Should I go with one embryo or two?

[Mara84]

Hi everyone! We are trying for a baby for 3 years now, saying that unfortunately we had two missed miscarriages and now we are doing our first round of IVF.

I had egg collection on Wednesday, very good results, we had 8 eggs and this morning I received a call from embryologist that 6 of them been fertilized. So for now we have 6 embryos, obviously we have to wait a few days to see how many make it, I’m struggling so much about the decision to have one embryo transfer or two!!

At this stage I’d like to do anything to increase the chance of getting pregnant but also I’m worried as I’ve been advised twins pregnancy is risky.

Has anyone been through the same thing? I appreciate hearing your thoughts and advise.

Best of luck to everyone.

Mara xx

[destiny121]

Hi Mara... I had 2 transferred and 1 stuck. So I’d always go with 2 if I try for another. But it is risky as 2 may stick so it’s up to you if you’d be happy with a twin pregnancy.. but I just thought I had 2 chances by having the 2 transferred... good luck 😊😊

[Mara84 in reply to destiny121]

Thanks so much for your reply, I’m so confused before we start ivf having twins was interesting to me but now I’m more concern about the health of twins, also as you know we might go with two embryos and end up with no babies..

Finger crossed we will make the right decision, good luck to you too xx

[Southeast28]

Be guided by your clinic and embryo quality, we had 2 embryos transferred, both implanted but we lost one at around 6 weeks so will always be glad we decided to transfer both, our clinic did recommend for us too though

[Mara84 in reply to Southeast28]

Thanks so much for your reply, Sorry you lost one, hope it all goes well for you. actually this was my second question, is loosing one effecting on the surviving the other? I’m waiting to hear from clinic tomorrow and hopefully we will make our mind by then.

Xx

[C_C_H in reply to Mara84]

Hello! I decided to try 1 first time as I had a stand out top quality that I wanted to try it solo. I have read about 1 embryo affecting the other when 2 go in at once. For my 2nd round I had 2 B quality embryos transferred although neither implanted. I think I will try 2 again but my advise was to go with embryos of similar quality when doing 2 at once. I would suggest you speak to the embryologist once you know how many embryos you have and find out what quality they are. It may also depend on how many you have. I started with 9 frozen and the hospital felt trying 2 was worth it as I had quite a few to play with. Hope that helps and good luck xx

[Mara84 in reply to C_C_H]

Hello, thank you so much for writing to me. I'm sorry you had to go through this two times. best of luck for your next one.

My husband and I are thinking to go with two embryos too as we really want this to work and want to increase our chances. We spoke with our embryologist today and we still have our 6 embryos and the are all doing good for day 3. So finger crossed we have a good amount to start with.

Thanks again xx

[Skippy1982]

Hi Mara,

Sorry for your mmcs. That’s so tough. I’ve only done single embryo transfers so far of good looking blastos. I’ve had a mmc, a chemical and two negatives. As I’m nearly 37 hubby and I had decided that next time we are going to try a double transfer. Before I was too scared as I was anxious that if it was twins it could be really risky and I thought a single transfer would give me more chance of having a healthy baby. Now we’ve decided to take a gamble in the hope that if we put two in together then hopefully at least one will be normal and able to implant. But who knows?! We have 3 Frosties left and would rather get through them sooner rather Then later so if none of them work we can crack on with another fresh cycle next year. Good luck to you whatever you decide xxx

[Mara84 in reply to Skippy1982]

Hi! thanks so much for writing back, I really appreciate each one of you lovely ladies who is sharing your experiences with us.

I do hope that you give us a good news very soon and don't have to go start a fresh cycle.

As for us, we still have 6 embryos! which I am very happy about and we are thinking of two embryos too. I am worried for being pregnant with twins but not bringing our baby home is breaking our hearts every day.

