

I'm 22 weeks, I guess they would have noticed by now if there was another one lurking around in there

[sandra81 in reply to MissSaoPaulo]

Oh I thought you were 6weeks. Cool then

[MissSaoPaulo in reply to sandra81]

Hope your 'double trouble' are getting on well xxx

[Katty_Holz]

I guess you meant 2 embryos from donor eggs...right? For unlike in case of sperms you can't really put the DE into your physiological system directly. IVF is meant to get it fertilised in clinically controlled test tubes outside the body and then transfer viable eggs into the uterus of the expectant mother. They will not proceed with any transfer unless the egg acquired from the donor makes it to the embryo stage. You cannot really decide 1 or 2 TBH...well I believe 1 is as good as 2. It just happens when it has to happen. But it's not the belief but the IVF protocol which makes clinics absolutely stringent about not doing twin transfer for women below 35. Also, a couple of health conditions are taken into account before scheduling twin transfer for older women as well... underweight, low immunity, hormone profile or cardiovascular disorders are some of them. I'd say based on your age, clinical reports, cause of infertility let the doc decide for you. Wish you Luck!

[Hollibob]

Our DE clinic only recommended one and that was in our initial consultation.

I have often hoped to have the option to transfer two, but we’ve never had that option at the end of it. Hubby however would not be keen on two being transferred!!

There was a lady on here that had two and they turned into four 🙂

[sandra81 in reply to Hollibob]

Wow 4!!! Oh my God!

[gattonero]

Hi Annie,

we asked several times my doc why she strongly recommended us (with any doubt!) to transfer 2 (frozen embryos) and she said that although mathematically the chances may look the same if they are transferred in two different moments, biologically it's better to have 2 transferred together (she mentioned "around + 3% chance overall"). I was worried about a twin pregnancy, she said not to and that we really needed to optimize my chances by having 2 inside. "Every embryo carries a 22-25% chance she said".

It didn't work unfortunately as we had BFP but we're glad we trusted her advice.

Good luck hun! xx

[Shelleybean]

I’ve wondered this myself. Having transferred two each time (own eggs so far, but may need to move to donor in not too distant future) I really think it depends on the quality. We did two as the quality has been poor, so the other embies would not have made it to freeze and we wanted to give them a chance.

If we had better quality embryos in the future (poss through donor eggs) I would want to know the difference in likelihood of pregnancy if putting two back compared to one, as I don’t think it doubles your chances. If the quality is good and the second embryo could be frozen I think you have a higher chance overall by transferring them individually?? Questions for your clinic!

I think I would only put two back again if the second one could not be used in the future.

Good luck! xx

[Ldb01]

We have attempted 3 FETS over two years. My second one was BFP but miscarried at 8 weeks. Did our third transfer two weeks ago which was negative. Everytime we have asked for two embies to be transferred but my dr refused. I am now 45 and feel like time is teally running out. I spoke to my dr again and he said next month he will only agree to transfer two if there are two of the same quality so we wait and see.

[Carmel1001 in reply to Ldb01]

was this for donor eggs? Have you used aspirin? I'm sorry you've had failed cycles.

[AnnieMac123 in reply to Carmel1001]

How's aspirin help??

[Ldb01 in reply to AnnieMac123]

I have heard of this but my clinic did not seem to be too concerned about whether I should use it or not. They just said no supplements except folic acid or pregnancy supplements.

[Ldb01 in reply to Carmel1001]

Carmel1001 they are donor embryos. Neither Hubby nor I can produce our won because of our ages. I am 45 and he is 65.

[sandra81]

I did ivf in South Africa. Dr recommended transferring 3 donor eggs. I ended up with twins. Ofcourse I had complications towards the end of my pregnancy which resulted in emergency c-section and premature birth. But it ended working out well

[Ldb01 in reply to sandra81]

Sandra, I am also in SA. May I ask how old you were at birth ?

[sandra81 in reply to Ldb01]

I was 40 when i gave birth. I gave birth at 35weeks.

[Ldb01 in reply to sandra81]

Wow thats awesome.

[AnnieMac123]

Thanks girls.. The doc did mention my age had a baring on the chances of twins as well (am 39 this month)... She said they don't generally recommend double transfer. But I think I will Def put it to her if embryos are found to be week/ low quality. I honestly don't know if my endometriosis would cause there to be more complications if it did turn out to be twins but am guessing staying pregnant with just one might b difficult regardless.

Do any of you know is there a higher risk of miscarriage using donor eggs?

We have begged n borrowed to afford to do this just once...we won't have the money to keep trying and in Ireland there are no "free goes". That's the only thing that's making me feel like transferring 2 gives us a better chance of it working! Head really is fried some days!!

[Ldb01 in reply to AnnieMac123]

The only reasons my doctor has given for not transferring two is that if one is weaker than the other, the weaker one may still take and then end up in miscarriage. So my doctor has now said he will see if we get two embies of the same quality next month then he will decide if he is going to transfer two or not. They are also concerned about twins in geriatric mothers (over 35 yrs).

[Carmel1001]

Personally Id stick with one embryo. In theory a DE is from a young healthy donor, so your chances of having a live birth are around 40%, with 2 put back you have a very high chance (in IVF terms) of having twins.

Personally the impact of being a new mum is tough, joyous, but hard work, from cousins and my own sister, having twins is double the work and if 1) you are a healthy woman apart from your fertility issues 2) You really have thought how you'd cope with two crying babies at 3am when your husband has work in the morning, how you'd arrange child care for two rather than one after maternity leave, then go for it. For me, ( now pregnant with a donor egg) one future baby is more than enough (for now)!

Best of luck

[AnnieMac123 in reply to Carmel1001]

Thank you...Yeah the reality of it would Def be a little scarier than I would like to think. My partners job is not very secure at the minute either which only adds to the stress. There's days u just wonder when the good luck fairy will visit! Seems to just be bad luck all the time but will do my best to stay positive throughout this. Have meeting with counsellor in morning...all moving very fast but I was warned I only had 6mts as endo would come back rapidly and be back to square one again needing another lap