Thanks again xx

[Jenifer99]

Hi Mara84,

I would say please go with your mind, I transferred 3 good grades 1A and 2B making 3 embryos on board ,Really not scared of having twins and never considered the risk either as all I wanted is a happy family but grateful to God on my 6weeks scan found just one good heart beat. And all looking good, not sure what happend with my remaining too but will always be grateful to God that I have one fighter in me 🙏❤

[Mara84 in reply to Jenifer99]

Jenifer what a great news! I am so happy for you. God keep your fighter safe.

today we spoke with our embryologist and we still have 6 embryos and they are doing well for day 3! we are most likely to go with two embryos, as if we don't and god forbid we don't get a result I would blame myself.

Hope everything goes well for you and your family xx

[Jenifer99 in reply to Mara84]

Good decision cos you never know the one that will stick, best wishes my lovely xx

[Kikiwaits]

I’m sorry about your miscarriages. I’ve had two this year, too. My most recent was a genetically normal baby girl at 11 weeks that was the result of transferring two embryos. We have four left, but I think I’ll just try one at a time because the thought of losing twins is just devastating.

[Mara84 in reply to Kikiwaits]

Thank you so much for writing to me, I know its not easy... I am so sorry for your lost, being through miscarriage myself I know how you feel.

So in your experience transferring two embryos caused the miscarriage.. how sad... did you get more information on why it happened? if you could share more I would appreciate it...

look after yourself and I do wish you hold your baby very soon xx

[Kikiwaits in reply to Mara84]

Transferring two didn’t cause the miscarriage. No one has any idea what caused it since she had a healthy heartbeat up till 11 weeks. I had transferred just one in February but miscarried at about 6 weeks, which was more likely some genetic issues. I have four other children, so I know things CAN work. Hopefully our four remaining embryos will result in at least one baby, but I’m going to do them one at a time.

[Mara84 in reply to Kikiwaits]

Unexplained miscarriages are the worst kind! And much harder to deal with in my experience...

Regarding my mcs, the first one happened at week 9 and we don’t know why, everyone kept telling us it can happen without any explanation, the second one happened at almost 12 weeks I knew better this time and I sent the pregnancy tissues to the lab to get and answer and it was a genetic issue. After that we both done the genetic carrier test and we are not carrying any disorder.

I have done any test to discover if there is any problems and we have not find anything everything seems to be normal.

I do hope that it work for you this time and you don’t go through miscarriage ever again xx

[Kikiwaits in reply to Mara84]

It is so frustrating. Every single test has been normal. I’m so sorry that you have been through this as well. Wishing you all the best however many you decide to transfer. I’ll be doing one on December 11. Fingers crossed!

[sun-and-rain]

Earlier transfer of two or more embryos was more normal than it is now. In my country they really don't recommend transfer of two embryos in normal cases as the IVF techniques have improved so much that the risk of multiple pregnancy with "double transfer" has become too high. Actually the risk of twin pregnancy with IVF is higher anyway, as 4 days olds and 5 days olds have a higher tendency of solitting in two... My doctor said about 25%! (It seemed a bit too high to me, but well...)

Anyway I'd never bring in a strong opinion about your situation. If you hadn't had those previous mcs I would've recommended you to at least have a try with "single transfer" with the first two (maybe four) as you haven't tried this before and the first rounds, if they fail, serve you as a reference for further strategies, but as you've had your mcs I really don't know if your clinique would advice you differently. It might depend on if they know why you miscarried or not...

I succeeded myself on my sixth "single" ET. I might have insisted on doubling it up of I was to go for a third round of EC, taking willingly the risk of a twin pregnancy. But that would be against my clinique's recommendations, and I might feel that I would've got less oportunities to get pregnant since I would use my eggs at a double rate - even if it _might_ double my chance of obtaining a pregnancy... So the conclution is that there is no easy answer to your question 😝 Good luck with making up your mind! 😘

[Mara84 in reply to sun-and-rain]

Hi! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your experience, as you know it’s not easy to decide..... so earlier on I was thinking of two embryos but now I’m not sure 🤔. Hopefully we get results... it’s been a very hard couple of years for us.

Regarding my mcs, the first one happened at week 9 and we don’t know why, everyone kept telling us it can happen without any explanation, the second one happened at almost 12 weeks I knew better and I sent the pregnancy tissues to the lab and it was a genetic issue. After that we both done the genetic carrier test and we are not carrying any disorder.

I have done any test to discover if there is any problems and we have not find anything.

Thanks again for sharing, wishing you good luck xx

[sun-and-rain in reply to Mara84]

Then I think I would go at least two rounds of single ET. Don't know in your country (it's illegal in mine), but I've heard of the posibility to test genetically an embryo before ET. I really wouldn't do it myself as it feels so wrong to take one cell from that fine structure (though they say the embryos develop normally afterwards), but the technique is there and available in some countries. But well, the risk of having another baby with a lethal genetic condition is rather low if you've both done testing and found nothing wrong... Wishing you luck in the decision making! And with the ET also! ❤

[Mara84 in reply to sun-and-rain]

Thanks again dear, I feel so lucky that I get to know other people views and experience. Most probably we will go with two, only if the embryologist advice against it we will reconsider. We have been through so much already, so hopefully this time it will work for us. Finger crossed xx

[LKT1]

Hi Mara

This isn’t an easy decision to make. I thought I was only allowed a single transfer but on the day the embryologist said do you want one or both transferred? (We only had two survivors but great quality) This was at the point I had my legs up in the procedure room already to go so I had no opportunity to even discuss with my husband out in the waiting area. I asked if two would increase success rates and she said no. So I kept the second as a back up for a subsequent round if needed. The next day I had a phone call to say our second and only other embryo had not survived the night to freeze so I was devastated and immediately regretted just having the one transferred. Very fortunately our lucky embryo stuck and I’m 19 weeks pregnant. However if I was lucky enough to have 6 embryos then I might be tempted to transfer two and still have 4 for subsequent rounds but it such a tough choice and I know it isn’t helpful and there is t really a right or wrong answer but just bare in mind something could go wrong with remaining embryos like in my case xx

[Mara84 in reply to LKT1]

Thanks for sharing your experience, I’m so happy to hear about your pregnancy what a wonderful news. Hope it all goes well, as for us I think we most probably go with two embryos. Xx

[donnielime]

Hi Mara, I had a similar decision to make 2 weeks ago. I only got 4 eggs in my EC. 2 got fertilised and developed really well up to day 3. The day after EC, the clinic asked me if I wanted one or two putting back. I was thrown by the question as I thought they would advise me. So i had a chat with the embryologist on day 2 and then the morning of day 3. Their advice was if I was going for a day 3 transfer they recommended putting both back as at that stage one embryo wasn't looking better than the other. If I only wanted one putting back then I needed to wait for day 5 but there was a chance that neither would make it to day 5 - so I might end up with nothing to put back. My decision was made up by that last comment. I am scared by the idea of twins but would be devastated to have no embryos to try with. So I went with 2, that was 2 weeks ago tomorrow. My OTD is Tuesday, I have done an early test on Friday (+ Saturday) and have a BFP, so fingers crossed for Tuesday. The embryos have to be a really good quality to be freezeable. Good luck with your decision.

[Mara84 in reply to donnielime]

Thanks so much for writing to me. We most probably will ask for two too. I can’t wait to hear good news from you.

Best of luck xx

[Exhaurex]

Hi Mara I had a transfer of 2 embryos on 30/10. I have had 4 misscariages and 1 ectopic. My first ivf fresh ended in missed misscariage at 9 weeks the heart stopped beating no explanation. I had reached a point where I thought I need to try 2 embryos what have a I got to lose really. So that’s what we did and I had a positive test 5dpt and my beta was this morning. So good luck with whatever decision you make. 💕 I just knew in my heart

[Mara84 in reply to Exhaurex]

Hi, thanks so much for writing to me, I am so sorry for what you have been through and really happy for the news. I hope everything goes well for you and your family.

xx